Joshua 20–22

Chapter 20

¹And Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, ²Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint for yourselves the cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you through Moses, ³that the slayer who unwittingly without intent smiteth any one mortally may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴And he shall flee unto one of those cities and stand at the entrance of the city-gate, and shall declare his matter in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. ⁵And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; for he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not previously. ⁶And he shall dwell in that city, until he have stood before the assembly in judgment, until the death of the high-priest that shall be in those days; then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.

⁷And they hallowed Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kirjath-Arba, that is, Hebron, in the hill-country of Judah. ⁸And beyond the Jordan from Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness, in the plateau, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan of the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever smiteth any one mortally without intent might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the assembly.

Chapter 21

¹Then the chief fathers of the Levites drew near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; ²and they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, Jehovah commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, and their suburbs for our cattle. ³And the children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the word of Jehovah, these cities and their suburbs. ⁴And the lot came forth for the families of the Kohathites. And the children of Aaron the priest, of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. ⁵And the children of Kohath that remained had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities. ⁶And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. ⁷The children of Merari according to their families had by lot out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. ⁸And the children of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities and their suburbs, as Jehovah commanded through Moses.

⁹And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which were mentioned by name, ¹⁰and which the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi had (for theirs was the first lot); ¹¹and they gave them Kirjath-Arba, which Arba was the father of Anak, that is, Hebron, in the mountain of Judah, with its suburbs round about it. ¹²But the fields of the city and the hamlets thereof gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. ¹³And they gave to the children of Aaron the priest the city of refuge for the slayer, Hebron and its suburbs; and Libnah and its suburbs, ¹⁴and Jattir and its suburbs, and Eshtemoa and its suburbs, ¹⁵and Holon and its suburbs, and Debir and its suburbs, ¹⁶and Ain and its suburbs, and Juttah and its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh and its suburbs: nine cities out of those two tribes; ¹⁷and out of the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon and its suburbs, Geba and its suburbs, ¹⁸Anathoth and its suburbs, and Almon and its suburbs; four cities. ¹⁹All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities and their suburbs. ²⁰And to the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites that remained of the children of Kohath, they gave cities. And the cities of their lot were out of the tribe of Ephraim, ²¹and they gave them the city of refuge for the slayer, Shechem and its suburbs in mount Ephraim; and Gezer and its suburbs, ²²and Kibzaim and its suburbs, and Beth-horon and its suburbs: four cities; ²³and out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and its suburbs, Gibbethon and its suburbs, ²⁴Ajalon and its suburbs, Gath-Rimmon and its suburbs: four cities; ²⁵and out of half the tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and its suburbs and Gath-Rimmon and its suburbs: two cities. ²⁶All the cities were ten and their suburbs, for the families of the children of Kohath that remained. ²⁷And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of half the tribe of Manasseh, they gave the city of refuge for the slayer, Golan in Bashan and its suburbs; and Beeshterah and its suburbs: two cities; ²⁸and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion and its suburbs, Dabrath and its suburbs, ²⁹Jarmuth and its suburbs, En-gannim and its suburbs: four cities; ³⁰and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its suburbs, Abdon and its suburbs, ³¹Helkath and its suburbs, and Rehob and its suburbs: four cities; ³²and out of the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge for the slayer, Kedesh in Galilee, and its suburbs; and Hammoth-Dor and its suburbs, and Kartan and its suburbs: three cities. ³³All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities and their suburbs. ³⁴And to the families of the children of Merari, that remained of the Levites, they gave out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its suburbs, Kartah and its suburbs, ³⁵Dimnah and its suburbs, Nahalal and its suburbs: four cities; ³⁶and out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and its suburbs, and Jahzah and its suburbs, ³⁷Kedemoth and its suburbs, and Mephaath and its suburbs: four cities; ³⁸and out of the tribe of Gad, the city of refuge for the slayer, Ramoth in Gilead and its suburbs; and Mahanaim and its suburbs, ³⁹Heshbon and its suburbs, Jaazer and its suburbs: four cities in all. ⁴⁰These were all the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, which remained of the families of the Levites, and their lot was twelve cities. ⁴¹All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities and their suburbs. ⁴²Each one of these cities had its suburbs round about it: thus were all these cities.

⁴³And Jehovah gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give unto their fathers; and they took possession of it, and dwelt in it. ⁴⁴And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that he had sworn unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them: Jehovah gave all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵There failed nothing of all the good things that Jehovah had spoken to the house of Israel: all came to pass.

Chapter 22

¹Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, ²and said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, and have hearkened to my voice in all that I commanded you. ³Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, and ye have kept the charge of the commandment of Jehovah your God. ⁴And now Jehovah your God hath given rest to your brethren, as he said unto them; and now return, and get you unto your tents, unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave you beyond the Jordan. ⁵Only, take great heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, to love Jehovah your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁶And Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents. ⁷And to half the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan, and to the other half thereof had Joshua given among their brethren on this side the Jordan westward. And when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them also, ⁸and spoke to them, saying, Return unto your tents with much wealth and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with copper, and with iron, and with clothing, in very great quantity; divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren. ⁹And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead, into the land of their possession, of which they had become possessed, according to the word of Jehovah through Moses.

¹⁰And they came to the districts of the Jordan that are in the land of Canaan; and the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of grand appearance. ¹¹And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the districts of the Jordan, separately from the children of Israel. ¹²And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. ¹³And the children of Israel sent to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, ¹⁴and with him ten princes, of each father’s house a prince, out of all the tribes of Israel; and…