Study Desk

These towns will be for the Levites to live in, and the surrounding lands will provide pasture for their cattle, flocks, and other livestock.

Measure off 3,000 feet outside the town walls in every direction—east, south, west, north—with the town at the center. This area will serve as the larger pastureland for the towns.

"Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can flee for safety. In addition, give them forty-two other towns.

Designate six cities of refuge for yourselves,

These cities are for the protection of Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety.

The victim's nearest relative is responsible for putting the murderer to death. When they meet, the avenger must put the murderer to death.

These are legal requirements for you to observe from generation to generation, wherever you may live.

Also, you must never accept a ransom payment for the life of someone judged guilty of murder and subject to execution; murderers must always be put to death.

This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder.

You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the Lord , who lives among the people of Israel."

None of the territorial land may pass from tribe to tribe, for all the land given to each tribe must remain within the tribe to which it was first allotted.

Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.'"

Moses continued, "At that time I told you, ‘You are too great a burden for me to carry all by myself.

Choose some well-respected men from each tribe who are known for their wisdom and understanding, and I will appoint them as your leaders.'

So I took the wise and respected men you had selected from your tribes and appointed them to serve as judges and officials over you. Some were responsible for a thousand people, some for a hundred, some for fifty, and some for ten.

and impartial in your judgments. Hear the cases of those who are poor as well as those who are rich. Don't be afraid of anyone's anger, for the decision you make is God's decision. Bring me any cases that are too difficult for you, and I will handle them.'

"But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let's send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.'

They headed for the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it.

The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt.

And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.'