Joshua 21:1-13 ▼

1 Then the heads of ancestral houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of ancestral houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.

2 They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, |The LORD commanded Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for our livestock.|

3 The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of the LORD, these cities with their suburbs.

4 The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The descendants of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.

5 The rest of the descendants of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

6 The descendants of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

7 The descendants of Merari according to their families had twelve cities by lot out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.

8 The children of Israel gave these cities with their suburbs by lot to the Levites, as the LORD commanded by Moses.

9 They gave out of the tribe of the people of Judah, and out of the tribe of the people of Simeon, these cities which are mentioned by name:

10 and they were for the descendants of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the people of Levi; for theirs was the first lot.

11 They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (that is, Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its suburbs around it.

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

13 To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah with its suburbs,