Joshua 21:1-12 ▼

1 Then the family leaders of the descendants of Levi approached Eleazar the priest and Nun's son Joshua, along with the family leaders of the people of Israel.

2 It was at Shiloh in the land of Canaan that they told them, |The LORD ordered through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, along with their pasture lands for our livestock.|

3 So, just as the Lord had said, the Israelis set aside cities for the descendants of Levi from a portion of their own inheritances, along with their grazing lands.

4 The lottery went to the families of the descendants of Kohath. So the descendants of Aaron the priest, who were descendants of Levi, received thirteen cities by random lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

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

6 The descendants of Gershon received thirteen cities by random lot from the families of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh located in Bashan.

7 The descendants of Merari, allocated according to their families, received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

8 The Israelis apportioned these cities, along with their pasture lands, to the descendants of Levi by random lot, just as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

9 From the tribes of the descendants of Judah and Simeon, they gave these cities, delineated by name:

10 for the descendants of Aaron, one of the families of the descendants of Kohath, of the descendants of Levi, since the lot fell in their favor first.

11 They gave them Kiriath-arba, also known as Hebron, (Arba was named after the ancestor of Anak), in the hill country of Judah, along with its surrounding pasture lands.

12 But the fields adjoining the city and its surrounding villages were given to Jephunneh's son Caleb.