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And Yahuah spoke to Mosheh in the plains of Moav by the Yarden opposite Yericho, saying,
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“Command the sons of Yisra’el that they give to the Leviim, from the inheritance of their possession, cities to dwell in. And pasturelands around the cities you shall give to the Leviim.
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And the cities shall be for them to dwell in, and their pasturelands shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all their beasts.
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And the pasturelands of the cities that you shall give to the Leviim shall extend from the wall of the city outward one thousand cubits all around.
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And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the midst. This shall be for them the pasturelands of the cities.
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And among the cities that you shall give to the Leviim shall be six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee there. And besides them you shall give forty-two cities.
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All the cities that you shall give to the Leviim shall be forty-eight cities, them and their pasturelands.
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And the cities that you give from the possession of the sons of Yisra’el—from the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few. Each shall give from his cities to the Leviim according to his inheritance that he inherits.”
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And Yahuah spoke to Mosheh, saying,
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“Speak to the sons of Yisra’el and say to them: When you cross the Yarden into the land of Kena’an,
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then you shall appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who strikes a being unintentionally may flee there.
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And the cities shall be for you as refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer does not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.
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And the cities that you give shall be six cities of refuge for you.
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Three cities you shall give beyond the Yarden, and three cities you shall give in the land of Kena’an. Cities of refuge they shall be.
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For the sons of Yisra’el, and for the sojourner, and for the settler in their midst, these six cities shall be for refuge, that everyone who strikes a being unintentionally may flee there.
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But if he struck him with an instrument of iron and he died, he is a murderer. Dying, the murderer shall surely die.
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And if with a stone in the hand, by which one may die, he struck him and he died, he is a murderer. Dying, the murderer shall surely die.
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Or if with a wooden instrument in the hand, by which one may die, he struck him and he died, he is a murderer. Dying, the murderer shall surely die.
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The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death.
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And if out of hatred he thrusts him, or throws something at him while lying in wait, so that he dies,
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or in hostility strikes him with his hand so that he dies, dying, the one who struck shall surely die. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
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But if suddenly, without hostility, he thrusts him, or throws any object upon him without lying in wait,
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or with any stone by which one may die, without seeing him, he causes it to fall upon him and he dies, though he was not his enemy and was not seeking his harm,
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then the congregation shall judge between the one who struck and the avenger of blood according to these judgments.
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And the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to his city of refuge to which he fled. And he shall dwell in it until the death of the high kohen who was anointed with the holy oil.
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But if going out, the manslayer goes out from the border of his city of refuge to which he fled,
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and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, there shall be no bloodguilt upon him.
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For he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high kohen. But after the death of the high kohen, the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.
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And these things shall be for you as a statute of judgment throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
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Whoever strikes a being, by the mouth of witnesses the murderer shall be put to death. But one witness shall not answer against a being for death.
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And you shall not take a ransom for the being of a murderer who is guilty of death, for dying, he shall surely die.
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And you shall not take a ransom for one who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the kohen.
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And you shall not pollute the land in which you are, for blood pollutes the land, and for the land no atonement can be made for the blood shed in it except by the blood of the one who shed it.
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And you shall not make unclean the land in which you dwell, in the midst of which I dwell. For I, Yahuah, dwell in the midst of the sons of Yisra’el.”