2. Then choose three cities. They must be in the middle of the land the Lord your God is giving you to own.
3. Build roads to those cities. And divide the land the Lord is giving you into three parts. Then someone who kills another person may run to these cities.
4. This is the rule for someone who kills another person. He may run to one of these cities to save his life. But he must have killed his neighbor without meaning to kill him. He did not hate his neighbor.
5. A man might go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood. The man swings his ax to cut down a tree. But the ax head flies off the handle. It hits his neighbor and kills him. The man who killed him may run to one of these cities to save his life.
6. Otherwise, the dead man’s relative who has the duty of punishing a murderer might be angry and chase him. And the relative might catch him if the city is far away. The relative might kill the man. But the man should not be killed because he did not mean to kill his neighbor.
7. This is why I command you to choose these three cities.
10. This is so that innocent people will not be killed in your land. The Lord your God is giving it to you to own. By doing this you will not be guilty of murder.
11. But a person might hate his neighbor. And he might hide and wait for him. He might attack and kill him and then run to one of these cities for safety.