TT #205 · Parashas Shoftim · Fifth Aliyah · Passuk 19:05
And one who comes with his fellow into the forest to chop wood, and his hand swings with the axe to cut the tree, and the iron slips from the wood and finds his fellow and he dies – he shall flee to one of these cities and live.
Torah Temimah points to Makkot 8a.
TT lemma: לַחְטֹב עֵצִים.
English: ‘To chop wood’ – excluding one who enters another’s property without permission.
Derash limiting the setting (Bavli) — the wood-chopping is assumed to be in a permitted context.
The protection of the city of refuge applies when the accidental killer was engaged in a permitted activity.