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)

Cities of Refuge^(A)

⁶ “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee.^(B) In addition, give them forty-two other towns. ⁷ In all you must give the Levites forty-eight towns, together with their pasturelands.

Towns for the Levites^(A)

21 Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel^{(B) 2} at Shiloh^(C) in Canaan and said to them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that you give us towns^(D) to live in, with pasturelands for our livestock.”^{(E) 3} So, as the Lord had commanded, the Israelites gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own inheritance:

⁸ So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these towns and their pasturelands, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁴¹ The towns of the Levites in the territory held by the Israelites were forty-eight in all, together with their pasturelands.^{(A) 42} Each of these towns had pasturelands surrounding it; this was true for all these towns.