Joshua 21

¹Then came near the heads of fathers’housesof the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel;

²and they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, Jehovah commanded by Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle.

³And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of Jehovah, these cities with their suburbs.

⁴And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.

⁵And the rest of the children of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

⁶And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

⁷The children of Merari according to their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

⁸And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as Jehovah commanded by Moses.

⁹And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name:

¹⁰and they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot.

¹¹And they gave them Kiriath-arba, which Arba was the father of Anak (the same is Hebron), in the hill-country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it.

¹²But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

¹³And unto the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Libnah with its suburbs,

¹⁴and Jattir with its suburbs, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs,

¹⁵and Holon with its suburbs, and Debir with its suburbs,

¹⁶and Ain with its suburbs, and Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes.

¹⁷And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs,

¹⁸Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities.

¹⁹All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

²⁰And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹And they gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill-country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its suburbs,

²²and Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth-horon with its suburbs; four cities.

²³And out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs,

²⁴Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; four cities.

²⁵And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; two cities.

²⁶All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with their suburbs.

²⁷And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Be-eshterah with its suburbs; two cities.

²⁸And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs,

²⁹Jarmuth with its suburbs, En-gannim with its suburbs; four cities.

³⁰And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs,

³¹Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities.

³²And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.

³³All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

³⁴And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs,

³⁵Dimnah with its suburbs, Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities.

³⁶And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, and Jahaz with its suburbs,

³⁷Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; four cities.

³⁸And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs,

³⁹Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; four cities in all.

⁴⁰All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites; and their lot was twelve cities.

⁴¹All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs.

⁴²These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them: thus it was with all these cities.

⁴³So Jehovah gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.

⁴⁴And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; Jehovah delivered all their enemies into their hand.

⁴⁵There failed not aught of any good thing which Jehovah had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

Joshua 21

¹Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel

²at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, together with pasturelands for our livestock.”

³So by the command of the LORD, the Israelites gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands out of their own inheritance:

⁴The first lot came out for the Kohathite clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

⁵The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶The descendants of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷And the descendants of Merari received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

⁸So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these cities, together with their pasturelands, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

⁹From the tribes of Judah and Simeon, they designated these cities by name

¹⁰to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them:

¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.)

¹²But they had given the fields and villages around the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave these cities, together with their pasturelands: Hebron, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah,

¹⁴Jattir, Eshtemoa,

¹⁵Holon, Debir,

¹⁶Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine cities from these two tribes, together with their pasturelands.

¹⁷And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon, Geba,

¹⁸Anathoth, and Almon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

¹⁹In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

²⁰The remaining Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted these cities:

²¹From the tribe of Ephraim they were given Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Gezer,

²²Kibzaim, and Beth-horon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

²³From the tribe of Dan they were given Elteke, Gibbethon,

²⁴Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁵And from the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Taanach and Gath-rimmon—two cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁶In all, ten cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the rest of the Kohathite clans.

²⁷This is what the Levite clans of the Gershonites were given: From the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah—two cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁸From the tribe of Issachar they were given Kishion, Daberath,

²⁹Jarmuth, and En-gannim—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³⁰From the tribe of Asher they were given Mishal, Abdon,

³¹Helkath, and Rehob—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³²And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands.

³³In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the Gershonite clans.

³⁴This is what the Merarite clan (the rest of the Levites) were given:

³⁵From the tribe of Zebulun they were given Jokneam, Kartah, Dimnah, and Nahalal—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they were given Bezer, Jahaz,

³⁷Kedemoth, and Mephaath—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³⁸And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim,

³⁹Heshbon, and Jazer—four cities in all, together with their pasturelands.

⁴⁰In all, twelve cities were allotted to the clans of Merari, the remaining Levite clans.

⁴¹For the Levites, then, there were forty-eight cities in all, together with their pasturelands, within the territory of the Israelites.

⁴²Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities.

⁴³Thus the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled in it.

⁴⁴And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

⁴⁵Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.