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The towns that you give to the Levites shall total forty-eight, with their pasturelands.

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Settlements of the Levites

54 These are their dwelling places according to their settlements within their territories: to the sons of Aaron of the families of Kohathites—for the lot fell to them first(A) 55 to them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pasturelands,(B) 56 but the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh.(C) 57 To the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge: Hebron, Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands,(D) 58 Hilen[a] with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, 59 Ashan with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands. 60 From the tribe of Benjamin, Geba with its pasturelands, Alemeth with its pasturelands, and Anathoth with its pasturelands. All their towns throughout their families were thirteen.

61 To the rest of the Kohathites were given by lot out of the family of the tribe, out of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh, ten towns.(E) 62 To the Gershomites according to their families were allotted thirteen towns out of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Manasseh in Bashan. 63 To the Merarites according to their families were allotted twelve towns out of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.(F) 64 So the people of Israel gave the Levites the towns with their pasturelands.(G) 65 They also gave them by lot out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin these towns that are mentioned by name.(H)

66 And some of the families of the sons of Kohath had towns of their territory out of the tribe of Ephraim.(I) 67 They were given the cities of refuge: Shechem with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,(J) 68 Jokmeam with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands,(K) 69 Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands; 70 and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its pasturelands, and Bileam with its pasturelands, for the rest of the families of the Kohathites.

71 To the Gershomites: out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands and Ashtaroth with its pasturelands; 72 and out of the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh with its pasturelands, Daberath[b] with its pasturelands, 73 Ramoth with its pasturelands, and Anem with its pasturelands;(L) 74 out of the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, 75 Hukok with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands; 76 and out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, Hammon with its pasturelands, and Kiriathaim with its pasturelands.(M) 77 To the rest of the Merarites out of the tribe of Zebulun: Rimmono with its pasturelands, Tabor with its pasturelands,(N) 78 and across the Jordan from Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the steppe with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands, 79 Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands; 80 and out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, 81 Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands.

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Footnotes

  1. 6.58 Heb mss: MT Hilez
  2. 6.72 Or Dobrath

So by command of the Lord the Israelites gave to the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their inheritance.

The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.(A)

The rest of the Kohathites received by lot ten towns from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.(B)

The Gershonites received by lot thirteen towns 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.(C)

The Merarites according to their families received twelve towns from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun.(D)

These towns and their pasturelands the Israelites gave by lot to the Levites, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.(E)

Out of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Simeon they gave the following towns mentioned by name, 10 which went to the descendants of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites who belonged to the Levites, since the lot fell to them first. 11 They gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it.(F) 12 But the fields of the town and its villages had been given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his holding.

13 To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands,(G) 14 Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, 15 Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands,(H) 16 Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine towns out of these two tribes.(I) 17 Out of the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, 18 Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four towns.(J) 19 The towns of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen in all, with their pasturelands.

20 As to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite families of the Levites, the towns allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21 To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,(K) 22 Kibzaim with its pasturelands, and Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four towns. 23 Out of the tribe of Dan: Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands, 24 Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four towns. 25 Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—two towns. 26 The towns of the families of the rest of the Kohathites were ten in all, with their pasturelands.

27 To the Gershonites, one of the families of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the slayer, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands—two towns.(L) 28 Out of the tribe of Issachar: Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, 29 Jarmuth with its pasturelands, En-gannim with its pasturelands—four towns. 30 Out of the tribe of Asher: Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, 31 Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four towns. 32 Out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three towns.(M) 33 The towns of the several families of the Gershonites were in all thirteen, with their pasturelands.

34 To the rest of the Levites—the Merarite families—were given out of the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands,(N) 35 Dimnah with its pasturelands, Nahalal with its pasturelands—four towns. 36 Out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands,(O) 37 Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four towns. 38 Out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, 39 Heshbon with its pasturelands, Jazer with its pasturelands—four towns in all. 40 As for the towns of the several Merarite families, that is, the remainder of the families of the Levites, those allotted to them were twelve in all.

41 The towns of the Levites within the holdings of the Israelites were in all forty-eight towns with their pasturelands.(P) 42 Each of these towns had its pasturelands around it; so it was with all these towns.

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