Joshua 21:1–42

Towns for the Levites

21:4–39pp—1Ch 6:54–80

21Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel^{q 2}at Shiloh^r in Canaan and said to them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that you give us towns^s to live in, with pasturelands for our livestock.”^{t 3}So, as the Lord had commanded, the Israelites gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own inheritance:

⁴The first lot came out for the Kohathites,^u according to their clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.^{v 5}The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan and half of Manasseh.^w

⁶The descendants of Gershon^x were allotted thirteen towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar,^y Asher,^z Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷The descendants of Merari,^a according to their clans, received twelve^b towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.^c

⁸So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these towns and their pasturelands, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁹From the tribes of Judah and Simeon they allotted the following towns by name ¹⁰(these towns were assigned to the descendants of Aaron who were from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them):

¹¹They gave them Kiriath Arba^d (that is, Hebron^e), with its surrounding pastureland, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.) ¹²But the fields and villages around the city they had given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.^f

¹³So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron (a city of refuge^g for one accused of murder), Libnah,^{h 14}Jattir,ⁱ Eshtemoa,^{j 15}Holon,^k Debir,^{l 16}Ain,^m Juttahⁿ and Beth Shemesh,^o together with their pasturelands—nine towns from these two tribes.

¹⁷And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon,^p Geba,^{q 18}Anathoth^r and Almon, together with their pasturelands—four towns.

¹⁹The total number of towns^s for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, came to thirteen, together with their pasturelands.^t

²⁰The rest of the Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted towns from the tribe of Ephraim:

²¹In the hill country of Ephraim they were given Shechem^u (a city of refuge for one accused of murder) and Gezer,^{v 22}Kibzaim and Beth Horon,^w together with their pasturelands—four towns.^x

²³Also from the tribe of Dan they received Eltekeh, Gibbethon,^{y 24}Aijalon^z and Gath Rimmon,^a together with their pasturelands—four towns.

²⁵From half the tribe of Manasseh they received Taanach^b and Gath Rimmon, together with their pasturelands—two towns.

²⁶All these ten towns and their pasturelands were given to the rest of the Kohathite clans.^c

²⁷The Levite clans of the Gershonites were given:

from the half-tribe of Manasseh,

Golan in Bashan^d (a city of refuge for one accused of murder^e) and Be Eshterah, together with their pasturelands—two towns;

²⁸from the tribe of Issachar,^f

Kishion,^g Daberath,^{h 29}Jarmuthⁱ and En Gannim,^j together with their pasturelands—four towns;

³⁰from the tribe of Asher,^k

Mishal,^l Abdon,^{m 31}Helkath and Rehob,ⁿ together with their pasturelands—four towns;

³²from the tribe of Naphtali,

Kedesh^o in Galilee (a city of refuge for one accused of murder^p), Hammoth Dor and Kartan, together with their pasturelands—three towns.

³³The total number of towns of the Gershonite^q clans came to thirteen, together with their pasturelands.

³⁴The Merarite clans (the rest of the Levites) were given:

from the tribe of Zebulun,^r

Jokneam,^s Kartah, ³⁵Dimnah and Nahalal,^t together with their pasturelands—four towns;

³⁶from the tribe of Reuben,

Bezer,^u Jahaz,^{v 37}Kedemoth and Mephaath,^w together with their pasturelands—four towns;

³⁸from the tribe of Gad,

Ramoth^x in Gilead^y (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Mahanaim,^{z 39}Heshbon and Jazer,^a together with their pasturelands—four towns in all.

⁴⁰The total number of towns allotted to the Merarite clans, who were the rest of the Levites, came to twelve.^b

⁴¹The towns of the Levites in the territory held by the Israelites were forty-eight in all, together with their pasturelands.^{c 42}Each of these towns had pasturelands surrounding it; this was true for all these towns.