The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Joshua 20
1 Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,
2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying,
‘Assignthe cities of refuge, of whichI spoke
to you by Moses,
3 that the man slayer who kills any person accidentally or unintentionally may
flee there. They shall be to you for a refuge
from the avenger of blood.
4 He shall flee to one of those cities, and
shall stand atthe entrance ofthe gate ofthe
city, and declare his case in the ears of the
elders of that city. They shall take him into
the city with them, and give him a place,
that he may live among them.
5 If the avenger of blood pursues him,
then they shall not deliver up the man
slayer into his hand; because he struck his
neighbor unintentionally, and didn’t hate
him before.
6 He shall dwell in that city until he
stands before the congregation for judgment, untilthe death ofthe high priestthat
shall be in those days. Then the man slayer
shall return, and come to his own city, and
to his own house, to the city he fled from.’ ”
7 They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the
hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the
hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba
(also called Hebron) in the hill country of
Judah.
8 Beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness in the plain out of the tribe of Reuben,
Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad,
and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of
Manasseh.
9 These were the appointed cities for all
the childrenofIsrael, and for the alien who
lives among them, that whoever kills any
person unintentionally might flee there,
and not die by the hand of the avenger
of blood, until he stands trial before the
congregation.