Joshua 20
Six Cities of Refuge
1 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, 2“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘ ▼▼Lit Give for yourselves
Designate bthe cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you ▼▼Lit by the hand of
through Moses, 3so that one who commits manslaughter by ▼▼Lit striking
killing a person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become your refuge from the avenger of blood. 4Then he shall flee to one of these cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the egate of the city, and state his case in the ▼▼Lit ears of
presence of the elders of that city; and they shall ▼▼Lit gather
receive him into the city to them and give him a place, so that he may remain among them. 5Now hif the avenger of blood pursues him, then they are not to hand the one who committed manslaughter over to him, since he struck his neighbor without premeditation and did not hate him previously. 6And he shall remain in that city iuntil he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then ▼▼Lit the one who committed manslaughter
he shall ▼▼Lit return and come
return to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.’” 7 So they ▼▼Lit sanctified
set apart mKedesh in ▼▼Heb Galil
Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in othe hill country of Judah. 8And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they ▼▼Lit gave
designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. 9 qThese were the designated cities for all the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them, so that whoever ▼▼Lit strikes
kills a person unintentionally may flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation.
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