Levitical city

In the Hebrew Bible, the Levitical cities were 48 cities in ancient Israel set aside for the tribe of Levi, who were not allocated their own territorial land when the Israelites entered the Promised Land.

Numbers 35:1-8 relates God's command to Moses to establish 48 cities for the Levites, of which six would also function as Cities of Refuge to which manslayers could flee. Each settlement was to comprise a walled city and the common land around it for pasture, measured radially as one thousand cubits in each direction,^[1] or as a square measuring two thousand cubits along each side.^[2] The land for the cities was to be 'donated' by the host tribe ^[3] and was allocated to the Levites according to their tribal sub-divisions.

13 cities were for the Aaronites.
13 cities were for the Gershonites.
10 cities were for the Kohathites.
12 cities were for the Merarites.

The six cities which were to be Cities of Refuge were Golan, Ramoth, and Bezer, on the east of the Jordan River,^[4] and Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron on the western side.^[5]