Deuteronomy 4:41-43

The Narrative Concerning Cities of Refuge

4:41 Then Moses selected three cities in the Transjordan, toward the east. 4:42 Anyone who accidentally killed someone ¹  without hating him at the time of the accident ²  could flee to one of those cities and be safe. 4:43 These cities are Bezer, in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassehites.

Deuteronomy 19:8-10

19:8 If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors ³  and gives you all the land he pledged to them, ⁴  19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments ⁵  I am giving ⁶  you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities ⁷  to these three. 19:10 You must not shed innocent blood ⁸  in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. ⁹ 

Joshua 20:7-9

20:7 So they selected ¹⁰  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. 20:8 Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho ¹¹  they selected ¹²  Bezer in the desert on the plain belonging to the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan belonging to the tribe of Manasseh. 20:9 These were the cities of refuge ¹³  appointed for all the Israelites and for resident foreigners living among them. Anyone who accidentally killed someone could escape there and not be executed by ¹⁴  the avenger of blood, at least until his case was reviewed by the assembly. ¹⁵ 

[4:42]  ¹ tn Heb “the slayer who slew his neighbor without knowledge.”

[4:42]  ² tn Heb “yesterday and a third (day).” 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.

[19:8]  ³ tn Heb “fathers.”

[19:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “he said to give to your ancestors.” The pronoun has been used in the translation instead for stylistic reasons.

[19:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “all this commandment.” This refers here to the entire covenant agreement of the Book of Deuteronomy as encapsulated in the Shema (Deut 6:4-5).

[19:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today.”

[19:9]  ⁷ sn You will add three more cities. Since these are alluded to nowhere else and thus were probably never added, this must be a provision for other cities of refuge should they be needed (cf. v. 8). See P. C. Craigie, Deuteronomy (NICOT), 267.

[19:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “innocent blood must not be shed.” The Hebrew phrase דָּם נָקִי (dam naqiy) means the blood of a person to whom no culpability or responsibility adheres because what he did was without malice aforethought (HALOT 224 s.v דָּם 4.b).

[19:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “and blood will be upon you” (cf. KJV, ASV); NRSV “thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.”

[20:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “set apart.”

[20:8]  ¹¹ map For the location of Jericho see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[20:8]  ¹² tn Or “set aside.”

[20:9]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text reads simply “the cities.” The words “for refuge” are supplied for clarification.

[20:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and not die by the hand of.”

[20:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “until he stands before the assembly.” The words “at least” are supplied for clarification.