Joshua 20

Six Cities of Refuge

1 Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,
2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'Designate 1the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,
3 that the manslayer who kills any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become your refuge from the avenger of blood.
4 'He shall flee to one of these cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the 2gate of the city and state his case in the hearing of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city to them and give him a place, so that he may dwell among them.
5 'Now 3if the avenger of blood pursues him, then they shall not deliver the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor without premeditation and did not hate him beforehand *.
6 'He shall dwell in that city 4until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the manslayer shall return * to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.' "
7 So they set apart 5Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron ) in 6the hill country of Judah.
8 Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.
9 7These were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them, that whoever kills any person unintentionally may flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation.

Cross References 7

  • 1. Numbers 35:6-34; Deuteronomy 4:41-43; Deuteronomy 19:2f
  • 2. Ruth 4:1; Job 5:4; Jeremiah 38:7
  • 3. Numbers 35:12
  • 4. Numbers 35:12
  • 5. Joshua 21:32; 1 Chronicles 6:76
  • 6. Joshua 21:11; Luke 1:39
  • 7. Numbers 35:13f

Footnotes 9

Joshua 20 Commentaries

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