Joshua 21:1-19

1Then the heads of the households of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

2They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasture lands for our cattle.”

3So the sons of Israel gave the Levites from their inheritance these [forty-eight] cities and their pasture lands, in accordance with the command of the Lord.

4The [first] lot (allotment) came out for the families of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were sons (descendants) of Aaron the priest received thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of Simeon and from the tribe of Benjamin.

5The rest of the sons of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim and from the tribe of Dan and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

6The sons of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar and from the tribe of Asher and from the tribe of Naphtali and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

7The sons of Merari according to their families received twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun.

8The sons of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasture lands, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

9They gave these cities which are mentioned here by name from the tribe of the sons of Judah and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon;

10and they were for the sons of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, of the sons of Levi, because the lot fell to them first.

11They gave them [the city of] Kiriath-arba, Arba being the father of Anak (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah, with its surrounding pasture lands.

12But the fields of the city and its villages they had given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his property.

13So to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for anyone who committed manslaughter, with its pasture lands, and Libnah with its pasture lands,

14and Jattir with its pasture lands and Eshtemoa with its pasture lands,

15and Holon with its pasture lands and Debir with its pasture lands,

16and Ain with its pasture lands and Juttah with its pasture lands and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands; nine cities from these two tribes (Judah and Simeon).

17From the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, and Geba with its pasture lands,

18Anathoth with its pasture lands and Almon with its pasture lands; four cities.

19All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.