Joshua 19–21

CHAPTER 19

Simeon’s Inheritance

¹Then the second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah.

²So they had as their inheritance Beersheba or ¹Sheba and Moladah,

³and Hazar-shual and Balah and Ezem,

⁴and Eltolad and Bethul and Hormah,

⁵and Ziklag and Beth-marcaboth and Hazar-susah,

⁶and Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages;

⁷Ain, Rimmon and Ether and Ashan; four cities with their villages;

⁸and all the villages which were around these cities as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the ¹Negev. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families.

⁹The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance in the midst of ¹Judah’s inheritance.

Zebulun’s Inheritance

¹⁰Now the third lot came up for the sons of Zebulun according to their families. And the territory of their inheritance was as far as Sarid.

¹¹Then their border went up to the west and to Maralah; it then reached Dabbesheth and reached the ¹brook that is before Jokneam.

¹²Then it turned from Sarid to the east toward the sunrise as far as the border of Chisloth-tabor, and it went out to Daberath and ¹up to Japhia.

¹³From there it passed on to the east toward the sunrise to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and it went out to Rimmon ¹which curves to Neah.

¹⁴And the border circled around it on the north to Hannathon, and ¹it ended at the valley of Iphtahel.

¹⁵Included also were Kattah and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Bethlehem; twelve cities with their villages.

¹⁶This was the inheritance of the sons of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.

Issachar’s Inheritance

¹⁷The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the sons of Issachar according to their families.

¹⁸And their territory included Jezreel and Chesulloth and ^aShunem,

¹⁹and Hapharaim and Shion and Anaharath,

²⁰and Rabbith and Kishion and Ebez,

²¹and Remeth and En-gannim and En-haddah and Beth-pazzez.

²²And the border reached to ^aTabor and Shahazumah and Beth-shemesh, and ¹their border ended at the Jordan; sixteen cities with their villages.

²³This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Issachar according to their families, the cities with their villages.

Asher’s Inheritance

²⁴Now the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families.

²⁵And their territory was Helkath and Hali and Beten and Achshaph,

²⁶and Allammelech and Amad and Mishal; and it reached to Carmel on the west and to Shihor-libnath.

²⁷Then it turned east toward the sunrise to Beth-dagon and reached to Zebulun and to the valley of Iphtahel northward to Beth-emek and Neiel; then it went out ¹to the north to ^aCabul,

²⁸and Ebron and Rehob and Hammon and Kanah, as far as Great ^aSidon.

²⁹Then the border turned to Ramah and to the fortified city of Tyre; then the border turned to Hosah, and ¹it ended at the sea by the region of ^aAchzib.

³⁰Included also were Ummah and Aphek and Rehob; twenty-two cities with their villages.

³¹This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.

Naphtali’s Inheritance

³²The sixth lot came out for the sons of Naphtali, for the sons of Naphtali according to their families.

³³And their border was from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim and Adami-nekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, and ¹it ended at the Jordan.

³⁴Then the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor and went out from there to Hukkok; and it reached to Zebulun on the south and reached to Asher on the west and to Judah at the Jordan to the east toward the sunrise.

³⁵Now the fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer and ^aHammath, Rakkath and ^bChinnereth,

³⁶and Adamah and Ramah and Hazor,

³⁷and Kedesh and Edrei and En-hazor,

³⁸and Yiron and Migdal-el, Horem and Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages.

³⁹This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali according to their families, the cities with their villages.

Dan’s Inheritance

⁴⁰The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families.

⁴¹And the territory of their inheritance was Zorah and Eshtaol and Ir-shemesh,

⁴²and Shaalabbin and Aijalon and Ithlah,

⁴³and Elon and Timnah and Ekron,

⁴⁴and Eltekeh and Gibbethon and Baalath,

⁴⁵and Jehud and Bene-berak and Gath-rimmon,

⁴⁶and Me-jarkon and Rakkon, with the territory over against ¹Joppa.

⁴⁷And the territory of the ^asons of Dan went out from them; for the sons of Dan went up and fought with Leshem and captured it. Then they struck it with the edge of the sword and possessed it and ¹settled in it; and they called ^2bLeshem Dan after the name of Dan their father.

⁴⁸This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.

⁴⁹So they finished apportioning the land for inheritance by its borders. Then the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua the son of Nun.

⁵⁰In accordance with the ¹command of Yahweh they gave him the city for which he asked, ^aTimnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and ²settled in it.

^51aThese are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the ¹households of the tribes of the sons of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

CHAPTER 20

The Cities of Refuge

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying,

²“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘¹Designate ^athe cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by the hand of Moses,

³that the manslayer who strikes down any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become for you as a refuge from the avenger of blood.

⁴‘And he shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the ^agate of the city and speak his case in the hearing of the elders of that city; and they shall ¹take him into the city to them and give him a place, so that he may live among them.

⁵‘Now ^aif the avenger of blood pursues him, then they shall not surrender the manslayer into his hand because he struck his neighbor without premeditation and did not hate him beforehand.

⁶‘And he shall live in that city ^auntil he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the manslayer shall return and come to his own city and to his own house, to the city from which he fled.’”

⁷So they ¹set apart ^aKedesh in ²Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in ^bthe hill country of Judah.

⁸Now beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they ¹designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plain from the tribe of Reuben and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.

^9aThese were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel and for the sojourner who sojourns among them, that whoever strikes down any person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the congregation.

CHAPTER 21

The Cities of the Levites

¹Then the heads of ¹households of ^athe Levites came near to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of ²households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

²And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “^aYahweh commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasture lands for our cattle.”

³So the sons of Israel gave the Levites from their inheritance these cities with their pasture lands, according to the ¹command of Yahweh.

⁴Then the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the sons of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, ¹received thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of the Simeonites and from the tribe of Benjamin.

⁵Now the rest of the sons of Kohath ¹received ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim and from the tribe of Dan and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶And the sons of Gershon ¹received thirteen cities by lot from the families 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.

⁷The sons of Merari according to their families ¹received twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸So the ^asons of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasture lands, as Yahweh had commanded by the hand of Moses.

⁹They also gave from the tribe of the sons of Judah and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon these cities which are here mentioned by name;

¹⁰and they were for the sons of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, of the sons of Levi, for the lot was theirs first.

¹¹So ^athey gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba being the ^bfather of Anak), that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with its pasture lands all around it.

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

¹³Thus ^ato the sons of Aaron the priest they gave ^bHebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands, ^cLibnah also with its pasture lands,

^14aJattir with its pasture lands, ^bEshtemoa with its pasture lands,

¹⁵¹Holon with its pasture lands, and ^aDebir with its pasture lands,

¹⁶and ¹Ain with its pasture lands, and ^aJuttah with its pasture lands, and ^bBeth-shemesh with its pasture lands; nine cities from these two tribes.

¹⁷From the tribe of Benjamin, ^aGibeon with its pasture lands, ^bGeba with its pasture lands,

¹⁸Anathoth with its pasture lands and ¹Almon with its pasture lands; four cities.

¹⁹All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen…