you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.

However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, and then flees to one of these cities.

When I catch up with him he will be exhausted and worn out. I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king

Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills, or like dead thistles before a strong gale.

Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. They will run away from this sword and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.

Anyone who accidentally killed someone without hating him at the time of the accident could flee to one of those cities and be safe.

The one who committed manslaughter should escape to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and present his case to the leaders of that city. They should then bring him into the city, give him a place to stay, and let him live there.