Joshua 20

¹Now Joshua was old and well along in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and well along in years, but very much of the land remains to be possessed.

²This is the land that remains: All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites,

¹⁴“Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the Lord’s army.” Then Joshua fell facedown in reverence and asked Him, “What does my Lord have to say to His servant?”

¹⁰But the Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen on your face?

²And the Lord said to Joshua, “Behold, I have delivered Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty men of valor.

²then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

³You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.

⁶Six of the cities you give the Levites are to be appointed as cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. In addition to these, give the Levites forty-two other cities.

⁴¹Then Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the east

⁴²to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities:

¹¹designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.

¹²You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁸Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

¹⁹We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,

⁷Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,

¹Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

²Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.

⁷When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square,

¹⁸Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

⁴His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.

⁹Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men of bloodshed,

¹²You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

²⁵The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

¹²You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

²⁶Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

²⁴then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

²⁵The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.)

⁷⁶And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee, Hammon, and Kiriathaim, together with their pasturelands.

³²And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands.

³⁹In those days Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah,

¹³So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave these cities, together with their pasturelands: Hebron, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah,

¹⁵(Hebron used to be called Kiriath-arba, after Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim.) Then the land had rest from war.

³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they were given Bezer, Jahaz,

⁷⁸From the tribe of Reuben east of the Jordan opposite Jericho they were given Bezer in the wilderness, Jahzah,

³⁸And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim,

²⁷This is what the Levite clans of the Gershonites were given: From the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah—two cities, together with their pasturelands.

³who said to his servants, “Do you not know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, but we have failed to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?”

⁴So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people are your people, and my horses are your horses.”

⁴³Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.

¹⁵These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or stranger among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

⁴When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before its elders, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them.

⁶He 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 manslayer may return to his own home in the city from which he fled.”