Joshua 21

1 Then the chief fathers of the Levites drew near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel;

The leaders of the tribe of Levi approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the leaders of the Israelite tribes.

2 and they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, Jehovah commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, and their suburbs for our cattle.

They spoke to them at Shiloh in Canaan, saying, “The Lord gave instructions through Moses to give us towns to live in, and pastures for our flocks.”

3 And the children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the word of Jehovah, these cities and their suburbs.

So, following the Lord's instructions, the Israelites gave towns and pastures to the Levites from their own allocations.

4 And the lot came forth for the families of the Kohathites. And the children of Aaron the priest, of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.

The lot was cast for the families of the Kothaites. These Levites, descendants of Aaron, were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

5 And the children of Kohath that remained had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

The remaining families of the descendants of Kothah were allotted ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

6 And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

The families of the descendants of Gershon were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh living in Bashan.

7 The children of Merari according to their families had by lot out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

The families of the descendants of Merari were allotted twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

8 And the children of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities and their suburbs, as Jehovah commanded through Moses.

So the Israelites gave the Levites by lot these towns and pastures, as the Lord had instructed through Moses.

9 And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which were mentioned by name,

They gave from the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Simeon the following towns, specifically named,

10 and which the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi had (for theirs was the first lot);

to the families of the Kothaites, descendants of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, since the first lot fell to them:

11 and they gave them Kirjath-Arba, [which Arba was] the father of Anak, that is, Hebron, in the mountain of Judah, with its suburbs round about it.

Kiriath-arba (or Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, together with the pastures around it. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)

12 But the fields of the city and the hamlets thereof gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

But the more distant fields from the town and the villages had been given to Caleb son of Jephunneh to own.

13 And they gave to the children of Aaron the priest the city of refuge for the slayer, Hebron and its suburbs; and Libnah and its suburbs,

They gave to the descendants of Aaron the priest the following towns and their pastures: Hebron (a sanctuary town for those who accidentally committed murder), Libnah,

14 and Jattir and its suburbs, and Eshtemoa and its suburbs,

Jattir, Eshtemoa,

15 and Holon and its suburbs, and Debir and its suburbs,

Holon, Debir,

16 and Ain and its suburbs, and Juttah and its suburbs, [and] Beth-shemesh and its suburbs: nine cities out of those two tribes;

Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine towns from these two tribes.

17 and out of the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon and its suburbs, Geba and its suburbs,

From the tribe of Benjamin the following four towns and their pastures: Gibeon, Geba,

18 Anathoth and its suburbs, and Almon and its suburbs; four cities.

Anathoth, and Almon.

19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities and their suburbs.

So in total thirteen towns and their pastures were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

20 And to the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites that remained of the children of Kohath, [they gave cities]. And the cities of their lot were out of the tribe of Ephraim,

As for the remaining families of the children of Kothah from the tribe of Levi, they were given by lot four towns and their pastures from the tribe of Ephraim:

21 and they gave them the city of refuge for the slayer, Shechem and its suburbs in mount Ephraim; and Gezer and its suburbs,

Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a sanctuary town for those who accidentally committed murder), Gezer,

22 and Kibzaim and its suburbs, and Beth-horon and its suburbs: four cities;

Kibzaim, and Beth-horon.

23 and out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and its suburbs, Gibbethon and its suburbs,

From the tribe of Dan, the following four towns and their pastures: Eltekeh, Gibbethon,

24 Ajalon and its suburbs, Gath-Rimmon and its suburbs: four cities;

Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon.

25 and out of half the tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and its suburbs and Gath-Rimmon and its suburbs: two cities.

From the half-tribe of Manasseh the following two towns and their pastures: Taanach and Gath-rimmon.

26 All the cities were ten and their suburbs, for the families of the children of Kohath that remained.

So in total ten towns and their pastures were given to the remaining families of the descendants of Kothah.

27 And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of half the tribe of Manasseh, [they gave] the city of refuge for the slayer, Golan in Bashan and its suburbs; and Beeshterah and its suburbs: two cities;

The families of the descendants of Gershon from the tribe of Levi received the following two towns and their pastures from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (a sanctuary town for those who accidentally committed murder), and Be-eshterah.

28 and out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion and its suburbs, Dabrath and its suburbs,

From the tribe of Issachar the following four towns and their pastures: Kishion, Daberath,

29 Jarmuth and its suburbs, En-gannim and its suburbs: four cities;

Jarmuth, and En-gannim.

30 and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its suburbs, Abdon and its suburbs,

From the tribe of Asher the following four towns and their pastures: Mishal, Abdon,

31 Helkath and its suburbs, and Rehob and its suburbs: four cities;

Helkath, and Rehob.

32 and out of the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge for the slayer, Kedesh in Galilee, and its suburbs; and Hammoth-Dor and its suburbs, and Kartan and its suburbs: three cities.

From the tribe of Naphtali the following three towns and their pastures: Kedesh in Galilee (a sanctuary town for those who accidentally committed murder), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan.

33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities and their suburbs.

So in total thirteen towns and their pastures were allotted to the families of Gershon.

34 And to the families of the children of Merari, that remained of the Levites, [they gave] out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its suburbs, Kartah and its suburbs,

The families of the descendants of Merari, those remaining from the tribe of Levi, received the following four towns and their pastures from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam, Kartah,

35 Dimnah and its suburbs, Nahalal and its suburbs: four cities;

Dimnah, and Nahalal.

36 and out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and its suburbs, and Jahzah and its suburbs,

From the tribe of Reuben the following four towns and their pastures: Bezer, Jahaz,

37 Kedemoth and its suburbs, and Mephaath and its suburbs: four cities;

Kedemoth, and Mephaath.

38 and out of the tribe of Gad, the city of refuge for the slayer, Ramoth in Gilead and its suburbs; and Mahanaim and its suburbs,

From the tribe of Gad the following four towns and their pastures: Ramoth in Gilead (a sanctuary town for those who accidentally committed murder), Mahanaim,

39 Heshbon and its suburbs, Jaazer and its suburbs: four cities in all.

Heshbon, and Jazer.

40 [These were] all the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, which remained of the families of the Levites, and their lot was twelve cities.

So in total twelve towns were allotted to the families of Merari, those remaining from the tribe of Levi.

41 All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities and their suburbs.

The Levites received a total of forty-eight towns and pastures within the land of the Israelites.

42 Each one of these cities had its suburbs round about it: thus were all these cities.

Each of these towns had pastures around them.

43 And Jehovah gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give unto their fathers; and they took possession of it, and dwelt in it.

And so the Lord gave to the Israelites all the land he had promised their ancestors. They took possession of it and settled there.

44 And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that he had sworn unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them: Jehovah gave all their enemies into their hand.

The Lord gave them peace on every side as he had promised their ancestors. Not a single one of their enemies could stand against them, for the Lord had handed their enemies over to them to defeat.

45 There failed nothing of all the good things that Jehovah had spoken to the house of Israel: all came to pass.

Not a single one of the good things the Lord promised Israel had failed; everything had come true.