Joshua 21
Webster Bible Translation

Forty-Eight Cities of the Levites

(Numbers 35:1-5; 1 Chronicles 6:54-81)

1Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; 2And they spoke to 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 their suburbs for our cattle. 3And the children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs. 4And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron the priest, who 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.

5And 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.

6And 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.

7The 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.

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

9And 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, 10Which 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. 11And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak (which city is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah, with its suburbs round it. 12But the fields of the city, and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

13Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest, Hebron with its suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with its suburbs, 14And Jattir with its suburbs, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs, 15And Holon with its suburbs, and Debir with its suburbs, 16And Ain with its suburbs, and Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. 17And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs, 18Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities. 19All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

20And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites who remained of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21For they gave them Shechem with its suburbs in mount Ephraim, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with its suburbs, 22And Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth-horon with its suburbs; four cities. 23And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs, 24Ajalon with its suburbs, Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; four cities. 25And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; two cities. 26All the cities were ten with their suburbs, for the families of the children of Kohath that remained.

27And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half-tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer, and Beesh-terah with its suburbs; two cities. 28And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with its suburbs, Dabareh with its suburbs, 29Jarmuth with its suburbs, En-gannim with its suburbs; four cities. 30And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs, 31Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities. 32And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammoth-dor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities. 33All the cities of the Gershonites, according to their families, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

34And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs, 35Dimnah with its suburbs, Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities. 36And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, and Jahazah with its suburbs, 37Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; four cities. 38And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with its suburbs, 39Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; four cities in all. 40So 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.

41All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs. 42These cities were every one with their suburbs around them. Thus were all these cities.

43And the LORD gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers: and they possessed it, and dwelt in it. 44And the LORD gave them rest on all sides, according to all that he swore to their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45There failed not aught of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel; all came to pass.

Joshua 20
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