Deuteronomy 19:3-5

American Standard Version

³ Thou shalt prepare thee the way, and divide the borders of thy land, which Jehovah thy God causeth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee thither.

⁴ And this is the case of the manslayer, that shall flee thither and live: whoso killeth his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in time past; ⁵ as when a man goeth into the forest with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the ^[a]head slippeth from ^[b]the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor, so that he dieth; he shall flee unto one of these cities and live: