Numbers 35:1–8

CITIES FOR THE LEVITES

35The Lord again spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:^{e 2}“Command the Israelites to give cities out of their hereditary property for the Levites to live in and pastureland around the cities.^{f 3}The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds, flocks, and all their other animals. ⁴The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites will extend from the city wall five hundred yards^A on every side. ⁵Measure a thousand yards^B outside the city for the east side, a thousand yards for the south side, a thousand yards for the west side, and a thousand yards for the north side, with the city in the center. This will belong to them as pasturelands for the cities.

⁶“The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge,^g which you will provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give forty-two other cities.^{h 7}The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, along with their pasturelands.^{i 8}Of the cities that you give from the Israelites’ territory, you should take more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one.^j Each tribe is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”