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;

Then the tribal leaders of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the leaders of the families of their ancestors within the people of Israel.

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 said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, “Yahweh commanded you by the hand of Moses to give to us cities to live in, with the pasturelands for our livestock.”

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 by the command of Yahweh, the people of Israel gave out of their inheritance the following cities, including their pasturelands, to the Levites.

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 casting of lots for the clans of the Kohathites gave this result: The priests—the descendants of Aaron who were from the Levites—received thirteen cities given from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of the Simeon, and from the tribe of 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 rest of the Kohathites were allotted ten cities from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and from 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.

Then the people descended from Gershon were given, by the casting of lots, thirteen cities from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half tribe of Manasseh 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 people who were descendants of Merari, clan by clan, received twelve cities 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 people of Israel gave, by casting lots, these cities (including their pasturelands) to the Levites, just as Yahweh had commanded by the hand of 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.

From the tribes of Judah and Simeon, they assigned land to the following cities, here listed by name.

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.

These cities were given to the descendants of Aaron, who were among the clans of the Kohathites, who in turn were from the tribe of Levi. For the first casting of lots had fallen 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.

The Israelites gave them Kiriath Arba (Arba had been the father of Anak), the same place as Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the pasturelands around it.

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 of the city, including their villages, were already given to Caleb son of Jephunneh, as his possession.

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;

To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its pasturelands—which was a city of refuge for any who killed another unintentionally—and Libnah with its pasturelands,

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

Jattir with its pasturelands, and Eshtemoa with its pasturelands.

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

They also gave Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands,

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 with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, and Beth Shemesh with its pasturelands. There were nine cities that were given 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 were given Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands,

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

Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its suburbs—four cities.

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

The cities given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were thirteen cities in all, including their pasturelands.

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 rest of Kohathites who belong to the Kohathite clans of the Levites—they had cities given to them from the tribe of Ephraim by the casting of lots.

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;

To them were given Shechem with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim—a city of refuge for any who killed a person unintentionally—Gezer with its pasturelands,

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

Kibzaim with its pasturelands, and Beth Horon with its pasturelands—four cities in all.

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 clan of Kohath was given Eltekeh with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands,

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

Aijalon with its pasturelands, and Gath Rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities in all.

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 clan of Kohath was given Taanach with its pasturelands and Gath Rimmon with its pasturelands—two cities.

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

There were ten cities in all for the rest of the clans of the Kohathites, including their pasturelands.

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.

From the half tribe of Manasseh, to clans of Gershon, these were other Levite clans, and they gave Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands—a city of refuge for anyone who killed another unintentionally, along with Be Eshterah with its pasturelands—two cities in all.

28 And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with the open land about it, Dobrath with the open land about it;

To the clans of Gershon they also gave Kishion from the tribe of Issachar, along with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands,

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

Jarmuth with its pasturelands, and En Gannim with its pasturelands—four cities.

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, they gave Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands,

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

Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities in all.

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, they gave the clans of Gershon Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands—a city of refuge for anyone who killed another unintentionally; Hammoth Dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities in all.

33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with the open land about them.

There were thirteen cities in all, out of the clans of Gershon, including their 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;

To the rest of the Levites—the clans of Merari—were given out of the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands,

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

Dimnah with its pasturelands, and Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities in all.

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

To the clans of Merari were given from the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahaz with its pasturelands,

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

Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities.

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;

Out of the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands—a city of refuge for any who killed another unintentionally—and Mahanaim with its pasturelands.

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

The clans of Merari were also given Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands. These were four cities in all.

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.

All these were the cities of the several clans of Merari, who were from the tribe of Levi—twelve cities in all were given to them by the casting of lots.

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 cities of the Levites taken from the middle of the land possessed by the people of Israel were forty-eight cities, including their pasturelands.

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

These cities each had its surrounding pasturelands. It was this way with all these cities.

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.

So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their ancestors. The Israelites 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.

Then Yahweh gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies could defeat them. Yahweh gave all their enemies into their hand.

45 There failed not aught of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

Not one thing among all the good promises that Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel failed to come true. All of them came to be.