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35 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, “Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites cities to dwell in out of their inheritance. You shall give pasture lands for the cities around them to the Levites. They shall have the cities to dwell in. Their pasture lands shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all their animals.

“The pasture lands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits[a] around it. You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall be the pasture lands of their cities.

“The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the man slayer to flee to. Besides them you shall give forty-two cities. All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities together with their pasture lands. Concerning the cities which you shall give of the possession of the children of Israel, from the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few. Everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give some of his cities to the Levites.”

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Footnotes

  1. 35:4 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.

Cities for the Levites

35 In the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “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) The towns shall be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle, for their livestock, and for all their animals. 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. 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.

“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) The towns that you give to the Levites shall total forty-eight, with their pasturelands. 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)

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