Bilingual reading

The LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Assign the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by Moses,

that the man slayer who kills any person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there. They shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger of blood.

He shall flee to one of those cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declare his case in the ears of the elders of that city. They shall take him into the city with them, and give him a place, that he may live among them.

If the avenger of blood pursues him, then they shall not deliver up the man slayer into his hand; because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, and didn’t hate him before.

He shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days. Then the man slayer shall return, and come to his own city, and to his own house, to the city he fled from.’”

They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

Beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness in the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.

These were the appointed cities for all the children of Israel, and for the alien who lives among them, that whoever kills any person unintentionally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stands trial before the congregation.

وخاطَبَ الرَّبُّ يَشوعَ قائِلًا

«كَلِّمْ بَني إِسْرائيلَ وقُلْ لَهم: إِجعَلوا لَكم مُدُنَ المَلجَإِ الَّتي كَلَّمتُكم بِها على لِسانِ موسى

حتَّى يَهرُبَ إِلَيها كُلُّ قاتِلٍ نَفْسًا سَهْوًا بِغَيرِ قَصْد، فتَكونَ لَكم مَلجَأً مِنَ المُنتَقِمِ لِلدَّم

يَهرُبُ القاتِلُ إِلى واحِدَةٍ مِن هٰذه المُدُن، ويَقِفُ بِمَدخَلِ بابِ المدينة، ويَتَكَلَّمُ على مسامِعِ شُيوخِها في شَأنِه، فيَضُمُّونَه إِلَيهم في المَدينة، ويُعْطونَه مَكانًا فيُقيمُ معَهم

فإِذا طارَدَه المُنتَقِمُ لِلدَّم، فلا يُسلِمونَ القاتِلَ إِلى يَدِه، لِأَنَّه قَتَلَ قَريبَه بِغَيرِ قَصْدٍ ولم يَكُنْ مُبغِضًا لَه مِن أَمسِ فما قَبلُ

ويُقيمُ في تِلكَ المَدينةِ إِلى حينِ وقُوفِه أَمامَ الجَماعةِ لِلمُحاكمة (إِلى أن يَموتَ عَظيمُ الكَهَنَةِ الَّذي يَكونُ في تِلكَ الأَيَّام. فحينَئِذٍ يَعودُ القاتِلُ إِلى مَدينَتِه وأَهلِه، إِلى المَدينةِ الَّتي هَرَبَ مِنها)»

فكَرَّسوا قادَشَ في الجَليل، في جَبَلِ نَفْتالي، وشكيمَ في جَبَلِ أَفرائيم، وقِريَةَ أَربَع، وهي حَبْرون، في جَبَلِ يَهوذا

وفي عِبرِ أُردُنِّ أَريحا شَرقًا، جَعَلوا باصَرَ في البَرِّيَّةِ في السَّهْل، مِن سِبطِ رَأُوبين، وراموتَ في جِلْعادَ مِن سِبطِ جاد، وجَولانَ في باشان مِن سِبطِ مَنَسَّى

تِلكَ كانَت مُدُنَ المَلجَإِ لِجَميعِ بَني إِسْرائيل، ولِلنَّزيلِ المُقيمِ في وَسْطِهم، حتَّى يَهرُبَ إِلَيها كُلُّ قاتِلِ نَفْسٍ سَهوًا، فلا يَموتَ بِيَدِ المُنتَقِمِ لِلدَّم، إلى حينِ وُقوفِه أَمامَ الجَماعة