Deuteronomy 19:3-4

19:3 You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent ¹  of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities. 19:4 Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, ²  if he has accidentally killed another ³  without hating him at the time of the accident. ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “border.”

² tn Heb “and this is the word pertaining to the one who kills who flees there and lives.”

³ tn Heb “who strikes his neighbor without knowledge.”

⁴ tn Heb “yesterday and a third (day)” (likewise in v. 6). The point is that there was no animosity between the two parties at the time of the accident and therefore no motive for the killing. Cf. NAB “had previously borne no malice”; NRSV “had not been at enmity before.”