Joshua 21

Cities of the Levites

1 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the *Num. 35:1–8Levites came near to *Num. 34:16–29; Josh. 14:1; 17:4Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. 2 And they spoke to them at *Josh. 18:1Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, *Num. 35:2"The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock." 3 So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their common-lands:

4 Now the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And *Josh. 21:8, 19the children of Aaron the priest, whowere of the Levites, *Josh. 19:51had thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin. 5 *Josh. 21:20The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

6 And *Josh. 21:27the children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

7 *Josh. 21:34The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun.

8 *Josh. 21:3And the children of Israel gave these cities with their common-lands by lot to the Levites, *Num. 35:2as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.

9 So they gave from the tribe of the children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these cities which are designated by name, 10 which were for the children of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, whowere of the children of Levi; for the lot was theirs first. 11 *Josh. 20:7; 1 Chr. 6:55And they gave them Kirjath Arba (Arbawas the father of *Josh. 14:15; 15:13, 14Anak), *Josh. 20:7; Luke 1:39which is Hebron, in the mountains of Judah, with the common-land surrounding it. 12 But *Josh. 14:14; 1 Chr. 6:56the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

13 Thus *1 Chr. 6:57to the children of Aaron the priest they gave *Josh. 15:54; 20:2, 7Hebron with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), *Josh. 15:42; 2 Kin. 8:22Libnah with its common-land, 14 *Josh. 15:48Jattir with its common-land, *Josh. 15:50Eshtemoa with its common-land, 15 *1 Chr. 6:58Holon with its common-land, *Josh. 15:49Debir with its common-land, 16 *1 Chr. 6:59Ain with its common-land, *Josh. 15:55Juttah with its common-land, and *Josh. 15:10Beth Shemesh with its common-land: nine cities from those two tribes; 17 and from the tribe of Benjamin, *Josh. 18:25Gibeon with its common-land, *Josh. 18:24Geba with its common-land, 18 Anathoth with its common-land, and *1 Chr. 6:60Almon with its common-land: four cities. 19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

20 *1 Chr. 6:66And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, the rest of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot from the tribe of Ephraim. 21 For they gave them *Josh. 20:7Shechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the slayer), *Judg. 1:29Gezer with its common-land, 22 Kibzaim with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities; 23 and from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its common-land, 24 *Josh. 10:12Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities; 25 and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities. 26 All the ten cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the children of Kohath.

27 *Josh. 21:6; 1 Chr. 6:71Also to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, theygave*Josh. 20:8Golan in Bashan with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two cities; 28 and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land, 29 Jarmuth with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four cities; 30 and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its common-land, Abdon with its common-land, 31 Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities; 32 and from the tribe of Naphtali, *Josh. 20:7Kedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its common-land: three cities. 33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

34 *Josh. 21:7; 1 Chr. 6:77–81And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its common-land, Kartah with its common-land, 35 Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities; 36 and from the tribe of Reuben, *Deut. 4:43; Josh. 20:8Bezer with its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land, 37 Kedemoth with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities; 38 and from the tribe of Gad, *Josh. 20:8Ramoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land, 39 Heshbon with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four cities in all. 40 So all the cities for the children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.

41 *Num. 35:7All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their common-lands. 42 Every one of these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all these cities.

The Promise Fulfilled

43 So the Lord gave to Israel *Gen. 12:7; 26:3, 4; 28:4, 13, 14all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they *Num. 33:53; Josh. 1:11took possession of it and dwelt in it. 44 *Deut. 7:23, 24; Josh. 11:23; 22:4The Lord gave them *Josh. 1:13, 15; 11:23rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And *Deut. 7:24not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 *(Num. 23:19); Josh. 23:14; 1 Kin. 8:56Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.