“And this is the matter of the one who killed someone who flees there and live: He who smites his neighbour unintentionally, not having hated him in time past,
And she said, “Please let the sovereign remember יהוה your Elohim, and the redeemer of blood not destroy any more, lest they destroy my son.” And he said, “As יהוה lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the ground.”
For Topheth was ordained of old, even for the sovereign it has been prepared. He has made it deep and large, its fire pit with much wood; the breath of יהוה, as a stream of burning sulphur, is burning in it!
‘And they shall be cities of refuge for you from the revenger, and the one who killed someone is not to die until he stands before the congregation in right-ruling.
“Prepare a way for yourself, and divide into three parts the border of your land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you to inherit, that anyone who killed someone shall flee there.
even he who goes to the forest with his neighbour to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbour so that he dies – let him flee to one of these cities and live,
lest the revenger of blood, while his displeasure is hot, pursue the one who killed someone and overtake him, because the way is long, and shall smite him, though he was not worthy of death, since he had not hated him before.
for him who killed someone to flee there, he who kills his neighbour unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and might flee to one of these cities and live:
“Only, keep a distance between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, so that you know which way to go, for you have not passed over this way before.”