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Numbers 35:2

in Numbers 35

“Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance they will possess, cities for the Levites to live in and pasturelands around the cities.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and suburbs for the cities round about them shall ye give unto the Levites.

KJV

Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them.

This verse in Numbers 35

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
Suburbs - Rather, “pasture-grounds,” required for their large cattle, for their sheep and goats, and for all their beasts whatever they might be Num 35:3.

This site's exposition

in the plains of Moab by Jordan

on Numbers 35:1-2

These last chapters are all dated to one place, the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, the formula that stands at 22:1, 26:3 and 33:50 and closes the book at 36:13. Levi had been given no portion of the land at 18:20, and the tribe now receives forty-eight towns set inside the portions of the others. Genesis 49:7 had said of Levi, I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel, and Matthew Henry reads the scattering here as a posting through the whole country rather than a loss.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Command the children of Israel,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Adonoy spoke to Moshe in the plains of Moav by the Yardein near Yereicho, saying:
Targum · Onkelos Numbers 35:1, via Sefaria, Metsudah Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009 [with Onkelos translation]

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • צַו֮command

    tzavH6680494 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] people of

    beneiH11214930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵל֒Israel

    yisraelH34782507 times

  • וְנָתְנ֣וּand they will give

    venatenuH54142011 times

  • לַלְוִיִּ֗םto the Levites

    lalviyimH3881291 times

  • מִֽנַּחֲלַ֛תsome of [the] inheritance of

    minachalatH5159222 times

  • אֲחֻזָּתָ֖םpossession their

    ʾachuzatamH27266 times

  • עָרִ֣יםcities

    ʾarimH58921090 times

  • לָשָׁ֑בֶתto dwell in

    lashavetH34271079 times

  • וּמִגְרָ֗שׁand pasture land

    umigrashH4054119 times

  • לֶֽעָרִים֙for the cities

    learimH58921090 times

  • סְבִיבֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔םaround them

    sevivoteihemH5439336 times

  • תִּתְּנ֖וּyou will give

    titenuH54142011 times

  • לַלְוִיִּֽם׃to the Levites

    lalviyimH3881291 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 48:8

    Bordering the territory of Judah, from east to west, will be the portion you are to set apart. It will be 25,000 cubits wide, and the length of a tribal portion from east to…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 33:20–22

      Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up, nor will any…

    • Ezekiel 45:1–6

      “When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, you are to set aside a portion for the LORD, a holy portion of the land 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide. This…

    • Isaiah 12:6

      Cry out and sing, O citizen of Zion, for great among you is the Holy One of Israel.”

    • Ezekiel 48:21

      The remaining area on both sides of the holy portion and of the property of the city will belong to the prince. He will own the land adjacent to the tribal portions, extending eastward…

    • Colossians 2:9

      For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Numbers

The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.