Joshua Chapter 21    

Cities of the Levites

¹Then 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.
  ²And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “Yahweh commanded by Moses to give us cities to live in with their pasturelands for our livestock.”
  ³So out of their own inheritance, by the command of Yahweh, the children of Israel gave these cities with their pasturelands to the Levites.
 

⁴The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. So those children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had 13 cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.
  ⁵The 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.
 

⁶The children of Gershon had 13 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.
 

⁷The children of Merari according to their families had 12 cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.
 

⁸The children of Israel gave these cities with their pasturelands by lot to the Levites, just as Yahweh commanded by Moses.
 

Cities for Aaron’s Descendants

⁹They gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon these cities that he called by name;
  ¹⁰and they were for the descendants of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites who were of the children of Levi, for theirs was the first lot.
  ¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba, (Arba was the father of Anak), which is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with its pasturelands around it.
  ¹²But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.
 

¹³To the children of Aaron the priest they gave: Hebron with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the killer; Libnah with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ¹⁴Jattir with its surrounding pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ¹⁵Holon with its surrounding pasturelands, Debir with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ¹⁶Ain with its surrounding pasturelands, Juttah with its surrounding pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its surrounding pasturelands: nine cities out of those two tribes.
 

¹⁷Out of the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon with its surrounding pasturelands, Geba with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ¹⁸Anathoth with its surrounding pasturelands, and Almon with its surrounding pasturelands: four cities.
  ¹⁹All the cities of the priests, the children of Aaron, were 13 cities with their surrounding pasturelands.
 

Cities for Kohath’s Other Descendants

²⁰The 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.
  ²¹They gave them: Shechem with its surrounding pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the killer; and Gezer with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ²²Kibzaim with its surrounding pasturelands and Beth-horon with its surrounding pasturelands: four cities.
 

²³Out of the tribe of Dan: Elteke with its surrounding pasturelands, Gibbethon with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ²⁴Aijalon with its surrounding pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its surrounding pasturelands: four cities.
 

²⁵Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its surrounding pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its surrounding pasturelands: two cities.
 

²⁶All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten cities with their surrounding pasturelands.
 

Cities for Gershon’s Descendants

²⁷They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its surrounding pasturelands, the city of refuge for the killer; and Ashtaroth with its surrounding pasturelands: two cities.
 

²⁸Out of the tribe of Issachar: Kishion with its surrounding pasturelands, Daberath with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ²⁹Jarmuth with its surrounding pasturelands, En-gannim with its surrounding pasturelands: four cities.
 

³⁰Out of the tribe of Asher: Mishal with its surrounding pasturelands, Abdon with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ³¹Helkath with its surrounding pasturelands and Rehob with its surrounding pasturelands: four cities.
 

³²Out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its surrounding pasturelands, the city of refuge for the killer; Hammoth-dor with its surrounding pasturelands, and Kartan with its surrounding pasturelands three cities.
 

³³All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were 13 cities with their surrounding pasturelands.
 

Cities for Merari’s Descendants

³⁴To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its surrounding pasturelands, Kartah with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ³⁵Dimnah with its surrounding pasturelands and Nahalal with its surrounding pasturelands: four cities.
 

³⁶Out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its surrounding pasturelands, Jahaz with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ³⁷Kedemoth with its surrounding pasturelands and Mephaath with its surrounding pasturelands: four cities.
 

³⁸Out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its surrounding pasturelands, the city of refuge for the killer; and Mahanaim with its surrounding pasturelands,
  ³⁹Heshbon with its surrounding pasturelands, Jazer with its surrounding pasturelands: four cities in all.
  ⁴⁰All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites. Their lot was 12 cities.
 

⁴¹All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel were 48 cities with their surrounding pasturelands.
  ⁴²Each of these cities included their surrounding pasturelands around them. It was this way with all these cities.
 

The Promises of Yahweh Fulfilled

⁴³So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. They took possession of it and lived in it.
  ⁴⁴Yahweh gave them rest all around according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. Yahweh gave all their enemies into their hand.
  ⁴⁵Not one word failed of all the good things that Yahweh spoke to the house of Israel. All came to pass.