But ¹  the inhabitants ²  are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.

So when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent a messenger, ¹  and has brought us up out of Egypt. Now ²  we are here in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your country. ³ 

So Israel made a vow ¹  to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver ²  this people into our ³  hand, then we will utterly destroy ⁴  their cities.”

The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, ¹  and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called ²  Hormah.

When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at a city of Moab which was on the border of the Arnon at the boundary of his territory.

Nebo, Baal Meon (with a change of name), and Sibmah. They renamed ¹  the cities they built.

And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community.

These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood,

because the slayer ¹  should have stayed in his town of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to the land of his possessions.

And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. ¹ 

and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities,

For Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites. Now he had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all of his land from his control, ¹  as far as the Arnon.

but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness ¹  and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against ²  the inhabitants of the land.

The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there ¹  until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.