designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.

"But if anyone suddenly pushes a person without hostility or throws any object at him without malicious intent

"Here is the law concerning a case of someone who kills a person and flees there to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him:

Otherwise, the avenger of blood in the heat of his anger might pursue the one who committed manslaughter, overtake him because the distance is great, and strike him dead. Yet he did not deserve to die, since he did not previously hate his neighbor.

Godly people have vanished from the land; there is no one upright among the people. All of them wait in ambush to shed blood; they hunt each other with a net.

so they said to him, "Look, this is the day the LORD told you about: 'I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.'" Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul's robe.

You can see with your own eyes that the LORD handed you over to me today in the cave. [Someone] advised [me] to kill you, but I took pity on you and said: I won't lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD's anointed.

You yourself have told me today what good you did for me: when the LORD handed me over to you, you didn't kill me.

The king replied, "Sons of Zeruiah, do we agree on anything? He curses [me] this way because the LORD told him, 'Curse David!' Therefore, who can say, 'Why did you do that?'"

But this is not what he intends; this is not what he plans. It is his intent to destroy and to cut off many nations.

designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.

Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east,

Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau land, belonging to the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gadites; or Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manassites.

"When the LORD your God annihilates the nations whose land He is giving you, so that you drive them out and live in their cities and houses,

You are to determine the distances and divide the land the LORD your God is granting you as an inheritance into three regions, so that anyone who commits manslaughter can flee to these cities.

"Tell the Israelites: 'Select your cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses,

When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before the elders of that city, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them.

He is to stay in that city until he stands trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest serving at that time. Then the one who committed manslaughter may return home to his own city from which he fled.'"

Across the Jordan east of Jericho, they selected Bezer on the wilderness plateau from Reuben's tribe, Ramoth in Gilead from Gad's tribe, and Golan in Bashan from Manasseh's tribe.