22. “But suppose anyone accidentally kills someone he does not hate, whether by pushing him down or by throwing something at him.
23. Or suppose that, without looking, anyone throws a stone that kills someone whom he did not intend to hurt and who was not his enemy.
24. In such cases the community shall judge in favour of the one who caused the death and not in favour of the dead person's relative who is seeking revenge.
25. The community is to rescue the one guilty of manslaughter from the dead person's relative, and they are to return him to the city of refuge to which he had escaped. He must live there until the death of the man who is then High Priest.
26. If the one guilty of manslaughter leaves the city of refuge to which he has escaped
27. and if the dead person's relative finds him and kills him, this act of revenge is not murder.
28. The person guilty of manslaughter must remain in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest, but after that he may return home.
29. These rules apply to you and your descendants wherever you may live.
30. “Anyone accused of murder may be found guilty and put to death only on the evidence of two or more witnesses; the evidence of one witness is not sufficient to support an accusation of murder.
31. A murderer must be put to death. He cannot escape this penalty by the payment of money.
32. If someone has fled to a city of refuge, do not allow him to make a payment in order to return home before the death of the High Priest.
33. If you did this, you would defile the land where you are living. Murder defiles the land, and except by the death of the murderer there is no way to perform the ritual of purification for the land where someone has been murdered.
34. Do not defile the land where you are living, because I am the Lord and I live among the people of Israel.”