Joshua 21:2–40

²at Shiloh in Canaan. They said to them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that we should receive cities to live in and pasturelands for our livestock.” ³So, as the Lord had instructed, Levi’s descendants were given the following cities with pasturelands from the Israelites’ inheritance. 

⁴These are the cities for the families of Kohath that were chosen by drawing lots. These descendants of the priest Aaron the Levite received 13 cities from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. ⁵The rest of Kohath’s descendants received 10 cities from the families of the tribes of Ephraim and Dan and half of the tribe of Manasseh. 

⁶Gershon’s descendants received 13 cities from the families of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and half of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. 

⁷Merari’s descendants received 12 cities for their families from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. ⁸The Israelites gave these cities with pasturelands to Levi’s descendants by drawing lots, as the Lord had commanded through Moses. 

Cities for Kohath’s Descendants

⁹These are the names of the cities from the tribes of Judah and Simeon ¹⁰that they gave Aaron’s descendants who were from the families of Kohath in the tribe of Levi. Their lot was the first one drawn. ¹¹They gave them Kiriath Arba (Arba was Anak’s father) and the pastureland around it. This is the city of Hebron located in the mountains of Judah. ¹²But they gave its fields and villages to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, as his possession. ¹³So they gave the following cities with pasturelands to the descendants of Aaron, the priest. The nine cities from those two tribes were Hebron (a city of refuge for murderers), Libnah, ¹⁴Jattir, Eshtemoa, ¹⁵Holon, Debir, ¹⁶Ain, Juttah, and Beth Shemesh. ¹⁷The tribe of Benjamin also gave them four cities: Gibeon, Geba, ¹⁸Anathoth, and Almon. ¹⁹In all, 13 cities with pasturelands were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 

²⁰Cities were chosen by lot from the tribe of Ephraim to give to the rest of Levi’s descendants who were from the families of Kohath. ²¹These four cities with pasturelands were Shechem (a city of refuge for murderers) in the mountains of Ephraim, Gezer, ²²Kibzaim, and Beth Horon. ²³The tribe of Dan gave them four cities: Eltekeh, Gibbethon, ²⁴Aijalon, and Gath Rimmon. ²⁵Half of the tribe of Manasseh gave them two cities with pasturelands: Taanach and Gath Rimmon. ²⁶In all, ten cities with pasturelands were given to the rest of the families of Kohath. 

Cities for Gershon’s Descendants

²⁷They gave the families of Gershon’s descendants, who were in the tribe of Levi, two cities with pasturelands from half of the tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for murderers) and Ashtaroth. ²⁸Four cities with pasturelands were also given to them from the tribe of Issachar: Kishion, Daberath, ²⁹Jarmuth, and En Gannim. ³⁰Another four cities with pasturelands were given to them from the tribe of Asher: Mishal, Abdon, ³¹Helkath, and Rehob. ³²Also three cities with pasturelands were given to them from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for murderers), Hammoth Dor, and Kartan. ³³In all, 13 cities with pasturelands were given to Gershon’s families. 

Cities for Merari’s Descendants

³⁴To the families of Merari, who were from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of Zebulun gave four cities with pasturelands: Jokneam, Kartah, ³⁵Dimnah, and Nahalal. ³⁶The tribe of Reuben also gave them four cities with pasturelands: Bezer, Jahaz, ³⁷Kedemoth, and Mephaath. ³⁸The tribe of Gad also gave them four cities with pasturelands: Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for murderers), Mahanaim, ³⁹Heshbon, and Jazer. ⁴⁰All these cities belonged to the families of Merari. They were the last of the families of Levi. These 12 cities were chosen by lot.