“‘He gave it to be polished, to be grasped in the hand – the sword is sharpened, it is polished – giving it into the hand of the executioner.

then the community must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these decisions.

But if the slayer at any time goes outside the boundary of the town to which he had fled,

because the slayer ¹  should have stayed in his town of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to the land of his possessions.

from the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter), Mahanaim,

The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there ¹  until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.

When the avenger of blood comes after him, they must not hand over to him the one who committed manslaughter, for he accidentally killed his fellow man without premeditation. ¹ 

So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they assigned Hebron (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter), Libnah,

They assigned them Shechem (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter) in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer,

from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter), Hammoth Dor, and Kartan, along with the grazing areas of each – a total of three cities.

They assigned to the Gershonite clans of the Levites the following cities: ¹  from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter) and Beeshtarah, along with the grazing areas of each – a total of two cities;

you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.

Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, ¹  if he has accidentally killed another ²  without hating him at the time of the accident. ³ 

Anyone who accidentally kills someone can escape there; ¹  these cities will be a place of asylum from the avenger of blood.

He must remain ¹  in that city until his case is decided by the assembly ²  and the high priest dies. ³  Then the one who committed manslaughter may return home to the city from which he escaped.” ⁴ 

Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, ¹  and kill him, ²  though this is not a capital case ³  since he did not hate him at the time of the accident.

And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community.

and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood,

Has the Lord struck down Israel like he did their oppressors? ¹  Has Israel been killed like their enemies? ² 

Just as lion cubs are born predators, ¹  so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.