1 In the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, the LORD said to Moses,
2 "Command the children of Israel to give the Levites towns to live in out of the inheritance they possess, and give the Levites pastureland around the towns as well.
3 The towns will be theirs to live in, and the pastureland will be for their cattle, their flocks, and all their other animals.
4 The pastureland around the towns that you give the Levites is to extend outward a thousand cubits from the town wall on every side.
5 Outside the town, measure two thousand cubits on the east side, two thousand on the south side, two thousand on the west side, and two thousand on the north side, with the town in the center. This will be the pastureland for their towns.
6 "Of the towns you give the Levites, six are to be towns of refuge, which you will provide so that a manslayer may flee there; besides these, give them forty-two towns.
7 In all you are to give the Levites forty-eight towns together with their pastureland.
8 The towns you give from the property of the children of Israel are to be taken in greater number from a larger tribe and in smaller number from a smaller one; each tribe is to give some of its towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives."
9 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
10 "Tell the children of Israel: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
11 choose towns to serve as towns of refuge for you, so that a manslayer who has killed someone without intent may flee there.
12 They will be places of refuge for you from the avenger, so that the manslayer does not die before he has stood trial before the congregation.
13 The towns you provide will be your six towns of refuge.
14 Provide three towns across the Jordan and three towns in the land of Canaan as towns of refuge.
15 These six towns will be a refuge for the children of Israel and for the foreigner and the settler among them, so that anyone who kills someone without intent may flee there.
16 "But if someone strikes a person with an iron object so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.
17 If he strikes him with a stone in his hand that could cause death, and he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.
18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden implement in his hand that could cause death, and he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.
19 The avenger of blood himself is to put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he is to put him to death.
20 If out of hatred someone shoves a person or deliberately throws something at him so that he dies,
21 or out of enmity strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death when he meets him.
22 "But if someone shoves a person suddenly without enmity, or throws some object at him without intent,
23 or, without seeing him, drops on him a stone that could cause death, and he dies—though he was not his enemy and did not intend to harm him—
24 then the congregation is to judge between the one who struck the blow and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.
25 The congregation is to rescue the manslayer from the avenger of blood and send him back to the town of refuge he fled to. He is to live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
26 But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the town of refuge he fled to,
27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his town of refuge and kills the manslayer, the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed.
28 The manslayer must stay in his town of refuge until the high priest dies; only after the high priest's death may he return to the land he owns.
29 "These are to be statutes and ordinances for you throughout your generations, wherever you live.
30 "If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death only on the testimony of witnesses; no one may be put to death on the testimony of a single witness.
31 Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must be put to death.
32 Nor are you to accept a ransom for someone who has fled to his town of refuge, allowing him to return and live on his own land before the priest dies.
33 Do not pollute the land where you are. Blood pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on account of blood shed on it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
34 Do not defile the land where you live and in whose midst I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the children of Israel."