Joshua 21

1 Then came near the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of fathers' houses 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 unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying: 'The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the open land thereabout 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 unto the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of the LORD, these cities with the open land about them.

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 families of the Kohathites; and the children of Aaron the priest, who were 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 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 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 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 unto the Levites these cities with the open land about them, as the LORD commanded by the hand of 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 are here mentioned by name.

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

10 And they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; 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 Kiriath-arba, which Arba was the father of Anak — the same is Hebron — in the hill-country of Judah, with the open land 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 villages 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 unto the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with the open land about it, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Libnah with the open land about it;

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 with the open land about it, and Eshtemoa with the open land about it;

Jattir, Eshtemoa,

15 and Holon with the open land about it, and Debir with the open land about it;

Holon, Debir,

16 and Ain with the open land about it, and Juttah with the open land about it, and Beth-shemesh with the open land about it; 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 with the open land about it, Geba with the open land about it;

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

18 Anathoth with the open land about it, and Almon with the open land about it; four cities.

Anathoth, and Almon.

19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with the open land about them.

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

20 And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, they had the cities of their lot 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 Shechem with the open land about it in the hill-country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with the open land about it;

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

22 and Kibzaim with the open land about it, and Beth-horon with the open land about it; four cities.

Kibzaim, and Beth-horon.

23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with the open land about it, Gibbethon with the open land about it;

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

24 Aijalon with the open land about it, Gath-rimmon with the open land about it; four cities.

Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon.

25 And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with the open land about it, and Gath-rimmon with the open land about it; two cities.

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

26 All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with the open land about them.

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

27 And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with the open land about it, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Beeshterah with the open land about it; 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 with the open land about it, Dobrath with the open land about it;

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

29 Jarmuth with the open land about it, En-gannim with the open land about it; four cities.

Jarmuth, and En-gannim.

30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with the open land about it, Abdon with the open land about it;

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

31 Helkath with the open land about it, and Rehob with the open land about it; four cities.

Helkath, and Rehob.

32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with the open land about it, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with the open land about it, and Kartan with the open land about it; 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 with the open land about them.

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

34 And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with the open land about it, and Kartah with the open land about it;

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 with the open land about it, Nahalal with the open land about it; four cities.

Dimnah, and Nahalal.

36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with the open land about it, and Jahaz with the open land about it;

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

37 Kedemoth with the open land about it, and Mephaath with the open land about it; four cities.

Kedemoth, and Mephaath.

38 And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with the open land about it, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with the open land about it;

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 with the open land about it, Jazer with the open land about it; four cities in all.

Heshbon, and Jazer.

40 All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest 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 — forty and eight cities with the open land about them — shall be in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel,

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

42 even these cities, every one with the open land round about it; thus it shall be with all these cities.

Each of these towns had pastures around them.

43 So the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which He swore to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.

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 the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that He swore unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies against them; the LORD delivered 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 not aught of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto 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.