⁶² All the male Levites a month old or more numbered 23,000.^(A) They were not counted^(B) along with the other Israelites because they received no inheritance^(C) among them.^(D)

⁹ That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(A) as the Lord your God told them.)

² “Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in^(A) from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands^(B) around the towns. ³ Then they will have towns to live in and pasturelands for the cattle they own and all their other animals.^(C)

⁴ “The pasturelands around the towns that you give the Levites will extend a thousand cubits^[a] from the town wall. ⁵ Outside the town, measure two thousand cubits^[b](D) on the east side, two thousand on the south side, two thousand on the west and two thousand on the north, with the town in the center. They will have this area as pastureland for the towns.^(E)

Cities of Refuge^(F)

⁶ “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee.^(G) In addition, give them forty-two other towns. ⁷ In all you must give the Levites forty-eight towns, together with their pasturelands. ⁸ The towns you give the Levites from the land the Israelites possess are to be given in proportion to the inheritance of each tribe: Take many towns from a tribe that has many, but few from one that has few.”^(H)

³⁹ The total number of Levites counted^(A) at the Lord’s command by Moses and Aaron according to their clans, including every male a month old or more, was 22,000.^(B)

⁴⁹ “You must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the census of the other Israelites.

³ Moses had granted the two and a half tribes their inheritance east of the Jordan^(A) but had not granted the Levites an inheritance among the rest,^(B)

³³ But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance;^(A) the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance,^(B) as he promised them.^(C)

¹⁴ But to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance, since the food offerings presented to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he promised them.^(A)

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18 The Levitical^(A) priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings^(B) presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance.^{(C) 2} They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(D) as he promised them.^(E)