Joshua 21

1 Then came the principall fathers of the Leuites vnto Eleazar the Priest, and vnto Ioshua the sonne of Nun, and vnto the chiefe fathers of the tribes of the children 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 spake vnto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The Lord commanded by the hande of Moses, to giue vs cities to dwell in, with the suburbes thereof for our cattell.

3 So the children of Israel gaue vnto the Leuites, out of their inheritance at the commandement of the Lord these cities with their suburbes.

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 families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron ye Priest, which were of the Leuites, had by lot, out of the tribe of Iudah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Beniamin thirteene cities.

[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 the rest of the children of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the halfe tribe of Manasseh, tenne cities.

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 Also 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 ye tribe of Naphtali, and out of the halfe tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteene cities.

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 The children of Merari according to their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelue cities.

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 So the children of Israel gaue by lot vnto the Leuites these cities with their suburbes, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.

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 they gaue out of the tribe of the children of Iudah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeo, these cities which are here named.

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 And they were the childrens of Aaron being of the families of the Kohathites, and of the sonnes of Leui, (for theirs was the first lot)

First, they allotted cities to the members of the Kohath clans.

11 So they gaue them Kiriath-arba of the father of Anok (which is Hebron) in the mountaine of Iudah, with the suburbes of the same round about 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 lande of the citie, and the villages thereof, gaue they to Caleb the sonne of Iephunneh to be his possession)

But the fields and villages surrounding Arba had already been allotted to Caleb.

13 Thus they gaue to the children of Aaron the Priest, a citie of refuge for the slaier, euen Hebron with her suburbes, and Libnah with her suburbes,

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 Iattir with her suburbes, and Eshtemoa, and her suburbes,

Jattir, Eshtemoa,

15 And Holon with her suburbes, and Debir with her suburbes,

Holon, Debir,

16 And Ain with her suburbes, and Iuttah with her suburbes, Beth-shemesh with her suburbes: nine cities out of those 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 out of the tribe of Beniamin they gaue Gibeon with her suburbes, Geba with her suburbes,

The Kohath clan was also allotted these four cities: Gibeon, Geba,

18 Anathoth with her suburbes, and Almon with her suburbes: foure 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 children of Aaron Priests, were thirteene cities with their suburbes.

Altogether those 13 towns and surrounding pastureland were allotted to the priests who were descended from Aaron.

20 But to the families of the children of Kohath of the Leuites, which were the rest of the children of Kohath (for the cities of their lot were out of the tribe of Ephraim)

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 They gaue them the citie of refuge for the slaier, Shechem with her suburbes in mount Ephraim, and Gezer with her suburbes,

Those cities were Shechem (which was one of the cities to which people could run/escape to be safe/protected), Gezer,

22 And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and Bethhoron with her suburbes: foure cities.

Kibzaim, and Beth-Horon.

23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbes, Gibethon with her suburbes,

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 Aiialon with her suburbes, Gath-rimmon with her suburbes: foure cities.

Aijalon, and Gath-Rimmon.

25 And out of the halfe tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbes, and Gath-rimmon with her suburbes: 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 All the cities for the other families of the children of Kohath were ten with their suburbes.

Those were the ten cities and surrounding pastureland that were allotted to the other members of the Kohath clan.

27 Also vnto the children of Gershon of the families of the Leuites, they gaue out of the halfe tribe of Manasseh, the citie of refuge for the slaier, Golan in Bashan with her suburbes, and Beeshterah with her suburbes: 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, Kishon with her suburbes, Dabereh with her suburbes,

From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Issachar they were allotted four cities. Those cities were Kishion, Daberath,

29 Iarmuth with her suburbes, En-gannim with her suburbes: foure cities.

Jarmuth, and En-Gannim.

30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with her suburbes, Abdon with her suburbes,

From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Asher they were allotted four cities. Those cities were Mishal, Abdon,

31 Helkah with her suburbs, and Rehob with her suburbes: foure cities.

Helkath, and Rehob.

32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, the citie of refuge for the slaier, Kedesh in Galil with her suburbes, and Hammoth-dor with her suburbes, and Kartan with her suburbes: 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 Al the cities of the Gershonites according to their families, were thirteene cities with their suburbes.

So altogether the Gershon clans were allotted 13 cities and the surrounding pasturelands.

34 Also vnto the families of the children of Merari the rest of the Leuites, they gaue out of the tribe of Zebulun, Iokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbes,

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 Dimnah with her suburbes, Nahalal, with her suburbes: foure cities.

Dimnah, and Nahalal.

36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Iahazah with her suburbs,

From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Reuben they were allotted four cities. They were Bezer, Jahaz,

37 Kedemoth with her suburbes, and Mephaath with her suburbes: foure cities.

Kedemoth, and Mephaath.

38 And out of the tribe of Gad they gaue for a citie of refuge for the slaier, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbes, and Mahanaim with her suburbes,

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,

39 Heshbon with her suburbs, and Iazer with her suburbes: foure cities in all.

Heshbon, and Jazer.

40 So all the cities of the children of Merari according to their families (which were the rest of the families of the Leuites) were by their lot, twelue cities.

Altogether twelve cities were allotted to the Merari clans.

41 And all the cities of the Leuites within the possession of the children of Israel, were eight and fourtie with their suburbes.

So altogether 48 cities were allotted to the tribe of Levi,

42 These cities lay euery one seuerallie with their suburbes round about them: so were all these cities.

and each city had surrounding pastureland.

43 So the Lord gaue vnto Israel all ye land, which hee had sworne to giue vnto their fathers: and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.

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 Also the Lord gaue them rest rounde about according to all that hee had sworne vnto their fathers: and there stoode not a man of all their enemies before them: for the Lord deliuered all their enemies into their hand.

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 nothing of all the good things, which the Lord hath sayde vnto the house of Israel, but all came to passe.

Yahweh did all the things that he had promised to the Israeli people/us. Everything that he said would happen did happen.