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Joshua 20:3
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The Cities of Refuge

1 The Lord also spoke to Joshua, saying,
2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: a‘Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,  
3 that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
4 And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and1 declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.  
5 aThen if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand.  
6 And he shall dwell in that city auntil he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.’ ”  
7 So they appointed aKedesh in Galilee, in the mountains of Naphtali, bShechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and cKirjath Arba (which is Hebron) in dthe mountains of Judah.  
8 And on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned aBezer in the wilderness on the plain, from the tribe of Reuben, bRamoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and cGolan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh.  
Commentaries:
John Wesley's Notes
<< Joshua 20:2   Joshua 20:4 >>


Joshua 20:3

Unwittingly - Heb. Through ignorance, or error, or mistake, and without knowledge. The same thing twice repeated to cut off all the expectations that wilful murderers might have of protection here; God having declared, that such should be taken even from his altar, that they might be killed. It is strange that any Christians should make their sanctuaries give protection to such persons whom God hath so expressly excepted from it! Avenger - The nearest kinsman, who had right or power to demand, or take vengeance of the slaughter.


 
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