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 spake 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.

3 And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of the LORD, these cities with their suburbs.

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, which 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 their suburbs, 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 suburbs 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 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 her suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Libnah with her suburbs;

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 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] Beth-shemesh with her suburbs; 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 her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs;

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

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

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 her suburbs in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with her suburbs;

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 her suburbs, and Beth-horon with her suburbs; four cities.

Kibzaim, and Beth-Horon.

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

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 her suburbs, Gath-rimmon with her suburbs; four cities.

Aijalon, and Gath-Rimmon.

25 And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with her suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with her suburbs; 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 their suburbs.

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 her suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Be-eshterah with her suburbs; 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 her suburbs, Daberath with her suburbs;

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 her suburbs, Engannin with her suburbs; four cities.

Jarmuth, and En-Gannim.

30 And out of Asher, Mishal with her suburbs, Abdon with her suburbs;

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 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, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; 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 their suburbs.

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 her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,

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 her suburbs, Nahalal with her suburbs; four cities.

Dimnah, and Nahalal.

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

From the area that had been allotted to the tribe of Reuben they were allotted four cities. They were 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, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with her suburbs;

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 her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; 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 in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs.

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

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

and each city had surrounding pastureland.

43 So the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware 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 sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before 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.