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;

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 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.

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 the Israeli leaders obeyed this command from Yahweh. They agreed to give towns and pasturelands to the tribe of Levi.

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.

[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 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.

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 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 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 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 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 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 Israeli leaders gave cities and pastureland to the tribe of Levi, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses that they should do.

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.

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

First, they allotted cities to the members of the Kohath clans.

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

But the fields and villages surrounding Arba had already been allotted to Caleb.

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 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 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. 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 pasture land, —Geba, with her pasture land;

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

18 Anathoth, with her pasture land, and Almon, with her pasture land, —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 sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities, with their pasture lands.

Altogether those 13 towns and surrounding pastureland were allotted to the priests who were descended from 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.

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 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;

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 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;

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 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.

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 pasture lands: for the families of the sons of Kohath which remained.

Those were the ten cities and surrounding pastureland that were allotted to the other members of the Kohath clan.

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.

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 pasture land, —Daberath, with her pasture land;

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 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 area that had been allotted to the tribe of Asher they were allotted four cities. Those cities were 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 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, by their families, were thirteen cities, with their pasture lands.

So altogether the Gershon clans were allotted 13 cities and the surrounding pasturelands.

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 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 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 area that had been allotted to the tribe of Reuben they were allotted four cities. They were 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 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 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.

Altogether twelve cities were allotted to the Merari clans.

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:

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

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

and each city had surrounding pastureland.

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.

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 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.

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