The cities of refuge

19 After Yahweh our God has gotten rid of the people-groups from the land that he is giving to you, and after you have expelled them from their cities and you start to live in their houses, 2-3 2-3you must divide into three parts the land that he is giving to you. Then choose a city in each part. You must make good roads in order that people can get to those cities easily. Someone who kills another person can escape to one of those cities to be safe/protected.

4 “This is the rule about someone who has killed another person. If someone ◄accidentally/without planning to► kills another person who was not his enemy, he may escape to one of those cities and be safe/protected there. 5 For example, if two men go into the forest to cut some wood, if the axe head comes off the handle while one of them is chopping down a tree and the axe head strikes and kills the other man, the man who was using the axe will be allowed to run to one of those cities and be safe there, because the people of that city will protect him. 6 Because he accidentally killed someone, and because the man was not his enemy, he can try to run to one of those cities. If there were only one city, it may be a long distance to that city. Then if the relative of the man who was killed [MTY], the man who is supposed/expected to get revenge, is very angry, he may be able to catch the other person before he arrives at that city. 7 To prevent that from happening, you must choose three cities, not only one, in order that someone can get to one of those cities quickly.

8-9 8-9“If you do everything that I am today commanding you to do, and if you love Yahweh our God, and if you conduct your lives as he wants you to do, Yahweh our God will give you much more land than you will have when you first occupy it, which is what he promised to do. He will give you all the land which he promised your ancestors that he would give to you. When he gives you that land, you must select three more cities to which people may escape. 10 Do this in order that people who ◄are innocent/have killed someone else without planning to► will not die, and you will not be guilty for allowing them to be executed, in the land that Yahweh is giving to you.

11 “But suppose someone hates his enemy and hides and waits for that person to come along the road. Then when he passes by, suddenly he attacks him and murders him. If the attacker flees to one of those cities to be protected there, 12 the elders of the city where the murdered man lived must not protect the attacker. They. must send someone to the city to which the other man escaped, and bring him to [MTY] the relative who is supposed/expected to get revenge, so that he may execute that man. 13 You must not pity those who murder other people! Instead, you must execute them, in order that the people in the land of Israel will not murder [MTY] innocent people, and in order that things will go well for you.”