Joshua 20

vayedabber Adonai el-yehoshua lemor

GOD said to Joshua:

dabber el-bene yisra'el lemor tenu lakhem et-are hammiqlat asher-dibbarti alekhem beyad-mosheh

“Speak to the Israelites: Designate the cities of refuge—about which I commanded you through Moses—

lanus shammah rotseakh makkeh-nefesh bishgagah bivli-da'at vehayu lakhem lemiqlat miggo'el haddam

to which a manslayer who kills a person by mistake, unintentionally, may flee. They shall serve you as a refuge from the blood avenger.

venas el-akhat mehe'arim ha'elleh ve'amad petakh sha'ar ha'ir vedibber be'ozne ziqne-ha'ir hahi et-devarayw ve'asefu oto ha'irah alehem venatenu-lo maqom veyashav immam

[The slayer] shall flee to one of those cities, stand at the entrance to the city gate, and plead the case before the elders of that city; and they shall offer admission to the city and provide a place in which to live among them.

vekhi yirdof go'el haddam akharayw velo-yasgiru et-harotseakh beyado ki vivli-da'at hikkah et-re'ehu velo-sone hu lo mittemol shilshom

Should the blood avenger come in pursuit, they shall not give up the manslayer, since the other person was killed without intent and had not been an enemy in the past.

veyashav ba'ir hahi ad-omdo lifne ha'edah lammishpat ad-mot hakkohen haggadol asher yihyeh bayyamim hahem az yashuv harotseakh uva el-iro ve'el-beto el-ha'ir asher-nas misham

[The slayer] shall live in that city until there is a trial before the assembly, [and remain there] until the death of the high priest who is in office at that time. Thereafter, the manslayer may return home, to the town from which that person fled.”

vayyaqdishu et-qedesh baggalil behar naftali ve'et-shekhem behar efrayim ve'et-qiryat arba hi khevron behar yehudah

So they set aside Kedesh in the hill country of Naphtali in Galilee, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba—that is, Hebron—in the hill country of Judah.

ume'ever leyarden yerikho mizrakhah natenu et-betser bammidbar bammishor mimmatteh re'uven ve'et-ramot baggilad mimmatteh-gad ve'et-[golan] (glvn) babbashan mimmatteh menasheh

And across the Jordan, east of Jericho, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness, in the Tableland, from the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad; and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.

elleh hayu are hammu'adah lekhol bene yisra'el velagger haggar betokham lanus shammah kol-makkeh-nefesh bishgagah velo yamut beyad go'el haddam ad-omdo lifne ha'edah

Those were the towns designated for all the Israelites and for the resident aliens among them, to which anyone who killed a person unintentionally might flee, and not die by the hand of the blood avenger before standing trial by the assembly.