Joshua Chapter 20

Joshua Chapter 20
1 The Lord also spake unto Joshua,
saying,
2 Speak to the children of Israel, and
say, Appoint you cities of refuge,
whereof I spake unto you by the hand of
Moses,
3 That the slayer that killeth any person
by ignorance , and unwittingly, may flee
thither, and they shall be your refuge
from the avenger of blood. 4 And he that
doth flee unto one of those cities, shall
stand at the entering of the gate of the
city, and shall show his cause to the
elders of the city: and they shall receive
him into the city unto them, and give him
a place, that he may dwell with them.
5 And if the avenger of blood pursue
after him, they shall not deliver the
slayer into his hand because he smote his
neighbor ignorantly, neither hated he him
before time:
6 But he shall dwell in that city until he
stand before the congregation in
judgment, or 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, even
unto the city from whence he fled.
7 Then they appointed Kedesh in Galil
in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in
mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba,
(which is Hebron) in the mountain of
Judah. 8 And on the other side Jordan
toward Jericho eastward, they appointed
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.
9 These were the cities appointed for all
the children of Israel, and for the
stranger that sojourned among them, that
whosoever killed any person ignorantly,
might flee thither, and not die by the
hand of the avenger of blood, until he
stood before the congregation.