City of Refuge
Preserved but no longer current.
Moses, at the command of God, set apart three cities on the east of Jordan, and Joshua added three others on the west,, whither any person might flee for refuge who had killed a human creature inadvertently. The three on the east of Jordan were Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan; the three on the west were Hebron, Shechem, and Kedesh (Deut. iv, 43;/<w/z. xx, 1-8).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “City of Refuge” mean?
Moses, at the command of God, set apart three cities on the east of Jordan, and Joshua added three others on the west,, whither any person might flee for refuge who had killed a human creature inadvertently. The three on the east of Jordan were Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan; the three on the west were Hebron, Shechem, and Kedesh (Deut. iv, 43;/<w/z. xx, 1-8).
Is “City of Refuge” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.