Numbers 35:1-8

Cities for the Levites

1 ¹Now the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying,

2 "Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their possession cities to live in; and you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around the cities.

3 "The cities shall be theirs to live in; and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their herds and for all their beasts.

4 "The pasture lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits around.

5 "You shall also measure outside * the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall become theirs as pasture lands for the cities.

Cities of Refuge

6 "The cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the ²six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two * cities.

7 "All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be ³forty-eight * cities, together with their pasture lands.

8 "⁴As for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger and you shall take less from the smaller; each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits."

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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

Cross References 4

1. Leviticus 25:32-34
2. Joshua 20:7-9
3. Joshua 21:41
4. Leviticus 25:32-34; Numbers 26:54; Numbers 33:54; Joshua 21:1-42

Footnotes 2

[a]. Lit "and outward"
[b]. Lit "them"