Joshua 21

1 Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers 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 suburbs thereof 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, at the commandment of the LORD, these 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 families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron the priest, which were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, 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 by 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 their suburbs, 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 Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: 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 the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof 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 Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,

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 her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs,

Jattir, Eshtemoa,

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

Holon, Debir,

16 And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Bethshemesh with her suburbs; 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 her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,

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

18 Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs; four cities.

Anathoth, and Almon.

19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

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 which remained of the children of Kohath, even 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 For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs,

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

22 And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and Bethhoron with her suburbs; four cities.

Kibzaim, and Beth-horon.

23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gibbethon with her suburbs,

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

24 Aijalon with her suburbs, Gathrimmon with her suburbs; four cities.

Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon.

25 And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her suburbs, and Gathrimmon with her 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 for the families of the children of Kohath that remained.

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 other half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beeshterah with her 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 out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with her suburbs, Dabareh with her suburbs,

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

29 Jarmuth with her suburbs, Engannim with her suburbs; four cities.

Jarmuth, and En-gannim.

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

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

31 Helkath with her suburbs, and Rehob with her suburbs; four cities.

Helkath, and Rehob.

32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammothdor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her 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 Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

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 her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,

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 her suburbs, Nahalal with her suburbs; four cities.

Dimnah, and Nahalal.

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

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

37 Kedemoth with her suburbs, and Mephaath with her suburbs; four cities.

Kedemoth, and Mephaath.

38 And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with her suburbs,

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 her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; four cities in all.

Heshbon, and Jazer.

40 So all the cities for the children of Merari by their families, which were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their lot 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 within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs.

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

42 These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them: thus were all these cities.

Each of these towns had pastures around them.

43 And 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 before 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 ought 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.