Joshua 20–22

CITIES OF REFUGE

20Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, ²“Tell the Israelites: Select your cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses,^{f 3}so that a person who kills someone unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood.^{g 4}When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before the elders of that city, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them.^{h 5}And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not hand the one who committed manslaughter over to him, for he killed his neighbor accidentally and did not hate him beforehand. ⁶He is to stay in that city until he stands trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest serving at that time.ⁱ Then the one who committed manslaughter may return home to his own city from which he fled.”

⁷So they designated Kedesh in the hill country of Naphtali in Galilee,^j Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.^{k 8}Across the Jordan east of Jericho, they selected Bezer on the wilderness plateau from Reuben’s tribe, Ramoth in Gilead from Gad’s tribe, and Golan in Bashan from Manasseh’s tribe.

⁹These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and the aliens residing among them,^l so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die at the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the assembly.

CITIES OF THE LEVITES

21The Levite family heads approached the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes. ²At Shiloh, in the land of Canaan, they told them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to live in, with their pasturelands for our livestock.”^{m 3}So the Israelites, by the Lord’s command, gave the Levites these cities with their pasturelands from their inheritance.

⁴The lot came out for the Kohathite clans: The Levites who were the descendants of the priest Aaron received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. ⁵The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

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

⁷Merari’s descendants received twelve cities for their clans from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

⁸The Israelites gave these cities with their pasturelands around them to the Levites by lot, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

CITIES OF AARON’S DESCENDANTS

⁹The Israelites gave these cities by name from the tribes of the descendants of Judah and Simeon ¹⁰to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because they received the first lot. ¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba^a (that is, Hebron; Arba was the father of Anak) with its surrounding pasturelands in the hill country of Judah. ¹²But they gave the fields and settlements of the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³They gave to the descendants of the priest Aaron:

Hebron, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands, ¹⁴Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, ¹⁵Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, ¹⁶Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities from these two tribes.

¹⁷From the tribe of Benjamin they gave:

Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, ¹⁸Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. ¹⁹All thirteen cities with their pasturelands were for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

CITIES OF KOHATH’S OTHER DESCENDANTS

²⁰The allotted cities to the remaining clans of Kohath’s descendants, who were Levites, came from the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹The Israelites gave them:

Shechem,^b the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands, ²²Kibzaim with its pasturelands, and Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities.

²³From the tribe of Dan they gave:

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

²⁵From half the tribe of Manasseh they gave:

Taanach with its pasturelands and Gath-rimmon^A with its pasturelands—two cities.

²⁶All ten cities with their pasturelands were for the clans of Kohath’s other descendants.

CITIES OF GERSHON’S DESCENDANTS

²⁷From half the tribe of Manasseh, they gave to the descendants of Gershon,^c who were one of the Levite clans:

Golan, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands in Bashan, and Beeshterah with its pasturelands—two cities.

²⁸From the tribe of Issachar they gave:

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

³⁰From the tribe of Asher they gave:

Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, ³¹Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities.

³²From the tribe of Naphtali they gave:

Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities.

³³All thirteen cities with their pasturelands were for the Gershonites by their clans.

CITIES OF MERARI’S DESCENDANTS

³⁴From the tribe of Zebulun, they gave to the clans of the descendants of Merari,^d who were the remaining Levites:

Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands, ³⁵Dimnah with its pasturelands, and Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities.

³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they gave:

Bezer^e with its pasturelands, Jahzah^B with its pasturelands, ³⁷Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities.^A

³⁸From the tribe of Gad they gave:

Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, ³⁹Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all. ⁴⁰All twelve cities were allotted to the clans of Merari’s descendants, the remaining Levite clans.

⁴¹Within the Israelite possession there were forty-eight cities in all with their pasturelands for the Levites.^{a 42}Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities.

THE LORD’S PROMISES FULFILLED

⁴³So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. ⁴⁴The Lord gave them rest on every side according to all he had sworn to their ancestors. None of their enemies were able to stand against them, for the Lord handed over all their enemies to them. ⁴⁵None of the good promises the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed. Everything was fulfilled.^b

EASTERN TRIBES RETURN HOME

22Joshua summoned the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh ²and told them, “You have done everything Moses the Lord’s servant commanded you^c and have obeyed me in everything I commanded you. ³You have not deserted your brothers even once this whole time but have carried out the requirement of the command of the Lord your God. ⁴Now that he has given your brothers rest, just as he promised them, return to your homes in your own land that Moses the Lord’s servant gave you across the Jordan. ⁵Only carefully obey the command and instruction that Moses the Lord’s servant gave you: to love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, keep his commands, be loyal to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.”^d

⁶Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way,^e and they went to their homes. ⁷Moses had given territory to half the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, but Joshua had given territory to the other half,^B with their brothers, on the west side of the Jordan.^f When Joshua sent them to their homes and blessed them, ⁸he said, “Return to your homes with great wealth: a huge number of cattle, and silver, gold, bronze, iron, and a large quantity of clothing. Share the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.”^g

EASTERN TRIBES BUILD AN ALTAR

⁹The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead,^h which they took possession of according to the Lord’s command through Moses. ¹⁰When they came to the region of^C the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh built a large, impressive altar there by the Jordan.

¹¹Then the Israelites heard it said, “Look, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at the region of^A the Jordan, on the Israelite side.” ¹²When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.ⁱ

EXPLANATION OF THE ALTAR

¹³The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead.^{j 14}They sent ten leaders with him—one family leader for each tribe of Israel. All of them were heads of their ancestral families among the clans of Israel.^{k 15}They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and told them, ¹⁶“This is what the Lord’s entire community says: ‘What is this treachery you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, so that you are in rebellion against the Lord today? ¹⁷Wasn’t the iniquity of Peor,^l which brought a plague on the Lord’s community, enough for us? We have not cleansed ourselves from it even to this day,^m …