Deuteronomy 19:4

²thou shalt separate for thyself three cities in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God gives thee.

³Take a survey of thy way, and thou shalt divide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord thy God apportions to thee, into three parts, and there shall be there a refuge for every manslayer.

— Deuteronomy 19:4 —

⁵And whosoever shall enter with his neighbor into the thicket, to gather wood, if the hand of him that cuts wood with the axe should be violently shaken, and the axe head falling off from the handle should light on his neighbor, and he should die, he shall flee to one of these cities, and live.

⁶Lest the avenger of blood pursue after the slayer, because his heart is hot, and overtake him, if the way be too long, and slay him, though there is to this man no sentence of death, because he hated him not in time past.