Liber Iosue, 20

1. Et locutus est Dominus ad Iosue dicens: “Loquere filiis Israel et dic eis:

1. Then the LORD said to Joshua,

2. Separate vobis urbes fugitivorum, de quibus locutus sum ad vos per manum Moysi,

2. "Say to the people of Israel, `Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,

3. ut confugiat ad eas, quicumque animam percusserit per errorem nescius, et possit evadere iram proximi, qui ultor est sanguinis.

3. that the manslayer who kills any person without intent or unwittingly may flee there; they shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.

4. Cum ad unam harum confugerit civitatum, stabit ante portam civitatis et loquetur senioribus urbis illius ea, quae se comprobent innocentem; sicque suscipient eum et dabunt ei locum ad habitandum.

4. He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and explain his case to the elders of that city; then they shall take him into the city, and give him a place, and he shall remain with them.

5. Cumque ultor sanguinis eum fuerit persecutus, non tradent in manus eius, quia ignorans percussit proximum suum nec ante biduum triduumve eius probatur inimicus.

5. And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the slayer into his hand; because he killed his neighbor unwittingly, having had no enmity against him in times past.

6. Et habitabit in civitate illa, donec stet ante coetum ad iudicium, causam reddens facti sui, donec moriatur sacerdos magnus, qui fuerit in illo tempore. Tunc revertetur homicida et ingredietur civitatem suam et domum suam, de qua fugerat”.

6. And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time: then the slayer may go again to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.'"

7. Decreveruntque Cedes in Galilaea montis Nephthali et Sichem in monte Ephraim et Cariatharbe — ipsa est Hebron — in monte Iudae;

7. So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naph'tali, and Shechem in the hill country of E'phraim, and Kir'iath-ar'ba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

8. et trans Iordanem contra orientalem plagam Iericho statuerunt Bosor, quae sita est in campestri solitudine de tribu Ruben, et Ramoth in Galaad de tribu Gad et Golan in Basan de tribu Manasse.

8. And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manas'seh.

9. Hae civitates constitutae sunt cunctis filiis Israel et advenis, qui habitant inter eos, ut fugeret ad eas, qui animam nescius percussisset et non moreretur in manu proximi effusum sanguinem vindicare cupientis, donec staret ante populum expositurus causam suam.

9. These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel, and for the stranger sojourning among them, that any one who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.