Joshua 21

Forty-Eight Cities for the Levites

Joshua 21:1–45

1 Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel;

2 And they spoke unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with its pasturelands for our cattle.

3 And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their pasturelands.

4 And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron the priest, which were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.

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

6 And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the 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, thirteen cities.

7 The children 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.

8 And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their pasturelands, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.

9 ¶ And 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 here mentioned by name,

10 Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot.

11 And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with its pasturelands round about it.

12 But the fields of the city, and its villages, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

13 ¶ Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her pasturelands, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her pasturelands,

14 And Jattir with her pasturelands, and Eshtemoa with her pasturelands,

15 And Holon with her pasturelands, and Debir with her pasturelands,

16 And Ain with her pasturelands, and Juttah with her pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with her pasturelands; nine cities out of those two tribes.

17 And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her pasturelands, Geba with her pasturelands,

18 Anathoth with her pasturelands, and Almon with her pasturelands; four cities.

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

20 ¶ And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites which remained of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

21 For they gave them Shechem with her pasturelands in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her pasturelands,

22 And Kibzaim with her pasturelands, and Beth-horon with her pasturelands; four cities.

23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her pasturelands, Gibbethon with her pasturelands,

24 Aijalon with her pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with her pasturelands; four cities.

25 And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with her pasturelands; two cities.

26 All the cities were ten with their pasturelands for the families of the children of Kohath that remained.

27 ¶ And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her pasturelands, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beesh-terah with her pasturelands; two cities.

28 And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with her pasturelands, Dabareh with her pasturelands,

29 Jarmuth with her pasturelands, En-gannim with her pasturelands; four cities.

30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with her pasturelands, Abdon with her pasturelands,

31 Helkath with her pasturelands, and Rehob with her pasturelands; four cities.

32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her pasturelands, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammoth-dor with her pasturelands, and Kartan with her pasturelands; three cities.

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

34 ¶ And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her pasturelands, and Kartah with her pasturelands,

35 Dimnah with her pasturelands, Nahalal with her pasturelands; four cities.

36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her pasturelands, and Jahazah with her pasturelands,

37 Kedemoth with her pasturelands, and Mephaath with her pasturelands; four cities.

38 And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her pasturelands, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with her pasturelands,

39 Heshbon with her pasturelands, Jazer with her pasturelands; four cities in all.

40 So all the cities for the children of Merari by their families, which were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.

41 All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their pasturelands.

42 These cities were every one with their pasturelands round about them: thus were all these cities.

43 ¶ And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he swore to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and lived in it.

44 And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he swore unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

45 There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.