¹⁹ The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he himself shall put him to death when he meets him.

²¹ or if he struck him with his hand with hostility, and as a result he died, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

⁴ “^(A)Now this is the case of the one who commits manslaughter, who may flee there and live: when he ^[a]kills his friend ^[b]unintentionally, ^[c]not hating him previously— ⁵ as when a person goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand ^[d]swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the ^[e]handle and ^[f]strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue ^[g]him ^[h]in the heat of his anger, and overtake him because the way is long, and ^[i]take his life, though he was not sentenced to death since he had not hated him previously. ⁷ Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside for yourself three cities.’

⁸ “And if the Lord your God ^(B)enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that He ^[j]promised to give your fathers— ⁹ if you ^[k]carefully follow all of this commandment which I am commanding you today, ^(C)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—^(D)then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. ¹⁰ So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and ^(E)guilt for bloodshed will not be on you.