"Tell the Israelites that they should give some of the cities in their part of the land to the Levites. The Israelites should give these cities and the pastures around them to the Levites.
The Levites will be able to live in them. And all the cattle and other animals that belong to the Levites will be able to eat from the pastures around these cities.
Measure off an area around the city for the Levites. Start at the northeast corner and measure 3000 feet to the south. Then from this corner, measure 3000 feet to the west. From there measure 3000 feet to the north and from that corner, 3000 feet to the east. The city will be in the center of this area.
Six of those cities will be cities of safety. If a person accidentally kills someone, that person can run to those towns for safety. In addition to those six cities, you will also give 42 more cities to the Levites.
The large tribes of Israel will get large pieces of land. The small tribes of Israel will get small pieces of land. So the large tribes will give more cities and the small tribes will give fewer cities to the Levites."
These cities will be places of safety for citizens of Israel, and for foreigners and travelers. Any of these people will be able to run to one of these cities if they accidentally kill someone.
"You might hit someone with your hand or push someone or throw something at them and kill them. If you did that from hate, you are a murderer, and you must be killed. A member of the dead person's family can chase you and kill you.
Perhaps you threw a rock that was large enough to kill, but it hit someone you didn't see and killed them. You didn't plan to kill anyone. You didn't hate the person you killed—it was only an accident.
If the community decides to protect you from the dead person's family, the community must take you back to your city of safety. You must stay there until the official high priest dies.
"You must never go outside the limits of your city of safety. If you do and if a member of the dead person's family catches you and kills you, that family member will not be guilty of murder.
Whoever accidentally killed someone must stay in their city of safety until the high priest dies. After the high priest dies, that person can go back to their own land.
"If a person killed someone and then ran to one of the cities of safety, don't take money to let that person go home. That person must stay in that city until the high priest dies.
"Don't let your land be polluted with innocent blood. If a person murders someone, the only payment for that crime is that the murderer must be killed! There is no other payment that will free the land from that crime.