Joshua 21

Modern

Literal

Forty-Eight Cities for the Levites

¹Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel

¹And the heads of the fathers of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

²at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, together with pasturelands for our livestock.”

²And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “YHWH commanded by the hand of Moses to give to us cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for our livestock.”

³So by the command of the LORD, the Israelites gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands out of their own inheritance:

³And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance at the mouth of YHWH these cities and their pasturelands.

⁴The first lot came out for the Kohathite clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

⁴And the lot came out for the clans of the Kohathite, and there were for the sons of Aaron the priest of the Levites, from the tribe of Judah, and from the tribe of the Simeonite, and from the tribe of Benjamin, by lot thirteen cities;

⁵The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁵and for the sons of Kohath remaining, out of the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, and from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, by lot ten cities;

⁶The descendants of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁶and for the sons of Gershon, from the clans 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, by lot thirteen cities;

⁷And the descendants of Merari received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

⁷for the sons of Merari by their clans, from the tribe of Reuben, and from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

⁸So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these cities, together with their pasturelands, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

⁸And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites these cities and their pasturelands, as YHWH had commanded by the hand of Moses by lot.

⁹From the tribes of Judah and Simeon, they designated these cities by name

⁹And they gave from the tribe of the sons of Judah, and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon, these cities that are called by name,

¹⁰to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them:

¹⁰which were for the sons of Aaron, from the clans of the Kohathite, from the sons of Levi; for theirs was the first lot:

¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.)

¹¹And they gave to them Kiriath-arba (the father of Anak) that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, and with its pasturelands surrounding it.

¹²But they had given the fields and villages around the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹²And the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave these cities, together with their pasturelands: Hebron, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah,

¹³And to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave a city of refuge for the manslayer, Hebron and its pasturelands, and Libnah and its pasturelands,

¹⁴Jattir, Eshtemoa,

¹⁴and Jattir and its pasturelands, and Eshtemoa and its pasturelands,

¹⁵Holon, Debir,

¹⁵and Holon and its pasturelands, and Debir and its pasturelands,

¹⁶Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine cities from these two tribes, together with their pasturelands.

¹⁶and Ain and its pasturelands, and Juttah and its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh and its pasturelands—nine cities from these two tribes.

¹⁷And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon, Geba,

¹⁷From the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon and its pasturelands, and Geba and its pasturelands,

¹⁸Anathoth, and Almon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

¹⁸Anathoth and its pasturelands, and Almon and its pasturelands—four cities.

¹⁹In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

¹⁹All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities and their pasturelands.

²⁰The remaining Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted these cities:

From the tribe of Ephraim

²⁰And for the clans of the sons of Kohath, the Levites remaining of the sons of Kohath, the cities of their lot were even: From the tribe of Ephraim,

²¹they were given Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Gezer,

²¹and they gave to them a city of refuge for the manslayer, Shechem and its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer and its pasturelands,

²²Kibzaim, and Beth-horon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

²²and Kibzaim and its pasturelands, and Beth-horon and its pasturelands—four cities.

²³From the tribe of Dan they were given Elteke, Gibbethon,

²³And from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and its pasturelands, Gibbethon and its pasturelands,

²⁴Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁴Aijalon and its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon and its pasturelands—four cities.

²⁵And from the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Taanach and Gath-rimmon—two cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁵And from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon and its pasturelands—two cities.

²⁶In all, ten cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the rest of the Kohathite clans.

²⁶All the cities were ten, and their pasturelands, for the clans of the remaining sons of Kohath.

²⁷This is what the Levite clans of the Gershonites were given:

From the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah—two cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁷And to the sons of Gershon, of the clans of the Levites: From the half-tribe of Manasseh a city of refuge for the manslayer, Golan in Bashan and its pasturelands, and Beeshterah and its pasturelands—two cities.

²⁸From the tribe of Issachar they were given Kishion, Daberath,

²⁸And from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion and its pasturelands, Daberath and its pasturelands,

²⁹Jarmuth, and En-gannim—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁹Jarmuth and its pasturelands, En-gannim and its pasturelands—four cities.

³⁰From the tribe of Asher they were given Mishal, Abdon,

³⁰And from the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its pasturelands, Abdon and its pasturelands,

³¹Helkath, and Rehob—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³¹Helkath and its pasturelands, and Rehob and its pasturelands—four cities.

³²And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands.

³²And from the tribe of Naphtali, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Kedesh in Galilee and its pasturelands, and Hammoth-dor and its pasturelands, and Kartan and its pasturelands—three cities.

³³In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the Gershonite clans.

³³All the cities of the Gershonite by their clans were thirteen cities and their pasturelands.

³⁴This is what the Merarite clan (the rest of the Levites) were given:

From the tribe of Zebulun they were given Jokneam, Kartah,

³⁴And to the clans of the sons of Merari, the remaining Levites: From the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its pasturelands, Kartah and its pasturelands,

³⁵Dimnah, and Nahalal—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³⁵Dimnah and its pasturelands, Nahalal and its pasturelands—four cities.

³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they were given Bezer, Jahaz,

³⁶And from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and its pasturelands, and Jahaz and its pasturelands,

³⁷Kedemoth, and Mephaath—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³⁷Kedemoth and its pasturelands, and Mephaath and its pasturelands—four cities.

³⁸And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim,

³⁸And from the tribe of Gad, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Ramoth in Gilead and its pasturelands, and Mahanaim and its pasturelands,

³⁹Heshbon, and Jazer—four cities in all, together with their pasturelands.

³⁹Heshbon and its pasturelands, Jazer and its pasturelands—in all four cities.

⁴⁰In all, twelve cities were allotted to the clans of Merari, the remaining Levite clans.

⁴⁰And all the cities for the sons of Merari by their clans, the remaining of the clans of the Levites, by their lot, were twelve cities.

⁴¹For the Levites, then, there were forty-eight cities in all, together with their pasturelands, within the territory of the Israelites.

⁴¹All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel were forty-eight cities and their pasturelands.

⁴²Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities.

⁴²These cities were each city and its pasturelands surrounding it. And were all these cities.

⁴³Thus the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled in it.

⁴³And YHWH gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and dwelt in it.

⁴⁴And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

⁴⁴And YHWH gave rest to them all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and not a man stood against them of all their enemies; all their enemies YHWH delivered into their hands.

⁴⁵Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.

⁴⁵Not a word failed of any good thing that YHWH had spoken to the house of Israel; everything came to pass.