Joshua 21

1 Then came near the ancestral heads of the Levites, unto Eleazar, the priest, and unto Joshua son of Nun, —and unto the ancestral heads of the tribes, of the sons of Israel;

Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the heads of families of the tribes of the children of Israel;

2 and spake unto them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying: Yahweh himself, commanded, by the hand of Moses, that there should be given unto us cities to dwell in, —with their pasture-lands for our cattle.

And said to them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, The Lord gave orders by Moses that we were to have towns for living in, with their grass-lands for our cattle.

3 So the sons of Israel gave unto the Levites, out of their own inheritance, at the bidding of Yahweh, —these cities, with their pasture-lands.

And the children of Israel out of their heritage gave to the Levites these towns with their grass-lands, by the order of the Lord.

4 And, when the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites, then had the sons of Aaron the priest, from among the Levites—out of the tribe of Judah and out of the tribe of the Simeonites and out of the tribe of Benjamin—by lot, thirteen cities.

And the heritage came out for the families of the Kohathites: the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

5 And, the sons of Kohath that remained, had—out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim and out of the tribe of Dan and out of the half tribe of Manasseh—by lot, ten cities.

The rest of the children of Kohath by their families were given ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim and Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

6 And, the sons of Gershon, had—out of 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—by lot, thirteen cities.

The children of Gershon by their families were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar and Asher and Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh which was in Bashan.

7 The sons 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 children of Merari by their families were given twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben and Gad and Zebulun.

8 So the sons of Israel gave unto the Levites these cities, with their pasture lands, —as Yahweh commanded, by the hand of Moses, by lot.

All these towns with their grass-lands the children of Israel gave by the decision of the Lord to the Levites, as the Lord had given orders by Moses.

9 Thus then they gave—out of the tribe of the sons of Judah and out of the tribe of the sons of Simeon—these cities which are mentioned by name.

From the tribes of the children of Judah and the children of Simeon they gave these towns, listed here by name:

10 And the sons of Aaron, from among the sons of Kohath, from among the sons of Levi, had them, —because, theirs, was the first lot;

These were for the children of Aaron among the families of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi: for they came first in the distribution.

11 yea there was given unto them, the city of Arba, the father of Anak, the same, is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, —with the pasture land thereof, round about it;

They gave them Kiriath-arba, the town of Arba, the father of Anak, (which is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah, with its grass-lands.

12 whereas, the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they unto Caleb son of Jephunneh, as his possession.

But the open country round the town, and its unwalled places, they gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, as his property.

13 But, unto the sons of Aaron the priest, gave they the city of refuge for the manslayer, even Hebron, with the pasture lands thereof, —Libnah also, with her pasture lands;

And to the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Libnah with its grass-lands;

14 and Jattir with her pasture land, and Eshtemoa with her pasture land;

And Jattir with its grass-lands, and Eshtemoa with its grass-lands;

15 and Holon, with her pasture land, and Debir, with her pasture land;

And Holon with its grass-lands, and Debir with its grass-lands;

16 and Ain, with her pasture land, and Juttah, with her pasture land, Beth-shemesh, with her pasture land, —nine cities, out of these two tribes.

And Ain, and Juttah, and Beth-shemesh, with their grass-lands; nine towns from those two tribes.

17 And, out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon, with her pasture land, —Geba, with her pasture land;

And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave Gibeon and Geba with their grass-lands;

18 Anathoth, with her pasture land, and Almon, with her pasture land, —four cities.

Anathoth and Almon with their grass-lands, four towns.

19 All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities, with their pasture lands.

Thirteen towns with their grass-lands were given to the children of Aaron, the priests.

20 And, as for the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites, which remained of the sons of Kohath, the cities of their lot were out of the tribe of Ephraim.

The rest of the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, were given towns from the tribe of Ephraim.

21 So they gave unto them a city of refuge for the manslayer, even Shechem with her pasture land, in the hill country of Ephraim, —also Gezer, with her pasture land;

And they gave them Shechem with its grass-lands in the hill-country of Ephraim, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Gezer with its grass-lands;

22 and Kibzaim, with her pasture land, and Beth-horon, with her pasture land, —four cities.

And Kibzaim and Beth-horon with their grass-lands, four towns.

