Lexicon :: Strong's H5892 - ʿîr

“Concerning the Levitical cities, the Levites always have the right to redeem houses in the cities they possess.

“Whatever property one of the Levites can redeem[fn] ​— ​a house sold in a city they possess ​— ​is to be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites.

“The open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for it is their permanent possession.

“I will reduce your cities to ruins and devastate your sanctuaries. I will not smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.

“But I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword to chase after you. So your land will become desolate, and your cities will become ruins.

“However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We also saw the descendants of Anak there.

The LORD listened to Israel’s request and handed the Canaanites over to them, and Israel completely destroyed them and their cities. So they named the place Hormah.[fn]

Israel took all the cities and lived in all these Amorite cities, including Heshbon and all its surrounding villages.

Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken control of all his land as far as the Arnon.

Therefore the poets[fn] say:

Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt;

let the city of Sihon be restored.[fn]

“But we will arm ourselves and be ready to go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place. Meanwhile, our dependents will remain in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

“Build cities for your dependents and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

“Our dependents, wives, livestock, and all our animals will remain here in the cities of Gilead,

So Moses gave them ​— ​the Gadites, Reubenites, and half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph ​— ​the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land including its cities with the territories surrounding them.

Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and built sheep pens.

as well as Nebo and Baal-meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they rebuilt.

“The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds, flocks, and all their other animals.

“The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites will extend from the city wall five hundred yards[fn] on every side.

“Measure a thousand yards[fn] outside the city for the east side, a thousand yards for the south side, a thousand yards for the west side, and a thousand yards for the north side, with the city in the center. This will belong to them as pasturelands for the cities.

“The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge, which you will provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give forty-two other cities.

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

“Of the cities that you give from the Israelites’ territory, you should take more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one. Each tribe is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.”

“designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.

“You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly.

“The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge.

“Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.

“These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the alien or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

“The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

“If the one who kills someone ever goes outside the border of the city of refuge he fled to,

“and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed,

“for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses.

“Neither should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to his city of refuge, allowing him to return and live in the land before the death of the high priest.

“Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart,[fn] saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the heavens. We also saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’

“We took only the livestock and the spoil from the cities we captured as plunder for ourselves.

“There was no city that was inaccessible to[fn] us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead. The LORD our God gave everything to us.

“But you did not go near the Ammonites’ land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River, the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.

“All these were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a large number of rural villages.