Cities for the Levites

35 The Lord again spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:^{(A) 2} “Command the Israelites to give cities out of their hereditary property for the Levites to live in and pastureland around the cities.^{(B) 3} The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds, flocks, and all their other animals. ⁴ The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites will extend from the city wall five hundred yards^[a] on every side. ⁵ Measure 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,^(C) which you will provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give forty-two other cities.^{(D) 7} The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, along with their pasturelands.^{(E) 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.^(F) Each tribe is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”

Provisions for the Levites

18 “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, will have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They will eat the Lord’s food offerings; that is their^[a][b] inheritance. ² Although Levi has no inheritance among his brothers, the Lord is his inheritance, as he promised him.^(A)

² you are to set apart three cities for yourselves within the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.^{(A) 3} You are to determine the distances^[a] and divide the land the Lord your God is granting you as an inheritance into three regions, so that anyone who commits manslaughter can flee to these cities.^[b]

⁴ “Here is the law concerning a case of someone who kills a person and flees there to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him: ⁵ If, for example, he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings the ax to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, that person may flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶ Otherwise, the avenger of blood in the heat of his anger^[c] might pursue the one who committed manslaughter, overtake him because the distance is great, and strike him dead. Yet he did not deserve to die,^[d] since he did not previously hate his neighbor. ⁷ This is why I am commanding you to set apart three cities for yourselves. ⁸ If the Lord your God enlarges your territory as he swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised to give them— ⁹ provided you keep every one of these commands I am giving you today and follow them, loving the Lord your God and walking in his ways at all times—you are to add three more cities to these three.

Cities of the Levites

21 The Levite family heads approached the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes. ² At Shiloh, in the land of Canaan, they told them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to live in, with their pasturelands for our livestock.”^{(A) 3} So the Israelites, by the Lord’s command, gave the Levites these cities with their pasturelands from their inheritance.

⁴ The lot came out for the Kohathite clans: The Levites who were the descendants of the priest Aaron received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. ⁵ The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

⁶ Gershon’s descendants received thirteen cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and half the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷ Merari’s descendants received twelve cities for their clans from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

⁸ The Israelites gave these cities with their pasturelands around them to the Levites by lot, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

Cities of Aaron’s Descendants

⁹ The Israelites gave these cities by name from the tribes of the descendants of Judah and Simeon ¹⁰ to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because they received the first lot. ¹¹ They gave them Kiriath-arba^(B) (that is, Hebron; Arba was the father of Anak) with its surrounding pasturelands in the hill country of Judah. ¹² But they gave the fields and settlements of the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³ They gave to the descendants of the priest Aaron:

Hebron, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands, ¹⁴ Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, ¹⁵ Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, ¹⁶ Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities from these two tribes.

¹⁷ From the tribe of Benjamin they gave:

Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, ¹⁸ Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. ¹⁹ All thirteen cities with their pasturelands were for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

Cities of Kohath’s Other Descendants

²⁰ The allotted cities to the remaining clans of Kohath’s descendants, who were Levites, came from the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹ The Israelites gave them:

Shechem,^(C) the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands, ²² Kibzaim with its pasturelands, and Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities.

²³ From the tribe of Dan they gave:

Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands, ²⁴ Aijalon with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities.

²⁵ From half the tribe of Manasseh they gave:

Taanach with its pasturelands and Gath-rimmon^[a] with its pasturelands—two cities.

²⁶ All ten cities with their pasturelands were for the clans of Kohath’s other descendants.

Cities of Gershon’s Descendants

²⁷ From half the tribe of Manasseh, they gave to the descendants of Gershon,^(D) who were one of the Levite clans:

Golan, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in Bashan, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands—two cities.

²⁸ From the tribe of Issachar they gave:

Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, ²⁹ Jarmuth with its pasturelands, and En-gannim with its pasturelands—four cities.

³⁰ From the tribe of Asher they gave:

Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, ³¹ Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities.

³² From the tribe of Naphtali they gave:

Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities.

³³ All thirteen cities with their pasturelands were for the Gershonites by their clans.

Cities of Merari’s Descendants

³⁴ From the tribe of Zebulun, they gave to the clans of the descendants of Merari,^(E) who were the remaining Levites:

Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands, ³⁵ Dimnah with its pasturelands, and Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities.

³⁶ From the tribe of Reuben they gave:

Bezer^(F) with its pasturelands, Jahzah^[b] with its pasturelands, ³⁷ Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities.^[c]

³⁸ From the tribe of Gad they gave:

Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, ³⁹ Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all. ⁴⁰ All twelve cities were allotted to the clans of Merari’s descendants, the remaining Levite clans.

⁴¹ Within the Israelite possession there were forty-eight cities in all with their pasturelands for the Levites.^{(G) 42} Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities.

The Lord’s Promises Fulfilled

⁴³ So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. ⁴⁴ The Lord gave them rest on every side according to all he had sworn to their ancestors. None of their enemies were able to stand against them, for the Lord handed over all their enemies to them. ⁴⁵ None of the good promises the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed. Everything was fulfilled.^(H)