1Zvino Jehovha wakataura naJoshua, akati,
1And Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying,
2Taura navana vaIsiraeri, uti, Muzvitsaurire maguta outiziro, andakakuudzai nomuromo waMozisi;
2Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint for yourselves the cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you through Moses,
3kuti munhu wakauraya mumwe nokusaziva kana asina kuita nobwoni, atizirepo; achava kwamuri utiziro pamutsivi weropa.
3that the slayer who unwittingly without intent smiteth any one mortally may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
4Anofanira kutizira kune rimwe ramaguta iwayo, agondomira panopindwa napo pasuwo reguta, agoreva mhosva yake panzeve dzavakuru veguta iro; ipapo vanofanira kumugamuchira pakati pavo muguta, vamupe pokugara, agogara pakati pavo.
4And he shall flee unto one of those cities and stand at the entrance of the city-gate, and shall declare his matter in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.
5Zvino kana mutsivi weropa achinge amutevera, haafaniri kuisa muurayi paruoko rwake, nekuti wakauraya wokwake asingaiti nobwoni, asina kumuvenga kare.
5And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; for he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not previously.
6Zvino iye anofanira kugara muguta iro, kusvikira amira pamberi peungano atongwe, kusvikira pakufa komupristi mukuru uchavapo namazuva iwayo; ipapo muurayi anofanira kudzoka, aende kuguta rake nokumba kwake, kuguta kwaakanga atiza.
6And he shall dwell in that city, until he have stood before the assembly in judgment, 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.
7Ipapo vakatsaura Kedheshi muGarirea panyika yamakomo yaNafutari, neShemi, panyika yamakomo yaEfuremu, neKiriati-abha (ndiro Zebhuroni) panyika yamakomo yaJudha.
7And they hallowed Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kirjath-Arba, that is, Hebron, in the hill-country of Judah.
8Nemhiri kwaJoridhani paJeriko kumabvazuva vakatsaura Bhezeri murenje pabani kurudzi rwaRubheni, neRamoti muGiriyadhi kurudzi rwaGadhi, neGorani muBhashani kurudzi rwaManase.
8And beyond the Jordan from Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness, in the plateau, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan of the tribe of Manasseh.
9Ndiwo maguta akatsaurirwa vana vaIsiraeri, vose navatorwa vaigara pakati pavo, kuti ani naani unouraya munhu nokusaziva atizireko, arege kufa noruoko rwomutsivi weropa, kusvikira amira pamberi peungano.
9These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever smiteth any one mortally without intent might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the assembly.