Joshua21

¹Then the heads of fathers’ households of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of fathers’ households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

²And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasture lands for our cattle.”

³So the sons of Israel gave the Levites from their inheritance these cities with their pasture lands, in accordance with the command of the Lord.

⁴Then the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And to the sons of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, thirteen cities were given by lot from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of the Simeonites, and from the tribe of Benjamin.

⁵And to the rest of the sons of Kohath ten cities were given by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶And to the sons of Gershon thirteen cities were given by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷To the sons of Merari according to their families twelve cities were given from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸Now the sons of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasture lands, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁹They gave these cities which are mentioned here by name from the tribe of the sons of Judah and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon;

¹⁰and they were for the sons of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, of the sons of Levi, because the lot was theirs first.

¹¹So they gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with its surrounding pasture lands.

¹²But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³So to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasture lands, Libnah with its pasture lands,

¹⁴Jattir with its pasture lands, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands,

¹⁵Holon with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands,

¹⁶Ain with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands; nine cities from these two tribes.

¹⁷From the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands,

¹⁸Anathoth with its pasture lands, and Almon with its pasture lands; four cities.

¹⁹All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

²⁰Then the cities from the tribe of Ephraim were allotted to the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites, that is, to the rest of the sons of Kohath.

²¹They gave them Shechem, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasture lands, in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer with its pasture lands,

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

²³And from the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands,

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

²⁵From the half-tribe of Manasseh, they allotted Taanach with its pasture lands and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands; two cities.

²⁶All the cities with their pasture lands for the families of the rest of the sons of Kohath were ten.

²⁷And to the sons of Gershon, one of the families of the Levites, from the half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave Golan in Bashan, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasture lands, and Be-eshterah with its pasture lands; two cities.

²⁸And from the tribe of Issachar they gave Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands,

²⁹Jarmuth with its pasture lands, and En-gannim with its pasture lands; four cities.

³⁰From the tribe of Asher, they gave Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands,

³¹Helkath with its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands; four cities.

³²And from the tribe of Naphtali, they gave Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasture lands, Hammoth-dor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands; three cities.

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

³⁴And to the families of the sons of Merari, the rest of the Levites, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands,

³⁵Dimnah with its pasture lands, and Nahalal with its pasture lands; four cities.

³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they gave Bezer with its pasture lands, Jahaz with its pasture lands,

³⁷Kedemoth with its pasture lands, and Mephaath with its pasture lands; four cities.

³⁸And from the tribe of Gad, they gave Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasture lands, Mahanaim with its pasture lands,

³⁹Heshbon with its pasture lands, and Jazer with its pasture lands; four cities in all.

⁴⁰All these were the cities of the sons of Merari according to their families, 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 sons of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasture lands.

⁴²These cities individually had their surrounding pasture lands; this is how it was with all these cities.

⁴³So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and lived in it.

⁴⁴And the Lord gave them rest on every side, in accordance with everything that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord handed all their enemies over to them.

⁴⁵Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; everything came to pass.