Bible Strands

Numbers 35:4

The pasturelands around the cities you are to give the Levites will extend a thousand cubits from the wall on every side.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh speaks through Moses to the Israelite leadership, finalizing the territorial allocation for the Levitical tribes. The command establishes the precise boundary for the land surrounding these designated urban centers.

The words — וּ/מִגְרְשֵׁי (u./mig.re.Shei) denotes the designated pasture lands, while מִ/קִּיר (mi./Kir) specifies the city wall as the fixed starting point for the measurement.

The thread — The boundary rule anchors the immediate context in Numbers 35:3 and Numbers 35:5, where the text first assigns the pasturelands for livestock and then expands the measurement to two thousand cubits in each cardinal direction.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that the Levites' material provision is strictly quantified and geographically bounded. It places the responsibility of precise land distribution on the community rather than on voluntary generosity.

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 suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about.