Lexicon :: Strong's H7523 - rāṣaḥ

Do not murder.

“The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge, which you will provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give forty-two other cities.

“designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.

“If anyone strikes a person with an iron object and death results, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death.

“or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to kill the murderer when he finds him.

“The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

“If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death based on the word of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness.

Someone could flee there who committed manslaughter, killing his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him. He could flee to one of these cities and stay alive:

“Do not murder.

“You are to determine the distances[fn] and divide the land the LORD your God is granting you as an inheritance into three regions, so that anyone who commits manslaughter can flee to these cities.[fn]

“Otherwise, the avenger of blood in the heat of his anger[fn] might pursue the one who committed manslaughter, overtake him because the distance is great, and strike him dead. Yet he did not deserve to die,[fn] since he did not previously hate his neighbor.

“Do nothing to the young woman, because she is not guilty of an offense deserving death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him.

“so that a person who kills someone unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood.

“And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not hand the one who committed manslaughter over to him, for he killed his neighbor accidentally and did not hate him beforehand.

They gave to the descendants of the priest Aaron:

Hebron, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands,

The Israelites gave them:

Shechem, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,

From half the tribe of Manasseh, they gave to the descendants of Gershon, who were one of the Levite clans:

Golan, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in Bashan, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands ​— ​two cities.

From the tribe of Naphtali they gave:

Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands ​— ​three cities.

From the tribe of Gad they gave:

Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands,

The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night.

“Tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Have you murdered and also taken possession? ’ Then tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: In the place where the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, the dogs will also lick up your blood! ’ ”

Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger got to him, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to remove my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Isn’t the sound of his master’s feet behind him? ”

The murderer rises at dawn

to kill the poor and needy,

and by night he becomes a thief.

How long will you threaten a man?

Will all of you attack[fn]

as if he were a leaning wall

or a tottering fence?

They kill the widow and the resident alien

and murder the fatherless.

The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside!

I’ll be killed in the public square! ”

The faithful town —

what an adulteress[fn] she has become!

She was once full of justice.

Righteousness once dwelt in her,

but now, murderers!

“ ‘Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?

Cursing, lying, murder, stealing,

and adultery are rampant;

one act of bloodshed follows another.

Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone,

a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem.

They commit atrocities.