Forty-Eight Cities for the Levites
(Joshua 21:1–45; 1 Chronicles 6:54–81)
Again the LORD spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho: Num 22:1Num 26:63Num 31:12Num 33:50Num 36:13 “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance they will possess, cities for the Levites to live in and pasturelands around the cities. Jos 14:3-4Ezk 48:81Co 9:10-14Ezk 45:1-8Ezk 48:22Jos 21:2-42Lev 25:32-34 The cities will be for them to live in, and the pasturelands will be for their herds, their flocks, and all their other livestock. 2Ch 11:14Ezk 45:2Jos 21:11
The pasturelands around the cities you are to give the Levites will extend a thousand cubits 1from the wall on every side. You are also to measure two thousand cubits 2outside 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.
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. Jos 21:13Jos 21:3Jos 21:21Jos 21:27Jos 21:32Jos 21:36Jos 21:38Psa 9:9 The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, with their corresponding pasturelands. 1Ch 6:54-81Jos 21:3-42 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.” Num 26:54Num 33:54Exo 16:18Jos 21:1-422Co 8:13-14Deu 33:8-11Exo 32:28-29Gen 49:7
Six Cities of Refuge
(Deuteronomy 4:41–43; Deuteronomy 19:1–14; Joshua 20:1–9)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, Deu 12:9Deu 19:1-2Jos 20:2-6Lev 14:34Lev 25:2Num 34:2 designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there. Exo 21:13Jos 20:2Num 35:6Deu 19:1-13Deu 4:42Num 35:22-25 You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly. Deu 19:6Jos 20:3-62Sa 14:7Jos 20:9Deu 19:11-12Num 35:19Num 35:24-27
The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge. Select three cities across the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge. Deu 19:8-10Deu 4:41-43Jos 20:7-9 These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or stranger among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there. Num 15:16Exo 12:49Gal 3:28Lev 24:22Rom 3:29
If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. Lev 24:17Deu 19:11-13Exo 21:12-14Gen 9:5-6Num 35:22-24Num 35:30-33 Or if anyone has in his hand a stone of deadly size, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. Exo 21:18 If anyone has in his hand a deadly object of wood, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death.
The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him. Deu 19:12Deu 19:6Jos 20:3Jos 20:5Num 35:21Num 35:12Num 35:24Num 35:27
Likewise, if anyone maliciously pushes another or intentionally throws an object at him and kills him, Exo 21:14Deu 19:112Sa 20:102Sa 3:27Gen 4:81Ki 2:31-331Ki 2:5-61Sa 18:10-11 or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood finds the murderer, he is to kill him.
But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility, or throws an object at him unintentionally, Exo 21:13Num 35:11Deu 19:5Jos 20:3Jos 20:5 or without looking drops a heavy stone that kills him, but he was not an enemy and did not intend to harm him, then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. Jos 20:6Num 35:12 The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. Exo 29:7Heb 10:19-22Heb 7:25-28Jos 20:6Lev 21:10Lev 4:3Rom 3:24-26Eph 2:16-18
But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he fled and the avenger of blood finds him outside of his city of refuge and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed Deu 19:10Deu 19:6Exo 22:2 because the manslayer must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may he return to the land he owns. Act 11:23Act 27:31Heb 10:26-30Heb 10:39Heb 3:14Heb 6:4-8Heb 9:11-12Heb 9:15-17 This will be a statutory ordinance for you for the generations to come, wherever you live. Num 27:11Num 27:1
If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness. Heb 10:28Deu 19:15Mat 18:162Co 13:11Ti 5:19Jhn 8:17-18Deu 17:6-7Jhn 7:51
You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death. 1Ki 2:28-342Sa 12:13Deu 19:11-13Exo 21:14Gen 9:5-6Psa 51:14 Nor should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to a city of refuge and allow him to return and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. Act 4:12Gal 2:21Gal 3:10-13Gal 3:22Rev 5:9
Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Luk 11:50-51Psa 106:38Gen 9:6Isa 26:21Ezk 22:24-27Hos 4:2-3Lev 18:25Mat 23:31-35 Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell. For I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.” Num 5:3Psa 135:21Rev 21:272Co 6:16-171Ki 6:13Exo 25:8Exo 29:45-46Hos 9:3