But if he does not do it with premeditation, ¹  but it happens by accident, ²  then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, ¹  you will take him even from my altar that he may die.

And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. ¹ 

Anyone who accidentally killed someone ¹  without hating him at the time of the accident ²  could flee to one of those cities and be safe.

Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you – though you are a man and not a god – when you are in the power of those who wound you?

Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. ¹  And you must give them forty-two other towns.

You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent ¹  of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.

The one who committed manslaughter ¹  should escape to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and present his case to the leaders of that city. ²  They should then bring him into the city, give him a place to stay, and let him live there. ³ 

Suppose he goes with someone else ¹  to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax ²  to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose ³  from the handle and strikes ⁴  his fellow worker ⁵  so hard that he dies. The person responsible ⁶  may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. ⁷ 

But he did not execute the sons of the assassins. He obeyed the Lord’s commandment as recorded in the law scroll of Moses, ¹  “Fathers must not be put to death for what their sons do, ²  and sons must not be put to death for what their fathers do. ³  A man must be put to death only for his own sin.” ⁴