Joshua 21

Cities Given to the Levites Joshua 21:3–8

³Verse 3. The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of Yahweh, these cities with their suburbs. ⁴Verse 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. ⁵Verse 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.

⁶Verse 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. ⁷Verse 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. ⁸Verse 8. The children of Israel gave these cities with their suburbs by lot to the Levites, as Yahweh commanded by Moses.

Cities for the Kohathites Joshua 21:9–19

⁹Verse 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: ¹⁰Verse 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. ¹¹Verse 11. They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (also called Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its suburbs around it. ¹²Verse 12. But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

¹³Verse 13. To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Libnah with its suburbs, ¹⁴Verse 14. Jattir with its suburbs, Eshtemoa with its suburbs, ¹⁵Verse 15. Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs, ¹⁶Verse 16. Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth Shemesh with its suburbs: nine cities out of those two tribes. ¹⁷Verse 17. Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs, ¹⁸Verse 18. Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs: four cities.

¹⁹Verse 19. All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

Cities for Other Kohathites Joshua 21:20–26

²⁰Verse 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. ²¹Verse 21. They gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Gezer with its suburbs, ²²Verse 22. Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth Horon with its suburbs: four cities. ²³Verse 23. Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs, ²⁴Verse 24. Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath Rimmon with its suburbs: four cities. ²⁵Verse 25. Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath Rimmon with its suburbs: two cities.

²⁶Verse 26. All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with their suburbs.

Cities for Gershonites Joshua 21:27–33

²⁷Verse 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 suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Be Eshterah with its suburbs: two cities. ²⁸Verse 28. Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs, ²⁹Verse 29. Jarmuth with its suburbs, En Gannim with its suburbs: four cities. ³⁰Verse 30. Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs, ³¹Verse 31. Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs: four cities. ³²Verse 32. Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs: three cities.

³³Verse 33. All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

Cities for Merarites Joshua 21:34–40

³⁴Verse 34. To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, Kartah with its suburbs, ³⁵Verse 35. Dimnah with its suburbs, and Nahalal with its suburbs: four cities. ³⁶Verse 36. Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, Jahaz with its suburbs, ³⁷Verse 37. Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs: four cities. ³⁸Verse 38. Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs, ³⁹Verse 39. Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs: four cities in all.

⁴⁰Verse 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.

Total Cities and God's Faithfulness Joshua 21:41–45

⁴¹Verse 41. All the cities of the Levites among the possessions of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs. ⁴²Verse 42. Each of these cities included their suburbs around them. It was this way with all these cities. ⁴³Verse 43. So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it. ⁴⁴Verse 44. Yahweh 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 delivered all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵Verse 45. Nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.