Forty-eight cities given by lot, out of the other tribes, to the Levites, 1-42. God gives the land, and rest to the Israelites, according to his promise, 43-45.
1 Then the heads of the fathers of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel. 2 And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, "The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for our cattle." 3 And the children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs. 4 And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.
5 And the rest of the children of Kohath had 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, ten cities.
6 And the children of Gershon had 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, thirteen cities.
7 The children of Merari by their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.
8 And the children of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.
9 And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name, 10 Which the children of Aaron had, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, for theirs was the first lot. 11 And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak (which city is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah, with its suburbs around it. 12 But the fields of the city, and its villages, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.
13 Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with its suburbs to be a city of refuge for the slayer, Libnah with its suburbs, 14 Jattir with its suburbs, Eshtemoa with its suburbs, 15 Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs, 16 Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. 17 And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs, 18 Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities. 19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
20 And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites who remained of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. 21 For they gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the mountains of Ephraim to be a city of refuge for the slayer, Gezer with its suburbs, 22 Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth-horon with its suburbs; four cities. 23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs, 24 Ajalon with its suburbs, Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; four cities. 25 And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; two cities. 26 All the cities were ten with their suburbs, for the families of the children of Kohath who remained.
27 And to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half-tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with its suburbs to be a city of refuge for the slayer, and Beesh-terah with its suburbs; two cities. 28 And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with its suburbs, Dabareh with its suburbs, 29 Jarmuth with its suburbs, and En-gannim with its suburbs; four cities. 30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs, 31 Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities. 32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs to be a city of refuge for the slayer, Hammoth-dor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities. 33 All the cities of the Gershonites, according to their families, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
34 And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, Kartah with its suburbs, 35 Dimnah with its suburbs, and Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities. 36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, Jahazah with its suburbs, 37 Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; four cities. 38 And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs to be a city of refuge for the slayer, Mahanaim with its suburbs, 39 Heshbon with its suburbs, and Jazer with its suburbs; four cities in all. 40 So all the cities for the children of Merari by their families, which were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.
41 All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs. 42 These cities were each with their suburbs around them. Thus were all these cities.
43 And the LORD gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. And they possessed it and dwelt in it. 44 And the LORD gave them rest on all sides, according to all that he swore to their fathers. And there did not stand a man of all their enemies before them. The LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 There did not fail anything of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Joshua, Chapter 21[➚]
[v.2] - "suburbs for our cattle" - Reference, Numbers 35:1-5.
[v.43-45] - Reference, Genesis 15:18-19.