The Cities of the Levites

21 Then the heads of ^[a]households of ^(A)the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of ^[b]households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ² And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “^(B)Yahweh commanded by the hand of 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 ^[c]command of Yahweh. ⁴ Then the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the sons of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, ^[d]received thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of the Simeonites and from the tribe of Benjamin.

⁵ Now the rest of the sons of Kohath ^[e]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 And the sons of Gershon ^[f]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 ^[g]received twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸ So the ^(C)sons of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasture lands, as Yahweh had commanded by the hand of Moses.

⁹ They also gave from the tribe of the sons of Judah and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon these cities which are here mentioned by name; 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 So ^(D)they gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the ^(E)father of Anak), that 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 as his possession.

¹³ Thus ^(F)to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave ^(G)Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands, ^(H)Libnah also with its pasture lands, ^14 (I)Jattir with its pasture lands, ^(J)Eshtemoa with its pasture lands, ^15 [h]Holon with its pasture lands, and ^(K)Debir with its pasture lands, ¹⁶ and ^[i]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 ^[j]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 And 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, and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands; four cities. ²⁵ From the half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave 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)Now 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 Now 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.