And the Lord spake with Mosheh in the plains of Moab, by Jordan-Jericho, saying:

Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites from their inheritance cities to dwell in, and suburbs (open spaces) to the cities round about shall you give to the Levites.

And the cities shall be for them to dwell in, and the suburbs for their cattle, their property, and all their needful things.

But of the cities which you give to the Levites the suburbs round the city shalt be one thousand cubits without the city round about.

And you shall measure outside the city, on the east side, two thousand cubits; on the South two thousatid, on the west two thousand, and on the north two thousand cubits, with the city in the midst; these shall be to you the suburbs of the cities.

And of the cities you give to the Levites, six shall be for refuges to manslayers, that the manslayer may escape thither. Beside these you shall give them forty-two other cities.

All the cities that you give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities with their suburbs.

But when you give the cities from the inheritance of the Beni Israel, from the tribe wbose people are many you shall give many, and from the tribe whose people are few you shall diminish; every one shall give of his cities to the Levites, according to the inheritance he possesses.

And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying:

Speak with the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you have passed over Jordan unto the land of Kenaan,

you shall provide you cities with streets and houses of living (boarding houses), cities of refuge shall they be to you, that thither the manslayer may flee who hath killed a man inadvertently.

And they shall be to you for cities of refuge for the manslayer from the avenger of blood, that the man may not be put to death till he shall have stood before the congregation for judgment.

And these cities which yougive shall be six cities of refuge for the manslayer;

three you shall appoint beyond Jordan, and three in the land of Kenaan; cities of refuge shall they be.

For the sons of Israel and the sojourners among you shall be these six cities of refuge, that thither whoever hath killed a man through ignorance may flee.

But if he smote him with an instrument of iron and killed him, he is a murderer; and the murderer shall be surely put to death.

Or if, filling his hand with a stone large enough to kill any one, he struck him, and killed him, he is a murderer, and the murderer dying shall die.

Or if, filling his hand with an instrument of wood sufficient to kill any one, he struck him, and killed him, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.

The avenger of blood may himself kill the manslayer, if he meet him outside of these cities; he may kill him in judgment.

But if (the manslayer) had assaulted in enmity and intentionally with a club or staff, or thrown stones upon him with purpose of heart, and killed him;

or cherishing enmity had struck him with his hand and killed him; he is a murderer; dying he shall die. The avenger of blood may slay the homicide when he hath been condemned.

But if in ignorance, without keeping of malice, he let any thing fall upon him, having no intention to kill;

or if without intention he let a stone sufficient to kill any one, or any other thing, fall upon him, and kill him, without having hated, or purposed to do him harm,

then the congregation shall judge between him who had smitten him, and the avenger of blood, according to these judgments;

and the congregation shall release the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and make him return to his city of refuge whither he had fled; and he shall dwell there until the time that the high priest die, whom the multitude (sagia) had anointed with the oil of anointing;-because he did not pray on the Day of Atonement in the Holy of Holies concerning the three great transgressions, that the people of the house of Israel might not be smitten for strange worship, or impure connexions, or the shedding of innocent blood, when it was in his power to obviate them by his prayer, and he prayed not, therefore hath he been condemned to die in that year.

But if, while the high priest is yet alive, the manslayer goeth out indeed from the bounds, of his city of refuge whither he had fled,

and the avenger of blood find him without the bounds of his city of refuge, he may kill the manslayer, without being guilty of death,

for he should have abode in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; but after the high priest is dead he may return to the land of his inheritance.

And these indications shall be to you a decree of judgment for your generations in all your dwellings:

Whosoever killeth a man, according to the word of witnesses fit to give testimony against him, the avenger of blood, or the house of judgment, shall put him to death. But one witness only shall not testify against a man to put him to death.

You may not take a ransom for the release of a murderer who is guilty of death, for dying he shall die.

Neither may you take ransom for him who hath fled to his city of refuge, so as that he may return to dwell in the land before the time of the high priest's decease.

Nor contaminate ye the land in which you are, because innocent blood which hath not been avenged will overflow the land, and there is no atonement made for the land upon which innocent blood hath been shed, but by the shedding of the blood of him who shed it.

Therefore defile not the land in which you are; for My Shekinah dwelleth in the midst of it; for I am the Lord whose Shekinah dwelleth among the children of Israel.