Joshua 21

¹ Then the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the children of Israel. ² They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “Yahweh commanded by Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for our livestock.” ³ The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of Yahweh, these cities with their pasture lands.

⁴ The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had by lot thirteen cities out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin. ⁵ The rest of the children of Kohath had by lot ten cities out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶ The children of Gershon had by lot thirteen cities 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. ⁷ The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸ The children of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasture lands, as Yahweh commanded by Moses.

⁹ 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 mentioned by name: ¹⁰ which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had; for the first lot was theirs. ¹¹ They gave them Kiriath Arba, which is the father of Anak (the same is Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its pasture lands all around it. ¹² But the fields of the city, and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

¹³ To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Libnah with its pasture lands, ¹⁴ and Jattir with its pasture lands, and Eshtemoa with its pasture lands, ¹⁵ and Holon with its pasture lands, and Debir with its pasture lands, ¹⁶ and Ain with its pasture lands, and Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth Shemesh with its pasture lands; nine cities out of those two tribes.

¹⁷ Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands, ¹⁸ Anathoth with its pasture lands, and Almon with its pasture lands; four cities. ¹⁹ All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

²⁰ The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹ They gave them Shechem with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Gezer with its pasture lands, ²² and Kibzaim with its pasture lands, and Beth Horon with its pasture lands; four cities. ²³ Out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands, ²⁴ Aijalon with its pasture lands, Gath Rimmon with its pasture lands; four cities. ²⁵ Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasture lands, and Gath Rimmon with its pasture lands; two cities.

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

²⁷ They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Be Eshtarah with its pasture lands; two cities. ²⁸ Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands, ²⁹ Jarmuth with its pasture lands, En Gannim with its pasture lands; four cities. ³⁰ Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands, ³¹ Helkath with its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands; four cities. ³² Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Hammoth Dor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands; three cities.

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

³⁴ To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasture lands, and Kartah with its pasture lands, ³⁵ Dimnah with its pasture lands, Nahalal with its pasture lands; four cities. ³⁶ Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its pasture lands, Jahaz with its pasture lands, ³⁷ Kedemoth with its pasture lands, and Mephaath with its pasture lands; four cities. ³⁸ Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Mahanaim with its pasture lands, ³⁹ Heshbon with its pasture lands, and Jazer with its pasture lands; four cities.

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

⁴¹ All the cities of the Levites in the middle of the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasture lands. ⁴² Each of these cities included their pasture lands around them. It was this way with all these cities.

⁴³ So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it. ⁴⁴ Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. There stood not a man of all their enemies before them. Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵ There failed not anything of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.