³² Nevertheless ^(A)the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.

Cities of the Levites^(A)

21 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the ^(B)Levites came near to ^(C)Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. ² And they spoke to them at ^(D)Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, ^(E)“The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock.” ³ So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their common-lands:

⁴ Now the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And ^(F)the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, ^(G)had thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin. ^5 (H)The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶ And ^(I)the children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

^7 (J)The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun.

^8 (K)And the children of Israel gave these cities with their common-lands by lot to the Levites, ^(L)as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.

⁹ So they gave from the tribe of the children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these cities which are ^[a]designated by name, ¹⁰ which were for the children of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for the lot was theirs first. ^11 (M)And they gave them ^[b]Kirjath Arba (Arba was the father of ^(N)Anak), ^(O)which is Hebron, in the mountains of Judah, with the common-land surrounding it. ¹² But ^(P)the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³ Thus ^(Q)to the children of Aaron the priest they gave ^(R)Hebron with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), ^(S)Libnah with its common-land, ^14 (T)Jattir with its common-land, ^(U)Eshtemoa with its common-land, ^15 (V)Holon with its common-land, ^(W)Debir with its common-land, ^16 (X)Ain with its common-land, ^(Y)Juttah with its common-land, and ^(Z)Beth Shemesh with its common-land: nine cities from those two tribes; ¹⁷ and from the tribe of Benjamin, ^(AA)Gibeon with its common-land, ^(AB)Geba with its common-land, ¹⁸ Anathoth with its common-land, and ^(AC)Almon with its common-land: four cities. ¹⁹ All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

^20 (AD)And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, the rest of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their ^[c]lot from the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹ For they gave them ^(AE)Shechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the slayer), ^(AF)Gezer with its common-land, ²² Kibzaim with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities; ²³ and from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its common-land, ^24 (AG)Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities; ²⁵ and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities. ²⁶ All the ten cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the children of Kohath.

^27 (AH)Also to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave ^(AI)Golan in Bashan with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two cities; ²⁸ and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land, ²⁹ Jarmuth with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four cities; ³⁰ and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its common-land, Abdon with its common-land, ³¹ Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities; ³² and from the tribe of Naphtali, ^(AJ)Kedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its common-land: three cities. ³³ All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

^34 (AK)And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its common-land, Kartah with its common-land, ³⁵ Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities; ^36 [d]and from the tribe of Reuben, ^(AL)Bezer with its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land, ³⁷ Kedemoth with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities; ³⁸ and from the tribe of Gad, ^(AM)Ramoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land, ³⁹ Heshbon with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four cities in all. ⁴⁰ So all the cities for the children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.

^41 (AN)All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their common-lands. ⁴² Every one of these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all these cities.

The Promise Fulfilled

⁴³ So the Lord gave to Israel ^(AO)all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they ^(AP)took possession of it and dwelt in it. ^44 (AQ)The Lord gave them ^(AR)rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And ^(AS)not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. ^45 (AT)Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

Cities for the Levites

35 And the Lord spoke to Moses in ^(A)the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying: ^2 (B)“Command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession, and you shall also give the Levites ^(C)common-land around the cities. ³ They shall have the cities to dwell in; and their common-land shall be for their cattle, for their herds, and for all their animals. ⁴ The common-land of the cities which you will give the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. ⁵ And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. The city shall be in the middle. This shall belong to them as common-land for the cities.

⁶ “Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint ^(D)six cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities. ⁷ So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be ^(E)forty-eight; these you shall give with their common-land. ⁸ And the cities which you will give shall be ^(F)from the possession of the children of Israel; ^(G)from the larger tribe you shall give many, from the smaller you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites, in proportion to the inheritance that each receives.”