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.

‘Cursed is the one who kills ¹  his neighbor in private.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

Instead, you must kill him without fail! ¹  Your own hand must be the first to strike him, ²  and then the hands of the whole community.

The Lord your God will deliver it over to you ¹  and you must kill every single male by the sword.

Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, ¹  if he has accidentally killed another ²  without hating him at the time of the accident. ³ 

If a homicide victim ¹  should be found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you, ²  and no one knows who killed ³  him,

The Lord was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but at that time I prayed for him ¹  too.

“See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord, ¹  “and there is no other god besides me. I kill and give life, I smash and I heal, and none can resist ²  my power.

However, suppose a person hates someone else ¹  and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, ²  and then flees to one of these cities.

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.

Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, ¹  and kill him, ²  though this is not a capital case ³  since he did not hate him at the time of the accident.

Otherwise the people of the land ¹  from which you brought us will say, “The Lord was unable to bring them to the land he promised them, and because of his hatred for them he has brought them out to kill them in the desert.” ² 

You must not murder. ¹ 

If the place he ¹  chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he ²  has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages ³  just as you wish.

Suppose he goes with someone else ¹  to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax ²  to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose ³  from the handle and strikes ⁴  his fellow worker ⁵  so hard that he dies. The person responsible ⁶  may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. ⁷ 

You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages ¹  that the Lord your God is giving you,

On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you ¹  in all your villages. ²  Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex.

This took place after the defeat ¹  of King Sihon ²  of the Amorites, whose capital was ³  in Heshbon, ⁴  and King Og of Bashan, whose capital was ⁵  in Ashtaroth, ⁶  specifically in Edrei. ⁷ 

So the Lord our God did indeed give over to us King Og of Bashan and his whole army and we struck them down until not a single survivor was left. ¹