Joshua 21

ENGWEBEnglish45 verses

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

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

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

4The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The children 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.

5The rest of the children 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.

6The children 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

13To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Libnah with its suburbs,

14Jattir with its suburbs, Eshtemoa with its suburbs,

15Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs,

16Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth Shemesh with its suburbs: nine cities out of those two tribes.

17Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs,

18Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs: four cities.

19All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

20The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

21They gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Gezer with its suburbs,

22Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth Horon with its suburbs: four cities.

23Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs,

24Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath Rimmon with its suburbs: four cities.

25Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath Rimmon with its suburbs: two cities.

26All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with their suburbs.

27They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Be Eshterah with its suburbs: two cities.

28Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs,

29Jarmuth with its suburbs, En Gannim with its suburbs: four cities.

30Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs,

31Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs: four cities.

32Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs: three cities.

33All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

34To 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,

35Dimnah with its suburbs, and Nahalal with its suburbs: four cities.

36Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, Jahaz with its suburbs,

37Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs: four cities.

38Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs,

39Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs: four cities in all.

40All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites. Their lot was twelve cities.

41All the cities of the Levites among the possessions of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs.

42Each of these cities included their suburbs around them. It was this way with all these cities.

43So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it.

44Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand.

45Nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

Commentary

Chapter 21 It had been often said that the tribe of Levi should have "no inheritance with their brethren," no particular part of the country assigned them, as the other tribes had, no, not the country about Shiloh, which one might have expected to be appropriated to them as the lands of the church; but, though they were not thus cast into a country by themselves, it appears, by the provision made for them in this chapter, that they were no losers, but the rest of the tribes were very much gainers, by their being dispersed. We have here, I. The motion they made to have their cities assigned them, according to God’s appointment (v. 1, 2). II. The nomination of the cities accordingly out of the several tribes, and the distribution of them to the respective families of this tribe (v. 3-8). III. A catalogue of the cities, forty-eight in all (v. 9–42). IV. A receipt entered in full of all that God had promised to his people Israel (v. 43–45).Verses 1-8 Here is, I. The Levites’ petition presented to this general convention of the states, now sitting at Shiloh, v. 1, 2. Observe, 1. They had not their lot assigned them till they made their claim. There is an inheritance provided for all the saints, that royal priesthood, but then they must petition for it. Ask, and it shall be given you. Joshua had quickened the rest of the tribes who were slack to put in their claims, but the Levites, it may be supposed, knew their duty and interest better than the rest, and were therefore forward in this matter, when it came to their turn, without being called upon. They build their claim upon a very good foundation, not their own merits nor services, but the divine precept: "The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities, commanded you to grant them, which implied a command to us to ask them." Note, The maintenance of ministers is not an arbitrary thing, left purely to the good-will of the people, who may let them starve if they please; no, as the God of Israel commanded that the Levites should be well provided for, so has the Lord Jesus, the King of the Christian church, ordained, and a perpetual ordinance it is that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel (1 Co. 9:14), and should live comfortably. 2. They did not make their claim till all the rest of the tribes were provided for, and then they did it immediately. There was some reason for it; every tribe must first know their own, else they would not know what they gave the Levites, and so it could not be such a reasonable service as it ought to be. But it is also an instance of their humility, modesty, and patience (and Levites should be examples of these and other virtues), that they were willing to be served last, and they fared never the worse for it. Let not God’s ministers complain if at any time they find themselves postponed in men’s thoughts and cares, but let them make sure of the favour of God and the honour that comes from him, and then they may well enough afford to bear the slights and neglects of men.II. The Levites’ petition granted immediately, without any dispute, the princes of Israel being perhaps ashamed that they needed to be called upon in this matter, and that the motion had not been made among themselves for the settling of the Levites. 1. The children of Israel are said to give the cities for the Levites. God had appointed how many they should be in all, forty-eight. It is probable that Joshua and the princes, upon consideration of the extent and value of the lot of each tribe as it was laid before them, had appointed how many cities should be taken out of each; and then the fathers of the several tribes themselves agreed which they should be, and therefore are said to give them, as an offering, to the Lord; so God had appointed. Num. 35:8, Every one shall give of his cities to the Levites. Here God tried their generosity, and it was found to praise and honour, for it appears by the following catalogue that the cities they gave to the Levites were generally some of the best and most considerable in each tribe. And it is probable that they had an eye to the situation of them, taking care they should be so dispersed as that no part of the country should be too far distant from a Levites’ city. 2. They gave them at the commandment of the Lord, that is, with an eye to the command and in obedience to it, which was it that sanctified the grant. They gave the number that God commanded, and it was well this matter was settled that the Levites might not ask more nor the Israelites offer less. They gave them also with their suburbs, or glebe-lands, belonging to them, so many cubits by measure from the walls of the city, as God had commanded (Num. 35:4, 5), and did not go about to cut them short. 3. When the forty-eight cities were pitched upon, they were divided into four lots, as they lay next together, and then by lot were determined to the four several families of the tribe of Levi. When the Israelites had surrendered the cities into the hand of God, he would himself have the distributing of them among his servants. (1.) The family of Aaron, who were the only priests, had for their share the thirteen cities that were given by the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, v. 4. God in wisdom ordered it thus, that though Jerusalem itself was not one of their cities, it being as yet in the possession of the Jebusites (and those generous tribes would not mock the Levites, who had another warfare to mind, with a city that must be recovered by the sword before it could be enjoyed), yet the cities that fell to their lot were those which lay next to Jerusalem, because that was to be, in process of time, the holy city, where their business would chiefly lie. (2.) The Kohathite-Levites (among whom were the posterity of Moses, though never distinguished from them) had the cities that lay in the lot of Dan, which lay next to Judah, and in that of Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, which lay next to Benjamin.

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG የሌዋውያን አባቶች አለቆች ወደ ካህኑ ወደ አልዓዛር፥ ወደ ነዌም ልጅ ወደ ኢያሱ፥ ወደ እስራኤልም ልጆች ነገዶች አለቆች ቀረቡ፤ አማርኛ ENGNIV Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal… English BCV ኣቦታት ዓሌት ሌዋውያን ድማ ናብ ካህን ኣልኣዛርን ናብ ኢያሱ ወዲ ነዌን ናብ ሹመኛታት ነገዳት ደቂ እስራኤልን ቀረቡ። ትግርኛ GAZBIB Yommus dura-buutonni maatii gosa Lewwii gara Ele'azaar lubichaa, gara Iyaasuu ilma Nunii fi gara dura-buutota maatii go… Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ወመጽኡ መላእክቲሆሙ ለደቂቀ ሌዊ ኀበ እልዐዛር ካህን ወኀበ ኢየሱስ ወልደ ነዌ ወኀበ መላእክተ ነገደ አብያተ አበዊሆሙ ለሕዝበ እስራኤል፤ giz GAZGAZ Yommus dura-buutonni maatii gosa Lewwii gara Ele'azaar lubichaa, gara Iyaasuu ilma Nunii fi gara dura-buutota maatii go… Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ኣቦታት ዓሌት ሌዋውያን ድማ ናብ ካህን ኣልኣዛርን ናብ ኢያሱ ወዲ ነዌን ናብ ሹመኛታት ነገዳት ደቂ እስራኤልን ቀረቡ። ትግርኛ AMHNIV የሌዋውያን ቤተ ሰብ አለቆች ወደ ካህኑ ወደ አልዓዛር፣ ወደ ነዌ ልጅ ወደ ኢያሱና ወደ ሌሎቹ የእስራኤል ነገድ አባቶች ዘንድ ቀረቡ፤ አማርኛ