1. “After the Lord your God has destroyed the people whose land he is giving you and after you have taken their cities and houses and settled there,
2-3. divide the territory into three parts, each with a city that can be easily reached. Then anyone who kills someone will be able to escape to one of them for protection.
4. If someone accidentally kills someone who is not an enemy, he may escape to any of these cities and be safe.
5. For example, if two men go into the forest together to cut wood and if, as one of them is chopping down a tree, the head of the axe comes off the handle and kills the other, he can run to one of those three cities and be safe.