Joshua 20

1 And the Lord spoke to Joshua. He said, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say: Give the cities of refuge that I spoke of to you through Moses — 3 a refuge for the killer who has struck down a person without meaning to. The cities are to be a refuge for you, and the killer is not to die by the near relative who avenges the blood, until he has stood before the gathering for judgment.” [a]

7 And Joshua set apart Kedesh in Galilee, in the hill country of Naphtali; and Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim; and the city of Arbok — that is Hebron — in the hill country of Judah. [b] 8 And beyond the Jordan he gave Bezer in the wilderness, on the plain, out of the tribe of Reuben; and Ramoth in Gilead, out of the tribe of Gad; and Golan in the country of Bashan, out of the tribe of Manasseh. [d] 9 These were the cities called out for the children of Israel, and for the newcomer living among them, so that anyone who struck down a person without meaning to could flee there and not die by the hand of the near relative who avenges the blood, until he had stood before the gathering for judgment. [e]