¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

² "Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and you shall give suburbs for the cities around them to the Levites.

³ The cities shall they have to dwell in; and their suburbs shall be for their livestock, and for their substance, and for all their animals.

⁴ "The suburbs of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits around it.

⁵ You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.

⁶ "The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to: and besides them you shall give forty-two cities.

⁷ All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities together with their suburbs.

⁸ Concerning the cities which you shall give of the possession of the children of Israel, from the many you shall take many; and from the few you shall take few: everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give of his cities to the Levites."

⁹ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁰ "Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

¹¹ then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

¹² The cities shall be to you for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer not die, until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

¹³ The cities which you shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge.

¹⁴ You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge.

¹⁵ For the children of Israel, and for the stranger and for the foreigner living among them, shall these six cities be for refuge; that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

¹⁶ "'But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷ If he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸ Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

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

²⁰ If he thrust him of hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so that he died,

²¹ or in enmity struck him with his hand, so that he died; he who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meets him.

²² "'But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait,

²³ or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him, so that he died, and he was not his enemy, neither sought his harm;

²⁴ then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances;

²⁵ and the congregation shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he was fled: and he shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

²⁶ "'But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, where he flees,

²⁷ and the avenger of blood find him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kill the manslayer; he shall not be guilty of blood,

²⁸ because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return into the land of his possession.

²⁹ "'These things shall be for a statute [and] ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

³⁰ "'Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person that he die.

³¹ "'Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death.

³² "'You shall take no ransom for him who is fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.

³³ "'So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it.

³⁴ You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell: for I, Yahweh, dwell in the midst of the children of Israel.'"

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

² Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God's Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

³ God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

⁴ God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

⁵ God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." There was evening and there was morning, one day.

⁶ God said, "Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."

⁷ God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

⁸ God called the expanse "sky." There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

⁹ God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;" and it was so.

¹⁰ God called the dry land "earth," and the gathering together of the waters he called "seas." God saw that it was good.

¹¹ God said, "Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth;" and it was so.

¹² The earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

¹³ There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

¹⁴ God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;

¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth;" and it was so.

¹⁶ God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.

¹⁷ God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth,

¹⁸ and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

¹⁹ There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

²⁰ God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky."

²¹ God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

²² God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."

²³ There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

²⁴ God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;" and it was so.

²⁵ God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

²⁶ God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

²⁷ God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

²⁹ God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.

³⁰ To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;" and it was so.

³¹ God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.