Joshua 21
New King James Version
Cities of the Levites(A)
21 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the (B)Levites came near to (C)Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. 2 And they spoke to them at (D)Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, (E)“The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock.” 3 So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their common-lands:
4 Now the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And (F)the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, (G)had thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin. 5 (H)The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6 And (I)the children of Gershon had thirteen cities 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.
7 (J)The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun.
8 (K)And the children of Israel gave these cities with their common-lands by lot to the Levites, (L)as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.
9 So they gave from the tribe of the children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these cities which are [a]designated by name, 10 which were for the children of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for the lot was theirs first. 11 (M)And they gave them [b]Kirjath Arba (Arba was the father of (N)Anak), (O)which is Hebron, in the mountains of Judah, with the common-land surrounding it. 12 But (P)the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.
13 Thus (Q)to the children of Aaron the priest they gave (R)Hebron with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), (S)Libnah with its common-land, 14 (T)Jattir with its common-land, (U)Eshtemoa with its common-land, 15 (V)Holon with its common-land, (W)Debir with its common-land, 16 (X)Ain with its common-land, (Y)Juttah with its common-land, and (Z)Beth Shemesh with its common-land: nine cities from those two tribes; 17 and from the tribe of Benjamin, (AA)Gibeon with its common-land, (AB)Geba with its common-land, 18 Anathoth with its common-land, and (AC)Almon with its common-land: four cities. 19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their common-lands.
20 (AD)And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, the rest of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their [c]lot from the tribe of Ephraim. 21 For they gave them (AE)Shechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the slayer), (AF)Gezer with its common-land, 22 Kibzaim with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities; 23 and from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its common-land, 24 (AG)Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities; 25 and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities. 26 All the ten cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the children of Kohath.
27 (AH)Also to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave (AI)Golan in Bashan with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two cities; 28 and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land, 29 Jarmuth with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four cities; 30 and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its common-land, Abdon with its common-land, 31 Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities; 32 and from the tribe of Naphtali, (AJ)Kedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its common-land: three cities. 33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their common-lands.
34 (AK)And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its common-land, Kartah with its common-land, 35 Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities; 36 [d]and from the tribe of Reuben, (AL)Bezer with its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land, 37 Kedemoth with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities; 38 and from the tribe of Gad, (AM)Ramoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land, 39 Heshbon with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four cities in all. 40 So all the cities for the children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.
41 (AN)All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their common-lands. 42 Every one of these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all these cities.
The Promise Fulfilled
43 So the Lord gave to Israel (AO)all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they (AP)took possession of it and dwelt in it. 44 (AQ)The Lord gave them (AR)rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And (AS)not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 (AT)Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
Footnotes
- Joshua 21:9 Lit. called
- Joshua 21:11 Lit. City of Arba
- Joshua 21:20 allotment
- Joshua 21:36 So with LXX, Vg. (cf. 1 Chr. 6:78, 79); MT, Bg., Tg. omit vv. 36, 37
Joshua 21
Tree of Life Version
Towns for the Levites
21 Then the heads of ancestral houses of the Levites approached Eleazar the kohen and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of ancestral houses of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael, 2 and they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan saying: “Adonai commanded through Moses to give us towns to live in, with their pastures for our cattle.” 3 So Bnei-Yisrael gave to the Levites from their inheritance, according to the command of Adonai, these towns and their pastures: 4 the lot came out for the clan of the Kohathites. The children of Aaron the kohen, who were of the Levites, received 13 towns by lot from the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Simeon and the tribe of Benjamin. 5 The rest of the children of Kohath received 10 towns by lot from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 6 The children of Gershon received 13 towns by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, the tribe of Asher, the tribe of Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. 7 The children of Merari according to their clans received 12 towns from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Zebulun.
8 So Bnei-Yisrael gave by lot to the Levites these towns with their pastures, as Adonai had commanded through Moses. 9 They gave from the tribe of the children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these towns which are here mentioned by name. 10 They were for the children of Aaron, of the clans of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi, for theirs was the first lot: 11 So they gave them Kiriath-arba, the father of Anak (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah, with its surrounding pastures. 12 But the fields of the city and its villages they had already given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession. 13 But to the children of Aaron the kohen they assigned Hebron (the city of refuge for the manslayer) with its pastures, Libnah with its pastures, 14 Jattir with its pastures, Eshtemoa with its pastures, 15 Holon with its pastures, Debir with its pastures, 16 Ain with its pastures, Juttah with its pastures and Beth-shemesh with its pastures—9 towns from these two tribes.
17 Then from the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon with its pastures, Geba with its pastures, 18 Anathoth with its pastures and Almon with its pastures—4 towns. 19 All the towns of the kohanim, the children of Aaron, were 13 towns with their pastures.
20 As for the other clans of the children of Kohath, the remaining Levites descended from the children of Kohath, the towns of their lot were from the tribe of Ephraim. 21 So they gave them Shechem (the city of refuge for the manslayer) with its pastures in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pastures, 22 Kibzaim with its pastures and Beth-horon with its pastures—4 towns.
23 From the tribe of Dan: Elteke with its pastures, Gibbethon with its pastures, 24 Aijalon with its pastures and Gath-rimmon with its pastures—4 towns. 25 From the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its pastures and Gath-rimmon with its pastures—2 towns. 26 All the towns of the clans of the rest of the children of Kohath were 10 with their pastures.
27 Now to the children of Gershon of the clans of the Levites: from the half-tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan (the city of refuge for the manslayer) in Bashan with its pastures and Beeshterah with its pastures—2 towns. 28 From the tribe of Issachar: Kishion with its pastures, Dobrath with its pastures, 29 Jarmuth with its pastures and En-gannim with its pastures—4 towns. 30 From the tribe of Asher: Mishal with its pastures, Abdon with its pastures, 31 Helkath with its pastures, and Rehob with its pastures—4 towns. 32 From the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh (the city of refuge for the manslayer) in Galilee with its pastures, Hammoth-dor with its pastures, Kartan with its pastures—3 towns. 33 All the towns of the Gershonites according to their clans were 13 towns with their pastures.
34 To the remaining Levites of the clans of the children of Merari, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pastures, Kartah with its pastures, 35 Dimnah with its pastures, and Nahalal with its pastures—4 towns. 36 From the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its pastures, Jahaz with its pastures, 37 Kedemoth with its pastures and Mephaath with its pastures—4 cities. 38 From the tribe of Gad: Ramoth (the city of refuge for the manslayer) in Gilead with its pastures, Mahanaim with its pastures, 39 Heshbon with its pastures, and Jazer with its pastures—4 towns in all. 40 All the towns that went by lot to the children of Merari (the remaining Levites) according to their clans, were 12 towns.
41 The total of the towns of the Levites within the holdings of Bnei-Yisrael was 48 towns with their pastures. 42 Each of these towns had its own pastures; so it was for all these towns.
Adonai Keeps All His Promises
43 So Adonai gave to Israel the entire land that He had sworn to give to their fathers. They took possession and settled in it. 44 Then Adonai gave them rest on all sides, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one man of all their enemies withstood them, for Adonai gave all their enemies into their hand. 45 Not one good thing that Adonai had promised to the house of Israel failed. All came to pass.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.