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.