Deuteronomy 19:5

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

Suppose someone goes into the forest with another to cut wood, and when one of them swings the ax to cut down a tree, the head slips from the handle and strikes the other person, who then dies; the killer may flee to one of these cities and live.

Cross References

2 Kings 6:4

So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.

Proverbs 27:12

The clever see danger and hide, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

Isaiah 32:2

Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

Numbers 35:25

and the congregation shall rescue the slayer from the avenger of blood. Then the congregation shall send the slayer back to the original city of refuge. The slayer shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

Deuteronomy 19:4

“Now this is the case of a homicide who might flee there and live, that is, someone who has killed another person unintentionally when the two had not been at enmity before.

Deuteronomy 19:6

But if the distance is too great, the avenger of blood in hot anger might pursue and overtake and put the killer to death, although a death sentence was not deserved, since the two had not been at enmity before.