Joshua 20:1-7

Cities of Refuge

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua:
2 “Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses,
3 so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood.
4 When they flee to one of these cities, they are to stand in the entrance of the city gate and state their case before the elders of that city. Then the elders are to admit the fugitive into their city and provide a place to live among them.
5 If the avenger of blood comes in pursuit, the elders must not surrender the fugitive, because the fugitive killed their neighbor unintentionally and without malice aforethought.
6 They are to stay in that city until they have stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then they may go back to their own home in the town from which they fled.”
7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

Cross References 10

  • 1. S Leviticus 4:2
  • 2. S Numbers 35:12
  • 3. S Genesis 23:10; Ruth 4:1; Jeremiah 38:7
  • 4. S Joshua 7:6
  • 5. S Numbers 35:12
  • 6. S Joshua 12:22; Joshua 21:32; 1 Chronicles 6:76
  • 7. S Genesis 12:6
  • 8. S Genesis 35:27
  • 9. S Joshua 10:36; Joshua 21:11
  • 10. Luke 1:39
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