1. Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,
2. “Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in. You shall give suburbs for the cities around them to the Levites.
3. They shall have the cities to dwell in. Their suburbs shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all their animals.
4. “The suburbs of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits around it.
5. You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall be the suburbs of their cities.
6. “The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the man slayer to flee to. Besides them you shall give forty-two cities.
7. All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities together with their suburbs.