Joshua, 20

1. The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying,

1. Yahweh said to Joshua,

2. Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses:

2. "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: Choose the cities of refuge about which I told you through Moses,

3. That the slayer that killeth [any] person unawares [and] unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.

3. towns where a person who kills someone accidentally may find safety; they are to be your refuge from the dead person's relative who is looking for revenge.

4. And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.

4. The man who has killed may run away to one of these towns; he shall appear at the entrance to the town and explain his case to the elders of the place. They shall welcome him and assign him. place to live among them.

5. And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime.

5. If the person who wants revenge follows him there, they are not to hand him over, since he has killed his neighbor accidentally and not out of hatred.

6. And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, [and] until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.

6. The man who has killed must remain in that town until he has received a public trial and until the death of the high priest then in office. Only then may the man who has killed go back to his own town and his own house, to the town from which he has escaped."

7. And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which [is] Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.

7. For this purpose they set aside Kedesh in Galilee, in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the highlands of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba, which is now Hebron, in the hill country of Judah.

8. And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.

8. East of the Jordan, in the desert east of Jericho, they chose Bezer in the territory of Reuben, Ramoth-gilead in the territory of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the territory of Manasseh.

9. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth [any] person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.

9. These were the towns set aside for all the Israelites and for any foreigner living among them, where anyone who had killed a person accidentally could find safety from the dead person's relative looking for revenge, until he had been given a public trial.