Verse 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.

Referenced Verses

• Num 35:25 : 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.
• 2 Kgs 6:5-7 : 5 As one of them was felling a log, the ax head dropped into the water. He shouted,“Oh no, my master! It was borrowed!” 6 The prophet asked,“Where did it drop in?” When he showed him the spot, Elisha cut off a branch, threw it in at that spot, and made the ax head float. 7 He said,“Lift it out.” So he reached out his hand and grabbed it.
• Prov 27:12 : 12 A shrewd person saw danger–he hid himself; the naive passed right on by– they had to pay for it.
• Isa 32:2 : 2 Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.