Joshua 21
1 Then came near the heads of the divisions of the Levites unto Elazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the divisions 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 unto us cities to dwell in, with the open spaces thereof for our cattle.
3 And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites from their inheritance, at the order of the Lord, these cities and their open spaces.
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 Kehathites: and the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, obtained from the tribe of Judah, and from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin, by lot, 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 Kehath obtained from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and from the tribe of Dan, and from the half tribe of Menasseh, by lot, 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 obtained from the families of the tribe of Issachar, and from the tribe of Asher, and from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half tribe of Menasseh in Bashan, by lot, 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 after their families obtained from the tribe of Reuben, and from the tribe of Gad, and from 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 unto the Levites these cities with their open spaces, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses, by lot.
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 from the tribe of the children of Judah, and from the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are called 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 the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kehathites, of the children of Levi, obtained them; —for they had the first lot.
First, they allotted cities to the members of the Kohath clans.
11 And they gave unto them Kiryath-arba', [the father of 'Anak, ] which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah, with the open spaces thereof 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 its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Yephunneh for his possession.
But the fields and villages surrounding Arba had already been allotted to Caleb.
13 And to the children of Aaron the priest they gave the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hebron with its open spaces, and Libnah with its open spaces,
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 Yattir with its open spaces, and Eshtemoa' with its open spaces.
Jattir, Eshtemoa,
15 And Cholon with its open spaces, and Debir with its open spaces,
Holon, Debir,
16 And 'Ayin with its open spaces, and Yuttah with its open spaces, and Beth-shemesh with its open spaces: nine cities from 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 from the tribe of Benjamin, Gib'on with its open spaces, Geba' with its open spaces,
The Kohath clan was also allotted these four cities: Gibeon, Geba,
18 'Anathoth with its open spaces, and 'Almon with its open spaces: 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 their open spaces.
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 Kehath, the Levites, who remained of the children of Kehath, obtained the cities of their lot from 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 to them the city of refuge for the manslayer, Shechem with its open spaces in the mountain of Ephraim, and Gezer with its open spaces,
Those cities were Shechem (which was one of the cities to which people could run/escape to be safe/protected), Gezer,
22 And Kibzayim with its open spaces, and Beth-choron with its open spaces: four cities.
Kibzaim, and Beth-Horon.
23 And from the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its open spaces, Gibbethon with its open spaces,
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 Ayalon with its open spaces, Gath-rimmon with its open spaces: four cities.
Aijalon, and Gath-Rimmon.
25 And from the half tribe of Menasseh, Ta'nach with its open spaces, and Gath-rimmon with its open spaces: 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 were ten with their open spaces for the families of the children of Kehath that remained.
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, [they gave] from the other half tribe of Menasseh the city of refuge for the manslayer, Golan in Bashan with its open spaces, and Be'eshterah with its open spaces: 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 from the tribe of Issachar, Kishyon with its open spaces, Daberath with its open spaces,
From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Issachar they were allotted four cities. Those cities were Kishion, Daberath,
29 Yarmuth with its open spaces, 'En-gannim with its open spaces: four cities.
Jarmuth, and En-Gannim.
30 And from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its open spaces, Abdon with its open spaces.
From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Asher they were allotted four cities. Those cities were Mishal, Abdon,
31 Chelkath with its open spaces, and Rechob with its open spaces: four cities.
Helkath, and Rehob.
32 And from the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Kedesh in Galilee with its open spaces, and Chammothdor with its open spaces, and Karthan with its open spaces: 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 Gershunites according to their families were thirteen cities with their open spaces.
So altogether the Gershon clans were allotted 13 cities and the surrounding pasturelands.
34 And unto the families of the children of Merari, the remainder of the Levites, [they gave] from the tribe of Zebulun, Yokne'am with its open spaces, and Karthah with its open spaces,
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 its open spaces, Nahalal with its open spaces: four cities.
Dimnah, and Nahalal.
From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Reuben they were allotted four cities. They were Bezer, Jahaz,
Kedemoth, and Mephaath.
38 And from the tribe of Gad, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Ramoth in Gil'ad with its open spaces, and Machanayim with its open spaces,
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 Cheshbon with its open spaces, Ya'zer with its open spaces: four cities in all.
Heshbon, and Jazer.
40 All the cities for the children of Merari after their families, they who were remaining of the families of the Levites, even their lot was twelve cities.
Altogether twelve cities were allotted to the Merari clans.
41 All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their open spaces.
So altogether 48 cities were allotted to the tribe of Levi,
42 These cities were every one with their open spaces round about them: thus it was with all these cities.
and each city had surrounding pastureland.
43 And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he had sworn 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, all just as he had sworn unto their fathers: and there stood not up before them a man of all their enemies; all their enemies the Lord delivered 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 all the good thing which the Lord had spoken unto the house of Israel: it 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.
