Jos 20 | ABEn | STEP | And the lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

Joshua 20

CHAPTER 20 Cities of Refuge

1 And the lord spoke to Joshua, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel! saying, Appoint to you the cities of the places of refuge! which I spoke to you through Moses, 3 for a place of refuge to the manslayer, to the one striking a life unintentionally without forethought. And [³shall be ⁴to you ¹the ²cities] a place of refuge, and [³shall not ⁴die ¹the ²manslayer] by the one acting as next of kin for blood. 4 And he shall flee to one of these cities, and shall stay at the door of the gate of his city, and shall speak in the ears of the elders of that city concerning his words. And [³shall return ⁴him ¹the ²congregation] to them, and they shall appoint to him a place, and he shall dwell with them. 5 And when [⁵should pursue ¹the one ²acting as next of kin ³for ⁴blood] after him, that they shall not consign the one manslaying into his hand, for not knowing he struck his neighbor, and [²was not ³disliking ¹he himself] him from yesterday, and the third day before. 6 And he shall dwell in that city, until he should stand in front of the congregation for judgment, until [⁴should die ¹the ³priest ²great], who shall be in those days. Then [³shall return ¹the ²man-slayer], and shall come unto his city, and to his house, even to the city from where he fled from there. 7 And he separated Kadesh in Galilee, in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and the city Arba (this is Hebron) in the mountain of Judah. 8 And on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho from the east, he gave Bezer in the wilderness on the plain of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in the Bashan area of the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These were the cities selected to all sons of Israel, and to the foreigner, to the one lying near among them, to take refuge there, to any one [²hitting ³a soul ¹unintentionally], that he should not die by the hand of the one acting as next of kin for blood, until whenever he should be placed before the congregation for judgment.