A city of refuge in the Torah is a place where someone who murdered unintentionally can seek asylum. God commanded the Israelites to set aside six Levitical cities in the Land of Israel to be cities of refuge. Three of those cities were to be on the west side of the Jordan River, and three on the east side (Numbers 35:9-15).
The three cities of refuge on the east of the Jordan River were set aside by Moshe (Deuteronomy 4:41-43). They were:
- Bezer in the land of Reuven
- Ramoth-Gilead in the land of Gad
- Golan in the land of Menashe
The three cities of refuge on the west side of the Jordan River were set aside by Yehoshua (Joshua 20:7). They were:
- Kedesh in the land of Naftali
- Shechem in the land of Efraim
- Kiryat Arba/Chevron in the land of Yehuda
