Joshua 21

1 And the heads of the fathers of the Levites draw near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons 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 speak to them in Shiloh, in the land of Canaan, saying, “YHWH commanded by the hand of Moses to give to us cities to dwell in, and their outskirts for our livestock.”

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 sons of Israel give to the Levites, out of their inheritance, at the command of YHWH, these cities and their outskirts:

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 goes out for the families of the Kohathite, and there are for the sons of Aaron the priest (of the Levites), out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities by lot,

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 for the sons of Kohath who are left, 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 by lot.

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 for the sons of Gershon, 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, [are] thirteen cities by lot.

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 For the sons of Merari, for their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, [are] 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 sons of Israel give these cities and their outskirts to the Levites, as YHWH commanded by the hand of Moses, by lot.

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 give out of the tribe of the sons of Judah, and out of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, these cities which are called by name;

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

10 and they are for the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathite, of the sons of Levi, for the first lot has been theirs;

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 give to them the city of Arba father of Anak (it [is] Hebron), in the hill-country of Judah, and its outskirts around 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 and they have given the field of the city and its villages to Caleb 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 to the sons of Aaron the priest they have given the city of refuge [for] the manslayer, Hebron and its outskirts, and Libnah and its outskirts,

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 and its outskirts, and Eshtemoa and its outskirts,

Jattir with its pasturelands, and Eshtemoa with its pasturelands.

15 and Holon and its outskirts, and Debir and its outskirts,

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

16 and Ain and its outskirts, and Juttah and its outskirts, Beth-Shemesh and its outskirts; nine cities out of these 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 and its outskirts, Geba and its outskirts,

From the tribe of Benjamin were given Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands,

18 Anathoth and its outskirts, and Almon and its outskirts—four cities;

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

19 all the cities of the sons of Aaron the priests, [are] thirteen cities and their outskirts.

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

20 And for the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites, who are left of the sons of Kohath, even the cities of their lot are 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 give to them the city of refuge [for] the manslayer, Shechem and its outskirts, in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Gezer and its outskirts,

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 and its outskirts, and Beth-Horon and its outskirts—four cities.

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

23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and its outskirts, Gibbethon and its outskirts,

From the tribe of Dan, the clan of Kohath was given Eltekeh with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands,

24 Aijalon and its outskirts, Gath-Rimmon and its outskirts—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 and its outskirts, and Gath-Rimmon and its outskirts—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 [are] ten and their outskirts, for the families of the sons of Kohath who are left.

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

27 And for the sons of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, the city of refuge [for] the manslayer, Golan in Bashan and its outskirts, and Beeshterah and its outskirts—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, Kishon and its outskirts, Dabarath and its outskirts,

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

29 Jarmuth and its outskirts, En-Gannim and its outskirts—four cities.

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

30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its outskirts, Abdon and its outskirts,

From the tribe of Asher, they gave Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands,

31 Helkath and its outskirts, and Rehob and its outskirts—four cities.

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

32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, the city of refuge [for] the manslayer, Kedesh in Galilee and its outskirts, and Hammoth-Dor and its outskirts, and Kartan and its outskirts—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 Gershonite, for their families, [are] thirteen cities and their outskirts.

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

34 And for the families of the sons of Merari, the Levites, who are left, [are, ] out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its outskirts, Kartah and its outskirts,

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 and its outskirts, Nahalal and its outskirts—four cities.

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

36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and its outskirts, and Jahazah and its outskirts,

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

37 Kedemoth and its outskirts, and Mephaath and its outskirts—four cities.

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

38 And out of the tribe of Gad, the city of refuge [for] the manslayer, Ramoth in Gilead and its outskirts, and Mahanaim and its outskirts,

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 and its outskirts, Jazer and its outskirts—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 the cities for the sons of Merari, for their families, who are left of the families of the Levites—their lot is 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 in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel [are] forty-eight cities, and their outskirts.

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 These cities are each city and its outskirts around it; so to all these cities.

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

43 And YHWH gives to Israel the whole of the land which He has sworn to give to their fathers, and they possess it, and dwell in it;

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 YHWH gives rest to them all around, according to all that which He has sworn to their fathers, and there has not stood a man in their presence of all their enemies, YHWH has given the whole of 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 has not fallen a thing of all the good thing which YHWH spoke to the house of Israel—the whole has come.

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.