The Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

Command the Israelites, ‘Set up your own cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses.’,

So that those who unintentionally kill can escape there. These cities can serve as places for you to escape from the avenger of blood.

The murderer shall flee to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city, and tell the elders of the city about his affairs. They took him into the city and gave him a place to live among them.

If the avenger of blood pursues him, the elders shall not hand him over to the avenger of blood. Because he had no hatred or intention of killing people.

He will stay in that city and stand before the assembly to hear the judgment. Only when the high priest dies at that time can the murderer return to his own city and home, which is the city from which he fled.

So the Israelites divided Kedesh in Galilee in the mountains of Naphtali. Divide the sword in the mountains of Ephraim. Divide Kiriath Aba (which is Hebron) in the mountains of Judah.

And he set up Bezer in the plain of the wilderness, out of the tribe of Reuben, in Jerichodom beyond the Jordan River. Establish Ramoth Gilead from the tribe of Gad. Establish Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.

These are the cities designated for all Israel and for the strangers who reside among them, so that anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there and not die in the hands of the avenger of blood, until he stands before the assembly to hear judgment.