Joshua 19–21

Simeon’s Inheritance

19The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of his descendants by their clans, but their inheritance was within the portion of Judah’s descendants. ²Their inheritance included:

Beer-sheba (or Sheba ^z), Moladah, ³Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, ⁴Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, ⁵Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, ⁶Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—13 cities, with their villages; ⁷Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities, with their villages; ⁸and all the villages surrounding these cities as far as Baalath-beer (Ramah of the south ^a).

This was the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon’s descendants by their clans. ⁹The inheritance of Simeon’s descendants was within the territory of Judah’s descendants, because the share for Judah’s descendants was too large for them. So Simeon’s descendants received an inheritance within Judah’s portion.

Zebulun’s Inheritance

¹⁰The third lot came up for Zebulun’s descendants by their clans.

The territory of their inheritance stretched as far as Sarid; ¹¹their border went up westward to Maralah, reached Dabbesheth, and met the brook east of Jokneam. ¹²From Sarid, it turned east toward the sunrise along the border of Chisloth-tabor, went to Daberath, and went up to Japhia. ¹³From there, it went east toward the sunrise to Gath-hepher and to Eth-kazin; it extended to Rimmon, curving around to Neah. ¹⁴The border then circled around Neah on the north to Hannathon and ended at the Valley of Iphtah-el, ¹⁵along with Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—12 cities, with their villages.

¹⁶This was the inheritance of Zebulun’s descendants by their clans, these cities, with their villages.

Issachar’s Inheritance

¹⁷The fourth lot came out for the tribe of Issachar’s descendants by their clans.

¹⁸Their territory went to Jezreel, and included Chesulloth, Shunem, ^b19Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, ²⁰Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, ²¹Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, Beth-pazzez. ²²The border reached Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and ended at the Jordan—16 cities, with their villages.

²³This was the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar’s descendants by their clans, the cities, with their villages.

Asher’s Inheritance

²⁴The fifth lot came out for the tribe of Asher’s descendants by their clans.

²⁵Their boundary included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, ²⁶Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal and reached westward to Carmel and Shihor-libnath. ²⁷It turned eastward to Beth-dagon, passed Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah-el, north toward Beth-emek and Neiel, and went north to Cabul, ^c28Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Great Sidon. ²⁹The boundary then turned to Ramah as far as the fortified city of Tyre; it turned back to Hosah and ended at the sea, including Mahalab, Achzib, ^d30Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob—22 cities, with their villages.

³¹This was the inheritance of the tribe of Asher’s descendants by their clans, these cities with their villages.

Naphtali’s Inheritance

³²The sixth lot came out for Naphtali’s descendants by their clans.

³³Their boundary went from Heleph and from the oak in Zaanannim, including Adami-nekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, and ended at the Jordan. ³⁴To the west, the boundary turned to Aznoth-tabor and went from there to Hukkok, reaching Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and Judah ^eat the Jordan on the east. ³⁵The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, ^f36Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, ³⁷Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, ³⁸Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh—19 cities, with their villages.

³⁹This was the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants by their clans, the cities with their villages.

Dan’s Inheritance

⁴⁰The seventh lot came out for the Danite tribe by its clans.

⁴¹The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, ⁴²Shaalabbin, Aijalon, ^gIthlah, ⁴³Elon, Timnah, Ekron, ⁴⁴Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, ⁴⁵Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, ⁴⁶Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the territory facing Joppa. ^h

⁴⁷When the territory of the Danites slipped out of their control, ⁱthey went up and fought against Leshem, captured it, and struck it down with the sword. So they took possession of it, lived there, and renamed Leshem after ^jtheir ancestor Dan. ^k48This was the inheritance of the Danite tribe by its clans, these cities with their villages.

Joshua’s Inheritance

⁴⁹When they had finished distributing the land into its territories, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them. ⁵⁰By the Lord’s command, they gave him the city Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, ^lwhich he requested. He rebuilt the city and lived in it.

⁵¹These were the portions that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families distributed to the Israelite tribes by lot at Shiloh in the Lord’s presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ^mSo they finished dividing up the land.

Cities of Refuge

20Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, ²“Tell the Israelites: Select your cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, ⁿ³so that a person who kills someone unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood. ^o4When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before ^pthe elders of that city, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them. ^q5And 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. ^rThen 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, ^sShechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. ^t8Across 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 foreigners among them, ^uso 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 heads of the Levite families approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families 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.” ^v3So 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 Aaron the priest received 13 cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. ⁵The remaining descendants of Kohath ^wreceived 10 cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

⁶Gershon’s descendants received 13 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 12 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 ^x(that is, Hebron) with its surrounding pasturelands in the hill country of Judah. Arba was the father of Anak. ¹²But they gave the fields and villages of the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³They gave to the descendants of Aaron the priest:

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 13 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, ^ythe 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 ^zwith its pasturelands—two cities.

²⁶All 10 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, ^awho 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…