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.”