Joshua 21:1-19

1Then the heads of 1households of 2the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of 3households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 2They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “4The Lord commanded 5through 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 cities with their pasture lands, according to the 6command of the Lord. 4Then the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the sons of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, 7received thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of the Simeonites and from the tribe of Benjamin.

5The rest of the sons of Kohath 8received 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 9received 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 10received twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun.

8Now the 11sons of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasture lands, as the Lord had commanded 12through Moses.

9They gave these cities which are here mentioned 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, for the lot was theirs first. 11Thus 13they gave them Kiriath-arba, Arba being the 14father 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 gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

13So 15to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave 16Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasture lands, and 17Libnah with its pasture lands, 14and 18Jattir with its pasture lands and 19Eshtemoa with its pasture lands, 15and 20Holon with its pasture lands and 21Debir with its pasture lands, 16and 22Ain with its pasture lands and 23Juttah with its pasture lands and 24Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands; nine cities from these two tribes. 17From the tribe of Benjamin, 25Gibeon with its pasture lands, 26Geba with its pasture lands, 18Anathoth with its pasture lands and 27Almon with its pasture lands; four cities. 19All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.