Bible Verses About Homicide: Accidental

If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall not be held responsible.

But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death.

If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.

If the ox gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.

If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.

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

You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge.

Select three cities across the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge.

These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or stranger among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility, or throws an object at him unintentionally,

or without looking drops a heavy stone that kills him, but he was not an enemy and did not intend to harm him,

then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances.

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

But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled

and the avenger of blood finds him outside of his city of refuge and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed

because the manslayer must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may he return to the land he owns.

Then Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the east

to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities:

Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.

then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.

Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:

If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm.