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;

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 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.'

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 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 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.

[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 half-tribe of Manasseh, ten 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 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 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, twelve 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 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 Israeli leaders gave cities and pastureland to the tribe of Levi, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses that they should do.

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.

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 for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot.

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

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.

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 fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

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

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 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 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. 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 Benjamin, Gibeon with the open land about it, Geba with the open land about it;

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

18 Anathoth with the open land about it, and Almon with the open land about it; 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 children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with the open land about them.

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

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 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;

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 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;

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 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.

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

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

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.

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, Kishion with the open land about it, Dobrath with the open land about it;

From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Issachar they were allotted four cities. Those cities were 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 area that had been allotted to the tribe of Asher they were allotted four cities. Those cities were 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 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 the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with the open land about them.

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

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

Altogether twelve cities were allotted to the Merari clans.

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,

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

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

and each city had surrounding pastureland.

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.

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, 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.

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 aught of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house 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.