The Father's Cities for the Levites
The Levites ask for what was promised and receive forty-eight towns with pasture, spread through every tribe. The chapter closes with the summary the whole book has been building toward: our Father gave rest, and not one good promise failed.
21 1Then the heads of the families of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes of Israel. 2At Shiloh in the land of Canaan they said to them, "Our Father commanded through Moses that we be given cities to live in, with their pasturelands for our livestock."
3So the Israelites gave the Levites these cities with their pasturelands, out of their own inheritance, at the command of our Father. 4The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The descendants of Aaron the priest, who were among the Levites, received by lot thirteen cities from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. 5The rest of the Kohathites received by lot ten cities from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, the tribe of Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 6The descendants of Gershon received by lot thirteen cities from the families of the tribe of Issachar, the tribe of Asher, the tribe of Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. 7The descendants of Merari, by their families, received twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun. 8So the Israelites gave these cities with their pasturelands to the Levites by lot, just as our Father had commanded through Moses. 9From the tribes of Judah and Simeon they gave the cities named here: 10These went to the descendants of Aaron, of the Kohathite families of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them. 11They gave them Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the pasturelands around it (Arba was the father of Anak). 12But they had given the city's fields and villages to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession. 13To Aaron the priest's descendants they gave Hebron, a city of refuge for one who kills, with pasturelands, and Libnah with pasturelands. 14Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, 15Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, 16Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh, each with pasturelands—nine cities from these two tribes. 17From the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, 18Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. 19All the cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasturelands.
20The remaining Kohathite Levite families received their allotted cities from the tribe of Ephraim. 21They gave them Shechem, a refuge city for a killer, with its pasturelands, in Ephraim's hill country, and Gezer with its pasturelands. 22Kibzaim with its pasturelands, and Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities. 23From the tribe of Dan: Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands, 24Aijalon with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities. 25From the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—two cities. 26All these were ten cities with their pasturelands for the rest of the Kohathite families.
27From the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the Levite clans of Gershon: Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for one who kills, with pasturelands; and Be-eshterah with pasturelands—two cities. 28From the tribe of Issachar: Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, 29Jarmuth with its pasturelands, and En-gannim with its pasturelands—four cities. 30From the tribe of Asher: Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, 31Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities. 32From Naphtali's tribe: Kedesh in Galilee, a refuge city for one who killed, with pasturelands; Hammoth-dor with pasturelands; Kartan with pasturelands—three cities. 33All the cities of the Gershonites, by their families, were thirteen cities with their pasturelands.
34To the remaining Levites, the Merarite clans, they gave from Zebulun's tribe: Jokneam and its pastureland, Kartah and its pastureland, 35Dimnah with its pasturelands, and Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities. 36From the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands, a a v36 Verses 36-37 are missing from many Hebrew manuscripts but present in others and in the ancient Greek. 37Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities. 38From Gad's tribe: Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the killer, with its pasturelands, and Mahanaim with its pasturelands. 39Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all. 40All the cities for Merari's families—the remaining Levite families—totaled twelve, by lot.
41All the Levites' cities within the Israelites' possession: forty-eight, with their pasturelands. 42Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true of all of them.
43So our Father gave Israel all the land sworn to their ancestors; they took possession of it and settled there. 44Our Father gave them rest on every side, as he swore to their ancestors. None of their enemies could stand against them; our Father gave all their enemies into their hands. 45Not one of all the good promises our Father made to the house of Israel failed; all came true.
