Joshua 21
1 And the heads of the families of the sons of Levi drew near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the [son] of Naue, and to the heads of families of the tribes of Israel.
While Eleazar the Supreme Priest and Joshua and the leaders of all the Israeli tribes were at Shiloh, the leaders of the clans of the tribe of Levi went to them and said, “Yahweh commanded Moses that you should give us towns where we can have pasture/fields/grassland for our animals, [but you have not done these things yet].”
2 And they spoke to them in Selo in the land of Chanaan, saying, The Lord gave commandment by Moses to give us cities to dwell in, and the country round about for our cattle.
3 So the children of Israel gave to the Levites in their inheritance by the command of the Lord the cities and the country round.
So the Israeli leaders obeyed this command from Yahweh. They agreed to give towns and pasturelands to the tribe of Levi.
4 And the lot came out for the children of Caath; and the sons of Aaron, the priests the Levites, had by lot thirteen cities out of the tribe of Juda, and out of the tribe of Symeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.
[First] they allotted some cities to the Kohath clans, who belonged to the tribe of Levi. To those who were descendants of the first Supreme Priest Aaron, they allotted 13 towns in the areas that had been allotted to the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.
5 And to the sons of Caath that were left were [given by] lot ten cities, out of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasse.
To the other members of the Kohath clan they allotted ten cities in the areas that had been allotted to the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the part of the tribe of Manasseh [that lives on the west side of the Jordan River].
6 And the sons of Gedson had thirteen cities, out of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Aser, and out of the tribe of Nephthali, and out of the half tribe of Manasse in Basan.
The people from the Gershon clans were allotted 13 cities in the areas that had been allotted to the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the part of the tribe of Manasseh that lives on the east side of the Jordan [River].
7 And the sons of Merari according to their families had by lot twelve cities, out of the tribe of Ruben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zabulon.
The people from the Merari clans were allotted twelve cities in the areas that had been allotted to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
8 And the children of Israel gave to the Levites the cities and their suburbs, as the Lord commanded Moses, by lot.
So the Israeli leaders gave cities and pastureland to the tribe of Levi, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses that they should do.
9 And the tribe of the children of Juda, and the tribe of the children of Symeon, and [part] of the tribe of the children of Benjamin gave these cities, and they were assigned
These are the names of the cities and surrounding pasturelands that were allotted to them, that were in the areas where the tribes of Judah and Simeon lived.
10 to the sons of Aaron of the family of Caath of the sons of Levi, for the lot fell to these.
First, they allotted cities to the members of the Kohath clans.
11 And they gave to them Cariatharboc the metropolis of the sons of Enac; this is Chebron in the mountain [country] of Juda, and the suburbs round it.
They allotted to them Kiriath-Arba (which is [now named] Hebron), in the hilly area of Judah. Arba received its name because Arba was the ancestor of [the giants of] the Anak people-group.
12 But the lands of the city, and its villages Joshua gave to the sons of Chaleb the son of Jephonne for a possession.
But the fields and villages surrounding Arba had already been allotted to Caleb.
13 And to the sons of Aaron he gave the city of refuge for the slayer, Chebron, and the suburbs belonging to it; and Lemna and the suburbs belonging to it;
They allotted to them Hebron, which was one of the cities to which people could run/escape to be safe/protected. They also allotted to the Kohath clan the cities of Libnah,
14 and Aelom and its suburbs; and Tema and its suburbs;
Jattir, Eshtemoa,
15 and Gella and its suburbs; and Dabir and its suburbs;
Holon, Debir,
16 and Asa and its suburbs; and Tany and its suburbs; and Baethsamys and its suburbs: nine cities from these two tribes.
Ain, Juttah, and Beth-Shemesh. Altogether they were allotted those nine cities which were located in the areas that had been allotted to the tribes of Judah and Simeon.
17 And from the tribe of Benjamin, Gabaon and its suburbs; and Gatheth and its suburbs;
The Kohath clan was also allotted these four cities: Gibeon, Geba,
18 and Anathoth and its suburbs; and Gamala and its suburbs; four cities.
Anathoth, and Almon. Those cities were in the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Benjamin.
19 All the cities of the sons of Aaron the priests, thirteen.
Altogether those 13 towns and surrounding pastureland were allotted to the priests who were descended from Aaron.
20 And to the families, [even] the sons of Caath the Levites, that were left of the sons of Caath, there was [given] their priests' city,
The other members the Kohath clan were allotted four cities and the surrounding pastureland in the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Ephraim.
21 out of the tribe of Ephraim; and they gave them the slayer's city of refuge, Sychem, and its suburbs, and Gazara and its appendages, and its suburbs;
Those cities were Shechem (which was one of the cities to which people could run/escape to be safe/protected), Gezer,
22 and Baethoron and its suburbs: four cities:
Kibzaim, and Beth-Horon.
