Bible Strands
Numbers 35:3
The cities will be for them to live in, and the pasturelands will be for their herds, their flocks, and all their other livestock.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God instructs Moses to allocate cities and surrounding pasturelands from the tribal inheritances to the Levites as their permanent residence and livestock grounds.
The words — מִגְרְשֵׁיהֶם (migreshéhem) designates the designated pasture lands, and שָׁבֶת (shaivet) specifies the purpose of permanent dwelling.
The thread — This allocation pattern appears in Joshua 21:11, is later forfeited in 2 Chronicles 11:14, and echoes in Ezekiel 45:2.
Why it lands — The text mandates a fixed provision for the Levites, requiring the community to recognize their priestly role and sustain their material needs without granting them territorial sovereignty.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts.
Cross-references
- Joshua 21:11 They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.)
- 2 Chronicles 11:14 For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD.
- Ezekiel 45:2 Within this area there is to be a section for the sanctuary 500 cubits square, with 50 cubits around it for open land.