Liber Iosue

Iosue, chapter 20, Vulgate and King James Version

Chapter 20 Vulgate

   1 Et locutus est Dominus ad Iosue dicens: "Loquere filiis Israel et dic eis:
   2 Separate vobis urbes fugitivorum, de quibus locutus sum ad vos per manum Moysi,
   3 ut confugiat ad eas, quicumque animam percusserit per errorem nescius, et possit evadere iram proximi, qui ultor est sanguinis.
   4 Cum ad unam harum confugerit civitatum, stabit ante portam civitatis et loquetur senioribus urbis illius ea, quae se comprobent innocentem; sicque suscipient eum et dabunt ei locum ad habitandum.
   5 Cumque ultor sanguinis eum fuerit persecutus, non tradent in manus eius, quia ignorans percussit proximum suum nec ante biduum triduumve eius probatur inimicus.
   6 Et habitabit in civitate illa, donec stet ante coetum ad iudicium, causam reddens facti sui, donec moriatur sacerdos magnus, qui fuerit in illo tempore. Tunc revertetur homicida et ingredietur civitatem suam et domum suam, de qua fugerat"
   7 Decreveruntque Cedes in Galilaea montis Nephthali et Sichem in monte Ephraim et Cariatharbe "ipsa est Hebron "in monte Iudae;
   8 et trans Iordanem contra orientalem plagam Iericho statuerunt Bosor, quae sita est in campestri solitudine de tribu Ruben, et Ramoth in Galaad de tribu Gad et Golan in Basan de tribu Manasse.
   9 Hae civitates constitutae sunt cunctis filiis Israel et advenis, qui habitant inter eos, ut fugeret ad eas, qui animam nescius percussisset et non moreretur in manu proximi effusum sanguinem vindicare cupientis, donec staret ante populum expositurus causam suam.

Source: Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, Sacrosanti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II, Ratione Habita, Iussu Pauli PP. VI Recognita, Auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. II Promulgata, Editio Typica Altera

King James Version

   1 The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying,
   2 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses:
   3 That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
   4 And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.
   5 And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime.
   6 And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.
   7 ¶ And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.
   8 And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.
   9 These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.