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Numbers 35:1-8

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Cities for the Levites

1 The Lord again spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan [across from] Jericho:
2 "Command the Israelites to give cities out of their hereditary property for the Levites to live in and pastureland around the cities.[a]
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 500 yards[b] on every side.
5 Measure 1,000 yards[c] outside the city for the east side, 1,000 yards[d] for the south side, 1,000 yards[e] for the west side, and 1,000 yards[f] 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 must provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give 42 [other] cities.[h]
7 The total number of cities you give the Levites will be 48, along with their pasturelands.
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. Each [tribe] is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives."
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Numbers 35:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 35

Though the tribe of Levi had no part in the division of the land, yet cities out of the several tribes are here ordered to be given them to dwell in, to the number of forty eight, Nu 35:1-8, six of which were to be cities of refuge, Nu 35:9-15, but not for wilful murderers, in whatsoever way they might kill a man, Nu 35:16-21, but for such who had killed a man unawares, Nu 35:22-24, and several rules are given relating to such persons, Nu 35:25-29, but no satisfaction was to be taken in case of murder, nor to excuse a person's return to his own house before the death of the high priest, who had fled to a city of refuge, that so the land might not be defiled, Nu 35:30-34.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
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Footnotes 8

  • [a] Jos 21:2-3
  • [b] Lit 1,000 cubits
  • [c] Lit 2,000 cubits
  • [d] Lit 2,000 cubits
  • [e] Lit 2,000 cubits
  • [f] Lit 2,000 cubits
  • [g] Dt 19:1-13; Jos 20
  • [h] Jos 21
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

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