Joshua 21:1-19

English Standard Version

Cities and Pasturelands Allotted to Levi

21 Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came ^(A)to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. ² And they said to them ^(B)at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, ^(C)“The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock.” ³ So by command of the Lord the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance.

⁴ The lot came out for the clans of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest ^(D)received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities.

⁵ And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot ^(E)from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

⁶ The ^(F)Gershonites received by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

⁷ The ^(G)Merarites according to their clans received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

⁸ These cities and their pasturelands the people of Israel ^(H)gave by lot to the Levites, ^(I)as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁹ Out of the tribe of the people of Judah and the tribe of the people of Simeon they gave the following cities mentioned by name, ¹⁰ which went to ^(J)the descendants of Aaron, one of the clans of the Kohathites who belonged to the people of Levi; since the lot fell to them first. ^11 (K)They gave them ^(L)Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, ^(M)in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it. ¹² But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³ And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, ^(N)the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, ^(O)Libnah with its pasturelands, ¹⁴ Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, ¹⁵ Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, ¹⁶ Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities out of these two tribes; ¹⁷ then out of the tribe of Benjamin, ^(P)Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, ¹⁸ Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. ¹⁹ The cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.