Deuteronomy 19:1-13

1“1When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, 22you shall set aside for yourself three cities in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to 3possess. 3You shall prepare the 4roads for yourself, and divide into three regions the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as an inheritance, 5so that anyone who commits manslaughter may flee there.

4“6Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he 7kills his friend 8unintentionally, 9not hating him previously-- 5as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand 10swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the 11handle and 12strikes his friend so that he dies--he may flee to one of these cities and live. 6Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue 13him 14in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and 15take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. 7Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’

8“And if the Lord your God 16enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He 17promised to give your fathers-- 9if you 18carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, 19to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always--20then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. 10So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and 21guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.

11“But 22if there is a person who hates his neighbor, and waits in ambush for him and rises up against him and strikes 23him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12then the elders of his city shall send men and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. 132425You shall not pity him, but 26you shall eliminate the guilt for the bloodshed of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well for you.