Cities of Refuge

(9) And the ETERNAL spoke to Moses, saying: (10) "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, (11) you shall designate cities of refuge, that the manslayer who kills any person through error may flee there. (12) And the cities shall be for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer will not die before he stands before the congregation for judgment. (13) And as to the cities you shall designate, there shall be six cities of refuge: (14) three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan; these are the cities of refuge. (15) For the children of Israel, and for the stranger and for the settler among them, these six cities shall be for refuge, that every one that kills a person through error may flee there.

MISHNAH: To where are the unintentional murderers exiled? To cities of refuge, to three cities that were in the east bank of the Jordan and to three cities that were in the land of Canaan, as it is stated: “Three cities shall you give beyond the Jordan and three cities shall you give in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge” (Numbers 35:14). The Mishnah comments: And roads were aligned for them from this [every] city, to that city, i.e., they would pave and straighten the access roads to the cities of refuge, as it is stated: “Prepare for you the road, and divide the borders of your land, which the Lord your God causes you to inherit, into three parts, that every murderer may flee there” (Deuteronomy 19:3). And the court would provide the unintentional murderers fleeing to a city of refuge with two Torah scholars, due to the concern that perhaps the blood redeemer, [a relative of the murder victim seeking to avenge his death] will seek to kill him in transit, and in that case they, the scholars, will talk to the blood redeemer and dissuade him from killing the unintentional murderer.

Our Rabbis taught: A private path is of the width of four cubits; a path from one town to another is to have a width of eight cubits; a public road, 16 cubits; the road to the cities of refuge, 32 cubits.