² they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, “The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given towns to live in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock.”^(A)

The Territories of the Remaining Tribes

18 Then the whole congregation of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.^(A)

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)

¹⁷ Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor,^[a] especially those who labor in preaching and teaching,^{(A) 18} for the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain” and “The laborer deserves to be paid.”^(B)

⁶ Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.^(A)

¹⁰ no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff, for laborers deserve their food.^(A)

⁹ The portion that you shall set apart for the Lord shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length and twenty^[a] thousand in width. ¹⁰ These shall be the allotments of the holy portion: the priests shall have an allotment measuring twenty-five thousand cubits on the northern side, ten thousand cubits in width on the western side, ten thousand in width on the eastern side, and twenty-five thousand in length on the southern side, with the sanctuary of the Lord in the middle of it.^{(A) 11} As for the consecrated priests, the descendants^[b] of Zadok who kept my charge, who did not go astray when the people of Israel went astray, as the Levites did,^{(B) 12} they shall have a special portion from the holy portion of the land, a most holy place, adjoining the territory of the Levites.^{(C) 13} Alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites shall have an allotment twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width. The whole length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and the width twenty^[c] thousand.^{(D) 14} They shall not sell or exchange any of it; they shall not transfer this choice portion of the land, for it is holy to the Lord.^(E)

¹⁵ The remainder, five thousand cubits in width and twenty-five thousand in length, shall be for ordinary use for the city, for dwellings and for pasturelands. In the middle of it shall be the city,^{(F) 16} and these shall be its dimensions: the north side four thousand five hundred cubits, the south side four thousand five hundred, the east side four thousand five hundred, and the west side four thousand five hundred.^{(G) 17} The city shall have pasturelands: on the north two hundred fifty cubits, on the south two hundred fifty, on the east two hundred fifty, on the west two hundred fifty.^{(H) 18} The remainder of the length alongside the holy portion shall be ten thousand cubits to the east and ten thousand to the west, and it shall be alongside the holy portion. Its produce shall be food for the workers of the city.^(I)