Numbers 35:1-15

1Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the Moabite plains by the Jordan near Jericho. He said:

2“Instruct the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns.

3Thus they will have towns in which to live, and their grazing lands will be for their cattle, for their possessions, and for all their animals.

4The grazing lands around the towns that you will give to the Levites must extend to a distance of 500 yards from the town wall.

5“You must measure from outside the wall of the town on the east 1,000 yards, and on the south side 1,000 yards, and on the west side 1,000 yards, and on the north side 1,000 yards, with the town in the middle. This territory must belong to them as grazing land for the towns.

6Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. And you must give them forty-two other towns.

7“So the total of the towns you will give the Levites is forty-eight. You must give these together with their grazing lands.

8The towns you will give must be from the possession of the Israelites. From the larger tribes you must give more; and from the smaller tribes fewer. Each must contribute some of its own towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance allocated to each.

9Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

10“Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan River into the land of Canaan,

11you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.

12And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community.

13These towns that you must give shall be your six towns for refuge.

14“You must give three towns on this side of the Jordan, and you must give three towns in the land of Canaan; they must be towns of refuge.

15These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.