Joshua 21:12
◄  Joshua 21:12  ►
New International Version (©2011)
But the fields and villages around the city they had given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

New Living Translation (©2007)
But the open fields beyond the town and the surrounding villages were given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

English Standard Version (©2001)
But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
But they gave the fields and villages of the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

International Standard Version (©2012)
But the fields adjoining the city and its surrounding villages were given to Jephunneh's son Caleb.

NET Bible (©2006)
(Now the city's fields and surrounding towns they had assigned to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his property.)

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
But they gave its fields and villages to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, as his possession.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
But the fields of the city, and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

American King James Version
But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

American Standard Version
But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But the fields and the villages thereof he had given to Caleb the son of Jephone for his possession.

Darby Bible Translation
But the fields of the city and the hamlets thereof gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

English Revised Version
But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

Webster's Bible Translation
But the fields of the city, and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

World English Bible
But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

Young's Literal Translation
and the field of the city and its villages they have given to Caleb son of Jephunneh for his possession.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:9-42 By mixing the Levites with the other tribes, they were made to see that the eyes of all Israel were upon them, and therefore it was their concern to walk so that their ministry might not be blamed. Every tribe had its share of Levites' cities. Thus did God graciously provide for keeping up religion among them, and that they might have the word in all parts of the land. Yet, blessed be God, we have the gospel more diffused amongst us.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - The fields. The original is in the singular. We are not necessarily, therefore, to suppose that the land was mapped out into divisions analogous to our fields. Our word "land" would more accurately represent the meaning of the original, which refers to the arable and pasture land in the neighbourhood of the city, with the agricultural villages or homesteads dotted about it. Keil contends that the Levites only received as many houses within the city as they needed, and that the rest belonged to Caleb. Bahr, moreover ('Symbolik,' 2:49), supposed that the Levites dwelt with the other inhabitants of the city, and that the pasture land within the distance of 2,000 paces from the city was reserved for them, the rest of the land belonging to the inhabitants of the tribe (see note on Gezer, ch. 10:33). This seems the most probable explanation. The land in general was owned by the descendants of Caleb. But the Levites had certain pastures reserved for them, whither they drove their cattle (see note on suburbs, Joshua 14:4). The special information about Hebron here again is worthy of notice. It is copied by the author of 1 Chronicles in ch. 6.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof,.... Which lay beyond the two thousand cubits:

gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh, for his possession; as Moses had promised, and Joshua had confirmed to him; and now the children of Israel gave them to him, and put him in the possession of, Joshua 14:6; and the same is to be observed of all the other cities given to the Levites, that they and their suburbs, extending to such a distance only, were given to them; but the fields and villages, which belonged to them, continued the inheritance of the tribes in which they were.

Joshua 21:12 Parallel Commentaries

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Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Forty-Eight Cities of the Levites
…11And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it. 12But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. 13Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs, …

Numbers 13:6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;
Joshua 21:11 They gave them Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pastureland, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)
Joshua 21:13 So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron (a city of refuge for one accused of murder), Libnah,
1 Samuel 30:14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag."