Forty-eight Cities of the Levites

21 Then the heads of ^[a]households of ^(A)the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of ^[b]households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ² They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “^(B)The Lord commanded ^[c]through Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasture lands for our cattle.” ³ So the sons of Israel gave the Levites from their inheritance these cities with their pasture lands, according to the ^[d]command of the Lord. ⁴ Then the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the sons of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, ^[e]received thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of the Simeonites and from the tribe of Benjamin.

⁵ The rest of the sons of Kohath ^[f]received ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim and from the tribe of Dan and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶ The sons of Gershon ^[g]received thirteen cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar and from the tribe of Asher and from the tribe of Naphtali and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷ The sons of Merari according to their families ^[h]received twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸ Now the ^(C)sons of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasture lands, as the Lord had commanded ^[i]through Moses.

⁹ They gave these cities which are here mentioned by name from the tribe of the sons of Judah and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon; ¹⁰ and they were for the sons of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, of the sons of Levi, for the lot was theirs first. ¹¹ Thus ^(D)they gave them Kiriath-arba, Arba being the ^(E)father of Anak (that is, Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its surrounding pasture lands. ¹² But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³ So ^(F)to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave ^(G)Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands, and ^(H)Libnah with its pasture lands, ¹⁴ and ^(I)Jattir with its pasture lands and ^(J)Eshtemoa with its pasture lands, ¹⁵ and ^[j]Holon with its pasture lands and ^(K)Debir with its pasture lands, ¹⁶ and ^[k]Ain with its pasture lands and ^(L)Juttah with its pasture lands and ^(M)Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands; nine cities from these two tribes. ¹⁷ From the tribe of Benjamin, ^(N)Gibeon with its pasture lands, ^(O)Geba with its pasture lands, ¹⁸ Anathoth with its pasture lands and ^[l]Almon with its pasture lands; four cities. ¹⁹ All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

²⁰ Then the cities from the tribe of Ephraim were allotted to the ^(P)families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites, even to the rest of the sons of Kohath. ²¹ They gave them ^(Q)Shechem, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands, in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer with its pasture lands, ²² and Kibzaim with its pasture lands and Beth-horon with its pasture lands; four cities. ²³ From the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands, ²⁴ Aijalon with its pasture lands, Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands; four cities. ²⁵ From the half-tribe of Manasseh, they allotted Taanach with its pasture lands and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands; two cities. ²⁶ All the cities with their pasture lands for the families of the rest of the sons of Kohath were ten.

^27 (R)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 manslayer, with its pasture lands, and Be-eshterah with its pasture lands; two cities. ²⁸ From the tribe of Issachar, they gave 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 From the tribe of Asher, they gave 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 From the tribe of Naphtali, they gave ^(S)Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands 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 ^(T)the sons of Merari, the rest of the Levites, they gave from 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 From the tribe of Reuben, they gave ^(U)Bezer with its pasture lands and Jahaz with its pasture lands, ³⁷ Kedemoth with its pasture lands and Mephaath with its pasture lands; four cities. ³⁸ From the tribe of Gad, they gave ^(V)Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands and ^(W)Mahanaim with its pasture lands, ³⁹ Heshbon with its pasture lands, Jazer with its pasture lands; four cities in all. ⁴⁰ All 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.

^41 (X)All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasture lands. ⁴² These cities each had its surrounding pasture lands; thus it was with all these cities.

^43 (Y)So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and ^(Z)they possessed it and lived in it. ⁴⁴ And the Lord ^(AA)gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and ^(AB)no one of all their enemies stood before them; ^(AC)the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. ^45 (AD)Not ^[m]one of the good promises which the Lord had ^[n]made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.

Servants of Christ

4 Let a man regard us in this manner, as ^(A)servants of Christ and ^(B)stewards of ^(C)the mysteries of God. ² In this case, moreover, it is required ^[a]of stewards that one be found trustworthy. ³ But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human ^[b]court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. ⁴ For I ^(D)am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this ^(E)acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. ⁵ Therefore ^(F)do not go on ^[c]passing judgment before ^[d]the time, but wait ^(G)until the Lord comes who will both ^(H)bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s ^(I)praise will come to him from God.

⁶ Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed ^(J)what is written, so that no one of you will ^(K)become ^[e]arrogant ^(L)in behalf of one against the other. ⁷ For who regards you as superior? ^(M)What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

⁸ You are ^(N)already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. ⁹ For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men ^(O)condemned to death; because we ^(P)have become a spectacle to the world, ^[f]both to angels and to men. ¹⁰ We are ^(Q)fools for Christ’s sake, but ^(R)you are prudent in Christ; ^(S)we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. ¹¹ To this present hour we are both ^(T)hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; ¹² and we toil, ^(U)working with our own hands; when we are ^(V)reviled, we bless; when we are ^(W)persecuted, we endure; ¹³ when we are slandered, we try to ^[g]conciliate; we have ^(X)become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

¹⁴ I do not write these things to ^(Y)shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved ^(Z)children. ¹⁵ For if you were to have countless ^(AA)tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in ^(AB)Christ Jesus I ^(AC)became your father through the ^(AD)gospel. ¹⁶ Therefore I exhort you, be ^(AE)imitators of me. ¹⁷ For this reason I ^(AF)have sent to you ^(AG)Timothy, who is my ^(AH)beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, ^(AI)just as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Now some have become ^[h](AJ)arrogant, as though I were not ^(AK)coming to you. ¹⁹ But I ^(AL)will come to you soon, ^(AM)if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the ^[i]words of those who are ^(AN)arrogant but their power. ²⁰ For the kingdom of God does ^(AO)not consist in ^[j]words but in power. ²¹ What do you desire? ^(AP)Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?