-
Joshua 20:2-9
“ Tell the Israelites: Select your cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses,so that a person who kills someone unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood.When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before the elders of that city, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them.And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not hand the one who committed manslaughter over to him, for he killed his neighbor accidentally and did not hate him beforehand.He 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 one who committed manslaughter may return home to his own city from which he fled.”So they designated Kedesh in the hill country of Naphtali in Galilee, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba( that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.Across the Jordan east of Jericho, they selected Bezer on the wilderness plateau from Reuben’s tribe, Ramoth in Gilead from Gad’s tribe, and Golan in Bashan from Manasseh’s tribe.These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and foreigners among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die at the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the assembly.
-
1 Samuel 24 18
You yourself have told me today what good you did for me: when the Lord handed me over to you, you didn’t kill me.
-
Deuteronomy 4:41-43
Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east.Someone could flee there who committed manslaughter, killing his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him. He could flee to one of these cities and stay alive:Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau land, belonging to the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gadites; or Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manassites.
-
1 Samuel 24 4
so they said to him,“ Look, this is the day the Lord told you about:‘ I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.’” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.
-
1 Samuel 24 10
You can see with your own eyes that the Lord handed you over to me today in the cave. Someone advised me to kill you, but I took pity on you and said: I won’t lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed.
-
Deuteronomy 19:1-13
“ When the Lord your God annihilates the nations whose land He is giving you, so that you drive them out and live in their cities and houses,you are to set apart three cities for yourselves within the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.You are to determine the distances and divide the land the Lord your God is granting you as an inheritance into three regions, so that anyone who commits manslaughter can flee to these cities.“ Here is the law concerning a case of someone who kills a person and flees there to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him:If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings the ax to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, that person may flee to one of these cities and live.Otherwise, the avenger of blood in the heat of his anger might pursue the one who committed manslaughter, overtake him because the distance is great, and strike him dead. Yet he did not deserve to die, since he did not previously hate his neighbor.This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves.If the Lord your God enlarges your territory as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised to give them—provided you keep every one of these commands I am giving you today and follow them, loving the Lord your God and walking in His ways at all times— you are to add three more cities to these three.In this way, innocent blood will not be shed, and you will not become guilty of bloodshed in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.But if someone hates his neighbor, lies in ambush for him, attacks him, and strikes him fatally, and flees to one of these cities,the elders of his city must send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood and he will die.You must not look on him with pity but purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, and you will prosper.
-
Numbers 35:10-34
“ Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge.Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.“ If anyone strikes a person with an iron object and death results, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.If a man has in his hand a stone capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death.If a man has in his hand a wooden object capable of causing death and strikes another person and he dies, the murderer must be put to death.The avenger of blood himself is to kill the murderer; when he finds him, he is to kill him.Likewise, if anyone in hatred pushes a person or throws an object at him with malicious intent and he dies,or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to kill the murderer when he finds him.“ But if anyone suddenly pushes a person without hostility or throws any object at him without malicious intentor without looking drops a stone that could kill a person and he dies, but he was not his enemy and wasn’t trying to harm him,the assembly is to judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.“ If the one who kills someone ever goes outside the border of the city of refuge he fled to,and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed,for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses.These instructions will be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations wherever you live.“ If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death based on the word of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness.You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of killing someone; he must be put to death.Neither should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to his city of refuge, allowing him to return and live in the land before the death of the high priest.“ Do not defile the land where you are, for bloodshed defiles the land, and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it.Do not make the land unclean where you live and where I reside; for I, Yahweh, reside among the Israelites.”
-
Isaiah 10:7
But this is not what he intends; this is not what he plans. It is his intent to destroy and to cut off many nations.
-
Micah 7:2
Godly people have vanished from the land; there is no one upright among the people. All of them wait in ambush to shed blood; they hunt each other with a net.
-
2 Samuel 16 10
The king replied,“ Sons of Zeruiah, do we agree on anything? He curses me this way because the Lord told him,‘ Curse David!’ Therefore, who can say,‘ Why did you do that?’”