6And the cities that you shall give to the Levites: six cities of refuge that you shall give so that the murderer may flee there, and in addition you shall give forty-two cities.7All the cities that you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities together with their pasturelands.8The cities that you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel: from the many you shall multiply and from the few you shall diminish; each man shall give of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his inheritance that he inherits.9The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,10Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,11You shall designate cities for yourselves; cities of refuge they shall be for you, and the one who strikes down a life unintentionally may flee there.12The cities shall be for you as refuge from the avenger of blood, so that the murderer shall not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.13The cities that you shall give shall be six cities of refuge for you.14You shall give three of the cities on the side of the Jordan and three of the cities in the land of Canaan; these shall be cities of refuge.15These six cities shall be for the sons of Israel and for the sojourner and for the resident alien among them, as refuge to which anyone who strikes down a life unintentionally may flee.16If anyone strikes him with an iron implement so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.17If anyone strikes him with a stone by which he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.18Or if anyone strikes him with a wooden implement by which he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.19The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death.20If he pushes him out of hatred or throws something upon him from ambush and he dies,21Or if he strikes him with his hand out of enmity and he dies, the striker is a murderer; the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.22But if he pushes him suddenly without enmity or throws any implement upon him without ambush,23Or if he drops any stone upon him without seeing him so that he dies, and he was not his enemy and was not seeking his harm,24And the congregation shall judge between the one who struck and the redeemer of the blood upon these judgments.25The congregation shall rescue the murderer from the hand of the avenger of blood and shall return him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall dwell in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.26If the murderer goes out beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he flees,27And the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and the avenger of blood kills the murderer, he shall have no bloodguilt.28For he shall dwell in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; but after the death of the high priest the murderer may return to the land of his possession.29These shall be for you a statute of judgment throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.30Anyone who strikes down a life shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses, but one witness shall not testify against a life to cause death.31You shall not take a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty so as to die, for he shall surely be put to death.32You shall not take a ransom for one who flees to his city of refuge so as to return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest.33You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and for the land no atonement can be made for the blood that is shed in it except by the blood of the one who shed it.34You shall not defile the land in which you dwell, in which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel.