Numbers 35:9-28

9The Lord said to Moses,

10‘Tell the Israelites to do this when they cross the Jordan River and they go into Canaan.

11They must choose some towns to be safe places. If anyone kills another person but he did not mean to, he can run there to be safe.

12Those towns will be places where the killer can be safe from the dead person's relative. The killer will not die before the people in the town have judged him.

13You must choose six towns to be safe places.

14Three towns must be in Canaan and three towns must be on the other side of the Jordan River.

15Those six towns will be safe places for Israelites and for foreign people who live among them. Anyone who has killed another person may run to one of these towns and be safe there. But they will only be safe if they did not mean to kill the other person.

16Murderers are different. You must kill a murderer. Maybe someone hits another person with a heavy iron tool. If the person dies, the murderer must also die.

17Someone might hit another person with a big stone. If the person dies, the man is a murderer. He must die.

18A man might hit a person with a dangerous weapon made from wood. If the person dies, the man is a murderer. He must die.

19The dead person's relative himself must kill the murderer when he meets him.

20These are other examples of murder: A man might push another person hard because he hates him. A man might throw something at another person to hurt him.

21Or a man might hit someone with his hand because he hates him. If the person dies as a result, you must kill the murderer. The dead person's relative must kill the murderer when he meets him.

22But when a man kills another person, it might be a mistake. For example, he might push someone very hard, or he might throw something at another person. If he did not hate the other person, then it might be a mistake.

23Or he might drop a heavy stone on someone when he had not seen them. If he did not hate the other person, perhaps he did not mean to hurt him.

24If that happens, the people must judge who is right. They must choose between the killer and the dead person's relative. They must use those rules to decide if the man is a murderer.

25If the man is a killer but not a murderer, the people must keep him safe from the dead person's relative. They must send him back to the safe city that he ran to. He will live there safely until the death of the leader of God's priests.

26But one day, the killer might go outside the border of the safe city that he ran to.

27If he does that, the dead person's relative might find him outside the safe city. Then, if the dead person's relative kills him, the relative will not be guilty of murder.

28That is because the killer should have stayed in his safe city until the death of the leader of the priests. But after the leader of the priests dies, the killer may return to his own home.