1 Then the Lord told Joshua
2 to say to the people of Israel, “Choose the cities of refuge that I commanded Moses to tell you about.
3 A person who kills someone accidentally can go there and escape the one who is looking for revenge.
4 He or she can run away to one of these cities, go to the place of judgement at the entrance to the city, and explain to the leaders what happened. Then they will let him or her into the city and give them a place to live in, so that they can stay there.
5 If the one looking for revenge follows them there, the people of the city must not hand them over to them. They must protect them because they killed the person accidentally and not out of anger.
6 They may stay in the city until they have received a public trial and until the death of the man who is then the High Priest. Then they may go back home to their own town, from which they had run away.”