Joshua 21

1 Then the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to 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 They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The LORD commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for our livestock.”

3 The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of the LORD, 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 The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.

[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 The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

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 The children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

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 twelve cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.

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 The children of Israel gave these cities with their pasture lands by lot to the Levites, as the LORD commanded by 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 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 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 They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (also called Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its pasture lands around 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 they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

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

13 To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Libnah with its 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 Jattir with its pasture lands, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands,

Jattir, Eshtemoa,

15 Holon with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands,

Holon, Debir,

16 Ain with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth Shemesh with its pasture lands: 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 Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands,

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

18 Anathoth with its pasture lands, and Almon with its pasture lands: 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 pasture lands.

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

20 The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, 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 They gave them Shechem with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Gezer with its pasture lands,

Those cities were Shechem (which was one of the cities to which people could run/escape to be safe/protected), Gezer,

22 Kibzaim with its pasture lands, and Beth Horon with its pasture lands: four cities.

Kibzaim, and Beth-Horon.

23 Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands,

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 its pasture lands, Gath Rimmon with its pasture lands: four cities.

Aijalon, and Gath-Rimmon.

25 Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasture lands, and Gath Rimmon with its pasture lands: 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 pasture lands.

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

27 They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Be Eshterah with its pasture lands: 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 Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands,

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 its pasture lands, En Gannim with its pasture lands: four cities.

Jarmuth, and En-Gannim.

30 Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands,

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 its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands: four cities.

Helkath, and Rehob.

32 Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Hammothdor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands: 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 pasture lands.

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

34 To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands,

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 its pasture lands, and Nahalal with its pasture lands: four cities.

Dimnah, and Nahalal.

36 Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its pasture lands, Jahaz with its pasture lands,

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

37 Kedemoth with its pasture lands, and Mephaath with its pasture lands: four cities.

Kedemoth, and Mephaath.

38 Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Mahanaim with its pasture lands,

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 its pasture lands, Jazer with its pasture lands: 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. Their lot was twelve cities.

Altogether twelve cities were allotted to the Merari clans.

41 All the cities of the Levites amongst the possessions of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasture lands.

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

42 Each of these cities included their pasture lands around them. It was this way with all these cities.

and each city had surrounding pastureland.

43 So the LORD gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it.

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 The LORD gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood 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 Nothing failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to 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.