Daily Bread

Towns for the Levites^(A)

21 Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel^{(B) 2} at Shiloh^(C) in Canaan and said to them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that you give us towns^(D) to live in, with pasturelands for our livestock.”^{(E) 3} So, as the Lord had commanded, the Israelites gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own inheritance:

⁴ The first lot came out for the Kohathites,^(F) according to their clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.^{(G) 5} The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan and half of Manasseh.^(H)

⁶ The descendants of Gershon^(I) were allotted thirteen towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar,^(J) Asher,^(K) Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷ The descendants of Merari,^(L) according to their clans, received twelve^(M) towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.^(N)

⁸ So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these towns and their pasturelands, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁹ From the tribes of Judah and Simeon they allotted the following towns by name ¹⁰ (these towns were assigned to the descendants of Aaron who were from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them):

¹⁹ The total number of towns^(AD) for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, came to thirteen, together with their pasturelands.^(AE)

²⁰ The rest of the Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted towns from the tribe of Ephraim:

²⁶ All these ten towns and their pasturelands were given to the rest of the Kohathite clans.^(AN)

²⁷ The Levite clans of the Gershonites were given:

²⁸ from the tribe of Issachar,^(AQ)

³⁰ from the tribe of Asher,^(AV)

³² from the tribe of Naphtali,

³³ The total number of towns of the Gershonite^(BB) clans came to thirteen, together with their pasturelands.

³⁴ The Merarite clans (the rest of the Levites) were given:

³⁶ from the tribe of Reuben,

³⁸ from the tribe of Gad,

⁴⁰ The total number of towns allotted to the Merarite clans, who were the rest of the Levites, came to twelve.^(BM)

⁴¹ The towns of the Levites in the territory held by the Israelites were forty-eight in all, together with their pasturelands.^{(BN) 42} Each of these towns had pasturelands surrounding it; this was true for all these towns.

⁴³ So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors,^(BO) and they took possession^(BP) of it and settled there.^{(BQ) 44} The Lord gave them rest^(BR) on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies^(BS) withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies^(BT) into their hands.^{(BU) 45} Not one of all the Lord’s good promises^(BV) to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.