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;

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 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.

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 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.

So, following the Lord's instructions, the Israelites gave towns and pastures to the Levites from their own allocations.

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.

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 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 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 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 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 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 families of the descendants of Merari were allotted twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, 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.

So the Israelites gave the Levites by lot these towns and pastures, as the Lord had instructed through 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.

They gave from the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Simeon the following towns, specifically named,

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;

to the families of the Kothaites, descendants of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, since the first lot fell to them:

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;

Kiriath-arba (or Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, together with the pastures around it. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)

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

But the more distant fields from the town and the villages had been given to Caleb son of Jephunneh to own.

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;

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 pasture land, and Eshtemoa with her pasture land;

Jattir, Eshtemoa,

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

Holon, Debir,

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.

Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine towns from these two tribes.

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

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

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

Anathoth, and Almon.

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

So in total thirteen towns and their pastures were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

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.

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 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;

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

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

Kibzaim, and Beth-horon.

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

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

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

Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon.

25 And, out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Taanach, with her pasture land, and Gath-rimmon, with her pasture land, —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 pasture lands: for the families of the sons of Kohath which remained.

So in total ten towns and their pastures were given to remaining families of the descendants of Kothah.

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.

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, Kishion, with her pasture land, —Daberath, with her pasture land;

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

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

Jarmuth, and En-gannim.

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

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

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

Helkath, and Rehob.

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.

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, by their families, were thirteen cities, with their pasture lands.

So in total thirteen towns and their pastures were allotted to the families of Gershon.

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;

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

Dimnah, and Nahalal.

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

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

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

Kedemoth, and Mephaath.

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;

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

Heshbon, and Jazer.

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.

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

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

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

Each of these towns had pastures around them.

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.

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 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.

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 a thing, out of all the good things, whereof Yahweh had spoken unto the house of Israel, —the whole, came to pass.

Not a single one of the good things the Lord promised Israel had failed; everything had come true.