Wikipedia's first sentence called it “towns in the kingdom of israel and kingdom of judah in which the perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the r”. Today it says “six levitical cities in the kingdom of israel and the kingdom of judah in which the perpetrators of accidental”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Six Levitical towns Fleeing to the City of Refuge (Numbers 35:11–28). Kedesh Shechem Hebron Golan Ramoth Bosor Location of the cities of refuge on a map of the Middle East The cities of refuge ( Hebrew : ערי המקלט ‘ārê ha-miqlāṭ ) were six Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum . Maimonides , invoking talmudic literature, expands the city of refuge count to all 48 Levitical cities . Outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law. The Bible names the six cities of refuge as follows: Golan , Ramoth , and Bosor to the east (left bank) of the Jordan River ; and Kedesh , Shechem , and Hebron on the western (right) side. The Oxford Companion to the Bible .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1291745550.
The opening as it stood in 2010
The Cities of Refuge were towns in the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the right of asylum ; outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law. The Torah names just six cities as being cities of refuge: Golan , Ramoth , and Bosor , on the east of the Jordan River , and Kedesh , Shechem , and Hebron on the western side. Metzger & Coogan (1993) Oxford Companion to the Bible , p125.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 365823727.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Cities of Refuge were towns in the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the right of asylum ; outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law. The Torah names just six cities as being cities of refuge: Golan , Ramoth , and Bosor , on the east of the Jordan River , and Kedesh , Shechem , and Hebron on the western side. Metzger, Bruce M. ; Coogan, Michael D. , eds.The Oxford Companion to the Bible .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668300626.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Fleeing to the City of Refuge (Numbers 35:11-28).The Cities of Refuge were six Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum .Maimonides , invoking talmudic literature, expands the city of refuge count to all 48 Levitical cities . Outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law. The Bible names the six cities as being cities of refuge: Golan , Ramoth , and Bosor , on the east of the Jordan River , and Kedesh , Shechem , and Hebron on the western side. The Oxford Companion to the Bible .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 959970007.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Six Levitical towns Fleeing to the City of Refuge (Numbers 35:11-28).Kedesh Shechem Hebron Golan Ramoth Bosor Location of the cities of refuge on a map of the Middle East The cities of refuge ( ‘ārê ha-miqlāṭ ) were six Levitical towns in the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of accidental manslaughter could claim the right of asylum . Maimonides , invoking talmudic literature, expands the city of refuge count to all 48 Levitical cities . Outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law. The Bible names the six cities as being cities of refuge: Golan , Ramoth , and Bosor , on the east (left bank) of the Jordan River , and Kedesh , Shechem , and Hebron on the western (right) side. The Oxford Companion to the Bible .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1135214551.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “towns in the kingdom of israel and kingdom of judah in which the perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the r”. Today it says “six levitical cities in the kingdom of israel and the kingdom of judah in which the perpetrators of accidental”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
towns in the kingdom of israel and kingdom of judah in which the perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the r
Now
six levitical cities in the kingdom of israel and the kingdom of judah in which the perpetrators of accidental
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
