Joshua 20:4

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

The one who committed manslaughter should escape to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and present his case to the leaders of that city. They should then bring him into the city, give him a place to stay, and let him live there.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Jer 38:7 : 7 An Ethiopian Official Rescues Jeremiah from the Cistern An Ethiopian, Ebed Melech, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put in the cistern. While the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate,
  • Ruth 4:1-2 : 1 Boaz Settles the Matter Now Boaz went up to the village gate and sat there. Then along came the guardian whom Boaz had mentioned to Ruth! Boaz said,“Come here, what’s-your-name, and sit down.” So he came and sat down. 2 Boaz chose ten of the village leaders and said,“Sit down here!” So they sat down.
  • Job 5:4 : 4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed at the place where judgment is rendered, nor is there anyone to deliver them.
  • Job 29:7 : 7 When I went out to the city gate and secured my seat in the public square,
  • Ps 26:9 : 9 Do not sweep me away with sinners, or execute me along with violent people,
  • Prov 31:23 : 23 Her husband is well-known in the city gate when he sits with the elders of the land.
  • Heb 6:18 : 18 so that we who have found refuge in him may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Josh 20:2-3
    2 verses
    85%

    2 “Have the Israelites select the cities of refuge that I told you about through Moses.

    3 Anyone who accidentally kills someone can escape there; these cities will be a place of asylum from the avenger of blood.

  • Deut 4:42-43
    2 verses
    82%

    42 Anyone who accidentally killed someone without hating him at the time of the accident could flee to one of those cities and be safe.

    43 These cities are Bezer, in the wilderness plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassehites.

  • 9 These were the cities of refuge appointed for all the Israelites and for resident foreigners living among them. Anyone who accidentally killed someone could escape there and not be executed by the avenger of blood, at least until his case was reviewed by the assembly.

  • Josh 20:5-7
    3 verses
    81%

    5 When the avenger of blood comes after him, they must not hand over to him the one who committed manslaughter, for he accidentally killed his fellow man without premeditation.

    6 He must remain in that city until his case is decided by the assembly and the high priest dies. Then the one who committed manslaughter may return home to the city from which he escaped.”

    7 So they selected Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba(that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

  • Num 35:11-15
    5 verses
    80%

    11 you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.

    12 And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community.

    13 These towns that you must give shall be your six towns for refuge.

    14 “You must give three towns on this side of the Jordan, and you must give three towns in the land of Canaan; they must be towns of refuge.

    15 These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the resident foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

  • 79%

    10 You must not shed innocent blood in your land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty.

    11 However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, and then flees to one of these cities.

    12 The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to die.

    13 You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel, so that it may go well with you.

  • Deut 19:2-7
    6 verses
    79%

    2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession.

    3 You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the LORD your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.

    4 Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live, if he has accidentally killed another without hating him at the time of the accident.

    5 Suppose he goes with someone else to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose from the handle and strikes his fellow worker so hard that he dies. The person responsible may then flee to one of these cities to save himself.

    6 Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, and kill him, though this is not a capital case since he did not hate him at the time of the accident.

    7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

  • Num 35:22-29
    8 verses
    76%

    22 “But if he strikes him suddenly, without enmity, or throws anything at him unintentionally,

    23 or with any stone large enough that a man could die, without seeing him, and throws it at him, and he dies, even though he was not his enemy nor sought his harm,

    24 then the community must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these decisions.

    25 The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.

    26 But if the slayer at any time goes outside the boundary of the town to which he had fled,

    27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood,

    28 because the slayer should have stayed in his town of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to the land of his possessions.

    29 So these things must be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations, in all the places where you live.

  • 76%

    13 But if he does not do it with premeditation, but it happens by accident, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.

    14 But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, you will take him even from my altar that he may die.

  • Deut 21:1-3
    3 verses
    74%

    1 Laws Concerning Unsolved Murder If a homicide victim should be found lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you, and no one knows who killed him,

    2 your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse.

    3 Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked– that has never pulled with the yoke–

  • 6 Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. And you must give them forty-two other towns.

  • 32 And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.

  • 16 Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages he prefers; you must not oppress him.

  • 8 Appeal to a Higher Court If a matter is too difficult for you to judge– bloodshed, legal claim, or assault– matters of controversy in your villages– you must leave there and go up to the place the LORD your God chooses.

  • 20 “But if he strikes him out of hatred or throws something at him intentionally so that he dies,

  • Josh 8:5-6
    2 verses
    69%

    5 I and all the troops who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them.

    6 They will attack us until we have lured them from the city, for they will say,‘They are retreating from us like before.’ We will retreat from them.

  • 20 Look, this town over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. Let me go there. It’s just a little place, isn’t it? Then I’ll survive.”

  • 21 They assigned them Shechem(a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter) in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer,

  • 17 The one who is tormented by the murder of another will flee to the pit; let no one support him.

  • 12 Punishment of Community Idolatry Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you as a place to live, that

  • 19 Anyone who leaves your house will be responsible for his own death– we are innocent in that case! But if anyone with you in the house is harmed, we will be responsible.

  • 10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace.

  • 19 his father and mother must seize him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his city.