“‘For a ceremonially unclean person you must take ¹  some of the ashes of the heifer ²  burnt for purification from sin and pour ³  fresh running ⁴  water over them in a vessel.

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.

These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

“You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

you must bring to your city gates ¹  that man or woman who has done this wicked thing – that very man or woman – and you must stone that person to death. ² 

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.

A single witness may not testify ¹  against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established ²  only on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Do not blame ¹  your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” ²  Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed.

You must not do anything to the young woman – she has done nothing deserving of death. This case is the same as when someone attacks another person ¹  and murders him,

If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, ¹  and regards him as mere property ²  and sells him, that kidnapper ³  must die. In this way you will purge ⁴  evil from among you.

Then, ¹  if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, ²  the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. ³ 

You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; ¹  you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you.

When such a person ¹  hears the words of this oath he secretly ²  blesses himself ³  and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” ⁴  This will destroy ⁵  the watered ground with the parched. ⁶ 

There was a Benjaminite man named Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. He was a prominent person.

Now be aware of this, and see what you can do. For disaster has been planned for our lord and his entire household. ¹  He is such a wicked person ²  that no one tells him anything!”

So David and all the people who were with him got up and crossed the Jordan River. ¹  By dawn there was not one person left who had not crossed the Jordan.

If you say, “But we did not know about this,” does not the one who evaluates ¹  hearts consider? Does not the one who guards your life know? Will he not repay each person according to his deeds? ² 

Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done: Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵  This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

Whatever has happened was foreordained, ¹  and what happens to a person ²  was also foreknown. It is useless for him to argue with God about his fate because God is more powerful than he is. ³ 

He will become a sanctuary, ¹  but a stone that makes a person trip, and a rock that makes one stumble – to the two houses of Israel. ²  He will become ³  a trap and a snare to the residents of Jerusalem. ⁴