Numbers 35:7

The total number of cities you give the Levites will be forty-eight, with their corresponding pasturelands.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God addresses Moses and the Israelite assembly on the plains of Moab, finalizing the land distribution instructions immediately after designating the cities of refuge. The words — The Hebrew phrase אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁמֹנֶה עִיר (arbāʿîm ûšĕmônê ʿîr) literally states "forty and eight city/cities," fixing the precise quantity of Levitical settlements. The thread — This allocation is executed in Joshua 21:3 when the tribes hand over the cities and pasturelands, and the specific territories assigned to Aaron’s line are later cataloged in 1 Chronicles 6:54. Why it lands — The text demands that readers acknowledge the Levites receive a fixed, proportionally distributed portion of the land rather than a territorial inheritance, grounding their provision in tribal allotments.

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

כָּל־kol-all הֶעָרִ֗יםhe./'a.Rimthe/ cities אֲשֶׁ֤ר'a.Sherwhich תִּתְּנוּ֙ti.te.Nuyou will give לַלְוִיִּ֔םla/l.vi.Yimto the/ Levites אַרְבָּעִ֥ים'ar.ba.'Im[will be] forty וּשְׁמֹנֶ֖הu./she.mo.Nehand/ eight עִ֑יר'Irciti[es]אֶתְהֶ֖ן'et./Hen<obj.>/ them וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>מִגְרְשֵׁיהֶֽן׃mig.re.shei./Henpasture lands/ their

King James Version

So all the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities: them shall ye give with their suburbs.

Cross-references

Joshua 21:3 So by the command of the LORD, the Israelites gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands out of their own inheritance:
1 Chronicles 6:54 Now these were the territories assigned to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clan for their settlements, because the first lot fell to them: