Numbers 35:1-8

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Cities for the Levites

35 In the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance that they possess, towns for the Levites to live in; you shall also give to the Levites pasturelands surrounding the towns.^{(A) 3} The towns shall be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle, for their livestock, and for all their animals. ⁴ The pasture lands of the towns, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the town outward a thousand cubits all around. ⁵ You shall measure, outside the town, for the east side two thousand cubits, for the south side two thousand cubits, for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, with the town in the middle; this shall belong to them as pastureland for their towns.

⁶ “The towns that you give to the Levites shall include the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit a slayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two towns.^{(B) 7} The towns that you give to the Levites shall total forty-eight, with their pasturelands. ⁸ And as for the towns that you shall give from the possession of the Israelites, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it obtains, shall give of its towns to the Levites.”^(C)