23 And, out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke, with her pasture land, —Gibbethon, with her pasture land;

And from the tribe of Dan, Elteke and Gibbethon with their grass-lands;

24 Aijalon, with her pasture land, Gath-rimmon, with her pasture land, —four cities.

Aijalon and Gath-rimmon with their grass-lands, four towns.

25 And, out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Taanach, with her pasture land, and Gath-rimmon, with her pasture land, —two cities.

And from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and Gath-rimmon with their grass-lands, two towns.

26 All the cities, were ten, with their pasture lands: for the families of the sons of Kohath which remained.

All the towns of the rest of the families of the children of Kohath were ten with their grass-lands.

27 And, the sons of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, had, out of the half tribe of Manasseh, a city of refuge for the manslayer, even Golan in Bashan, with her pasture land, and Be-eshterah, with her pasture land, —two cities.

And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, they gave from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Ashtaroth with its grass-lands, two towns.

28 And, out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion, with her pasture land, —Daberath, with her pasture land;

And from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion and Daberath with their grass-lands;

29 Jarmuth, with her pasture land, En-gannim, with her pasture land, —four cities.

Jarmuth and En-gannim with their grass-lands, four towns.

30 And, out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal, with her pasture land, Abdon, with her pasture land;

And from the tribe of Asher, Mishal and Abdon, with their grass-lands:

31 Helkath, with her pasture land, and Rehob, with her pasture land, —four cities.

Helkath and Rehob with their grass-lands, four towns.

32 And, out of the tribe of Naphtali, a city of refuge for the manslayer—even Kedesh in Galilee, with her pasture land, and Hammoth-dor, with her pasture land, and Kartan, with her pasture land, —three cities.

And from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its grass-lands, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Hammoth-dor and Kartan with their grass-lands, three towns.

33 All, the cities of the Gershonites, by their families, were thirteen cities, with their pasture lands.

All the towns of the Gershonites with their families were thirteen with their grass-lands.

34 And, unto the families of the sons of Merari, the Levites that remained, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam, with her pasture land, —Kartah, with her pasture land;

And to the rest of the Levites, that is, the families of the children of Merari, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and Kartah with their grass-lands;

35 Dimnah, with her pasture land, Nahalal, with her pasture land, —four cities.

Dimnah and Nahalal with their grass-lands, four towns.

36 And, out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer, with her pasture land, —and Jahaz, with her pasture land;

And from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and Jahaz with their grass-lands;

37 Kedemoth, with her pasture land and Mephaath, with her pasture land, —four cities.

Kedemoth and Mephaath with their grass-lands, four towns.

38 And, out of the tribe of Gad, a city of refuge for the manslayer—even Ramoth in Gilead, with her pasture land, —and Mahanaim, with her pasture land;

And from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead, the town where the taker of life might be safe, and Mahanaim with their grass-lands;

39 Heshbon, with her pasture land, Jazer, with her pasture land, —in all, four cities.

Heshbon and Jazer with their grass-lands, four towns.

40 All the cities for the sons of Merari, by their families, who remained of the families of the Levites, yea their lot was, twelve, cities.

All these towns were given to the children of Merari by their families, that is, the rest of the families of the Levites; and their heritage was twelve towns.

41 All the cities of the Levites, in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel, were forty-eight cities, with their pasture lands:

All the towns of the Levites, among the heritage of the children of Israel, were forty-eight towns with their grass-lands.

42 these cities passed, each severally, with its pasture lands round about it; thus, was it with all these cities.

Every one of these towns had grass-lands round it.

43 So Yahweh gave unto Israel, all the land which he had sworn to give unto their fathers, —and they took possession thereof, and dwelt therein.

So the Lord gave to Israel all the land which he gave by oath to their fathers; so it became their heritage and their living-place.

44 And Yahweh gave them rest round about, according to all that he had sworn unto their fathers, —and there stood not a man before them, of all their enemies; all their enemies, did Yahweh deliver into their hand.

And the Lord gave them peace on every side, as he had said to their fathers: all those who were against them gave way before them, for the Lord gave them all up into their hands.

45 There failed not a thing, out of all the good things, whereof Yahweh had spoken unto the house of Israel, —the whole, came to pass.

The Lord kept faith with the house of Israel about all the good which he said he would do for them, and all his words came true.