23 and the tribe of Dan, Helcothaim and its suburbs; and Gethedan and its suburbs:
They were also allotted four cities and surrounding pastureland in the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Dan. Those cities were Eltekeh, Gibbethon,
24 and Aelon and its suburbs; and Getheremmon and its suburbs: four cities.
Aijalon, and Gath-Rimmon.
25 And out of the half tribe of Manasse, Tanach and its suburbs; and Jebatha and its suburbs; two cities.
They were also allotted two towns and surrounding pastureland that had been allotted to [the] part of the tribe of Manasseh [that lived on the west side of the Jordan River]. Those cities were Taanach and Gath-Rimmon.
26 In all [were given] ten cities, and the suburbs of each belonging to them, to the families of the sons of Caath that remained.
Those were the ten cities and surrounding pastureland that were allotted to the other members of the Kohath clan.
27 And [Joshua gave] to the sons of Gedson the Levites out of the other half tribe of Manasse cities set apart for the slayers, Gaulon in the country of Basan, and its suburbs; and Bosora and its suburbs; two cities.
They also allotted towns and the surrounding pastureland to the Gershon clans. Those clans were also descended from Levi. They were allotted two cities from the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Manasseh [that is on the east side of the Jordan River]. Those cities were Golan in the Bashan region, which was one of the cities to which people could run/escape to be safe/protected, and Be-Eshtarah.
28 And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kison and its suburbs; and Debba and its suburbs;
From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Issachar they were allotted four cities. Those cities were Kishion, Daberath,
29 and Remmath and its suburbs; and the well of Letters, and its suburbs; four cities.
Jarmuth, and En-Gannim.
30 And out of the tribe of Aser, Basella and its suburbs; and Dabbon and its suburbs;
From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Asher they were allotted four cities. Those cities were Mishal, Abdon,
31 and Chelcat and its suburbs; and Raab and its suburbs; four cities.
Helkath, and Rehob.
32 And of the tribe of Nephthali, the city set apart for the slayer, Cades in Galilee, and its suburbs; and Nemmath, and its suburbs; and Themmon and its suburbs; three cities.
From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Naphtali they were allotted three cities. Those cities were Kedesh in the Galilee region (it was one of the cities to which people could run/escape to be safe/protected), Hammoth-Dor, and Kartan.
33 All the cities of Gedson according to their families [were] thirteen cities.
So altogether the Gershon clans were allotted 13 cities and the surrounding pasturelands.
34 And to the family of the sons of Merari the Levites that remained, [he gave] out of the tribe of Zabulon, Maan and its suburbs; and Cades and its suburbs,
The other descendants of Levi, the ones who belonged to the Merari clans, were also allotted towns and their surrounding pasturelands. From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Zebulun they were allotted four cities. They were Jokneam, Kartah,
35 and Sella and its suburbs: three cities.
Dimnah, and Nahalal.
36 And beyond Jordan over against Jericho, out of the tribe of Ruben, the city of refuge for the slayer, Bosor in the wilderness; Miso and its suburbs; and Jazer and its suburbs; and Decmon and its suburbs; and Mapha and its suburbs; four cities.
From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Reuben they were allotted four cities. They were Bezer, Jahaz,
37 And out of the tribe of Gad the city of refuge for the slayer, both Ramoth in Galaad, and its suburbs; Camin and its suburbs; and Esbon and its suburbs; and Jazer and its suburbs: the cities [were] four in all.
Kedemoth, and Mephaath.
From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Gad they were allotted four cities. They were Ramoth, which was one of the cities in the Gilead region to which people could run/escape to be safe/protected, Mahanaim,
Heshbon, and Jazer.
40 All [these] cities [were given] to the sons of Merari according to the families of them that were left out of the tribe of Levi; and their limits were the twelve cities.
Altogether twelve cities were allotted to the Merari clans.
41 All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel, [were] forty-eight cities,
So altogether 48 cities were allotted to the tribe of Levi,
42 and their suburbs round about these cities: a city and the suburbs round about the city to all these cities.
and each city had surrounding pastureland.
43 So the Lord gave to Israel all the land which he sware to give to their fathers: and they inherited it, and lived in it.
In that way Yahweh allotted to the Israeli people all the land that he had promised to give to their/our ancestors. The Israeli people took control of [most of] those areas and started to live there.
44 And the Lord gave them rest round about, as he sware to their fathers: not one of all their enemies maintained his ground against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands.
Just like he had promised our ancestors, Yahweh allowed them/us to have peace with the enemies that surrounded them/us. Yahweh enabled the Israelis/us to defeat their/our enemies.
45 There failed not one of the good things which the Lord spoke to the children of Israel; all came to pass.
Yahweh did all the things that he had promised to the Israeli people/us. Everything that he said would happen did happen.
