Joshua 21
1 Then the princes of the families of Levi came to Eleazar the priest, and to Josue the son of Nun, and to the princes of the kindreds of all 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 in Silo in the land of Chanaan, and said: The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, that cities should be given us to dwell in, and their suburbs to feed 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 out of their possessions according to the commandment of the Lord, 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 out for the family of Caath of the children of Aaron the priest out of the tribes of Juda, and of Simeon, and 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 to the rest of the children of Caath, that is, to the Levites, who remained, out of the tribes of Ephraim, and of Dan, and the half tribe of Manasses, 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 lot came out to the children of Gerson, that they should take of the tribes of Issachar and of Aser and of Nephtali, and of the half tribe of Manasses in Basan, 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 And to the sons of Merari by their kindreds, of the tribes of Ruben and or Cad and of Zabulon, 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 to the Levites the cities and their suburbs, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, giving to every one by lot.
So the Israelites gave the Levites by lot these towns and pastures, as the Lord had instructed through Moses.
9 Of the tribes of the children of Juda and of Simeon Josue gave cities: whose names are these,
They gave from the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Simeon the following towns, specifically named,
10 To the sons of Aaron, of the families of Caath of the race of Levi (for the first lot came out for them)
to the families of the Kothaites, descendants of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, since the first lot fell to them:
11 The city of Arbe the father of Enac, which is called Hebron, in the mountain of Juda, and the suburbs thereof round about.
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 and the villages thereof he had given to Caleb the son of Jephone 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 He gave therefore to the children of Aaron the priest, Hebron a city of refuge, and the suburbs thereof: and Lobna with the suburbs thereof,
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 Jether and Estemo,
Jattir, Eshtemoa,
15 And Holon, and Dabir,
Holon, Debir,
16 And Ain, and Jeta, and Bethsames, with their suburbs: nine cities out of the two tribes, as hath been said.
Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine towns from these two tribes.
17 And out of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, Gabaon, and Gabae,
From the tribe of Benjamin the following four towns and their pastures: Gibeon, Geba,
18 And Anathoth and Almon, with their suburbs: four cities.
Anathoth, and Almon.
19 All the cities together of the children of Aaron the priest, were thirteen, with their suburbs.
So in total thirteen towns and their pastures were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
20 And to the rest of the families of the children of Caath of the race of Levi was given this possession.
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 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Sichem one of the cities of refuge, with the suburbs thereof in mount Ephraim, and Cater,
Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a sanctuary town for those who accidentally committed murder), Gezer,
22 And Cibsaim, and Beth-horon, with their suburbs, four cities.
Kibzaim, and Beth-horon.
23 And of the tribe of Dan, Eltheco and Gabathon,
From the tribe of Dan, the following four towns and their pastures: Eltekeh, Gibbethon,
24 And Aialon and Gethremmon, with their suburbs, four cities.
Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon.
25 And of the half tribe of Manasses, Thanac and Gethremmon, with their 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, with their suburbs, which were given to the children of Caath, of the inferior degree.
So in total ten towns and their pastures were given to remaining families of the descendants of Kothah.
27 To the children of Gerson also of the race of Levi out of the half tribe of Manasses, Gaulon in Basan, one of the cities of refuge, and Bosra, with their 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 of the tribe of Issachar, Cesion, and Dabereth,
From the tribe of Issachar the following four towns and their pastures: Kishion, Daberath,
29 And Jaramoth, and Engannim, with their suburbs, four cities.
Jarmuth, and En-gannim.
30 And of the tribe of Aser, Masal and Abdon,
From the tribe of Asher the following four towns and their pastures: Mishal, Abdon,
31 And Helcath, and Rohob, with their suburbs, four cities.
Helkath, and Rehob.
32 Of the tribe also of Nephtali, Cedes in Galilee, one of the cities of refuge: and Hammoth Dor, and Carthan, with their 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 families of Gerson, were thirteen, with their suburbs.
So in total thirteen towns and their pastures were allotted to the families of Gershon.
34 And to the children of Merari, Levites of the inferior degree, by their families were given of the tribe of Zabulon, Jecnam and Cartha,
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 And Damna and Naalol, four cities with their suburbs;
Dimnah, and Nahalal.
36 Of the tribe of Ruben beyond the Jordan over against Jericho, Bosor in the wilderness, one of the cities of refuge, Miser and Jaser and Jethson and Mephaath, four cities with their suburbs.
From the tribe of Reuben the following four towns and their pastures: Bezer, Jahaz,
37 Of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Galaad, one of the cities of refuge, and Manaim and Hesebon and Jaser, four cities with their suburbs.
Kedemoth, and Mephaath.
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,
Heshbon, and Jazer.
40 All the cities of the children of Merari by their families and kindreds, were twelve.
So in total twelve towns were allotted to the families of Merari, those remaining from the tribe of Levi.
41 So all the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight,
The Levites received a total of forty-eight towns and pastures within the land of the Israelites.
42 With their suburbs, each distributed by the families.
Each of these towns had pastures around them.
43 And the Lord God gave to Israel all the land that he had sworn to give to their fathers: and they possessed 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 he gave them peace from all nations round about: and none of their enemies durst stand against them, but were brought under their dominion.
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 Not so much as one word, which he had promised to perform unto them, was made void, but all came to pass.
Not a single one of the good things the Lord promised Israel had failed; everything had come true.
