“So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord who commands armies ¹  says: “I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd ²  to make you a leader of my people Israel.

For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded ¹  city is abandoned. Hill ²  and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. ³  Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there. ⁴ 

Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ¹  in the land. There ²  is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

Moreover, ¹  the open field areas of their cities ²  must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.

“So the total of the towns you will give the Levites is forty-eight. You must give these together with their grazing lands.

The rest of the Kohathite clans received ten cities and their grazing areas.

Thus they will have towns in which to live, and their grazing lands will be for their cattle, for their possessions, and for all their animals.

The grazing lands around the towns that you will give to the Levites must extend to a distance of 500 yards ¹  from the town wall.

So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they assigned Hebron (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter), Libnah,

They assigned them Shechem (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter) in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer,

They assigned to the Merarite clans (the remaining Levites) the following cities: from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam, Kartah,

from the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter), Mahanaim,

They were allotted as cities ¹  of refuge Shechem and its pasturelands (in the hill country of Ephraim), Gezer and its pasturelands,

When they were fed, ¹  they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; ²  as a result, they forgot me!

I will certainly gather all of you, O Jacob, I will certainly assemble those Israelites who remain. ¹  I will bring them together like sheep in a fold, ²  like a flock in the middle of a pasture; ³  they will be so numerous that they will make a lot of noise. ⁴ 

The men whose names are listed came during the time of King Hezekiah of Judah and attacked the Hamites’ settlements, ¹  as well as the Meunites they discovered there, and they wiped them out to this very day. They dispossessed them, ²  for they found pasture for their sheep there.

The seacoast ¹  will be used as pasture lands ²  by the shepherds and as pens for their flocks.

The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock set aside for slaughter.

Then Jacob ¹  said, “Since it is still the middle of the day, ²  it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. You should water the sheep and then go and let them graze some more.” ³ 

Within the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh, the rest of Kohath’s descendants received Aner and its pasturelands and Bileam and its pasturelands. ¹