Forty-Eight Cities for the Levites

(Joshua 21:1–45, 1 Chronicles 6:54–81)

35 Again the LORD spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho: 2 “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance they will possess, cities for the Levites to live in and pasturelands around the cities. 3 The cities will be for them to live in, and the pasturelands will be for their herds, their flocks, and all their other livestock.

4 The pasturelands around the cities you are to give the Levites will extend a thousand cubits [fn] from the wall on every side. 5 You are also to measure two thousand cubits [fn] outside the city on the east, two thousand on the south, two thousand on the west, and two thousand on the north, with the city in the center. These areas will serve as larger pasturelands for the cities.

6 Six of the cities you give the Levites are to be appointed as cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. In addition to these, give the Levites forty-two other cities. 7 The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, with their corresponding pasturelands. 8 The cities that you apportion from the territory of the Israelites should be given to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance of each tribe: more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one.”