Joshua 21

Towns for the Levites

¹Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel

²at Shiloh in Canaan and said to them, ‘The Lord commanded through Moses that you give us towns to live in, with pasture-lands for our livestock.’

⁴The first lot came out for the Kohathites, according to their clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.

⁵The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan and half of Manasseh.

⁶The descendants of Gershon were allotted thirteen towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷The descendants of Merari, according to their clans, received twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.

⁹They allotted towns by name from the tribes of Judah and Simeon.

¹⁰The following towns were assigned to the descendants of Aaron who were from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them:

¹⁷And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them:

²¹In the hill country of Ephraim they were given:

²³Also from the tribe of Dan they received:

²⁵From half the tribe of Manasseh they received:

from the half-tribe of Manasseh:

²⁸from the tribe of Issachar:

³⁰from the tribe of Asher:

³²from the tribe of Naphtali:

from the tribe of Zebulun:

³⁶from the tribe of Reuben:

³⁸from the tribe of Gad:

⁴³So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there.

⁴⁴The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands.

⁴⁵Not one of all the Lord ’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.