Joshua 19-21

Common English Bible

Simeon

19 The second lot fell to Simeon. The legacy of the clans of the Simeonite tribe lay inside the legacy of the people of Judah. ² They had in their legacy: Beer-sheba, Sheba, Moladah, ³ Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, ⁴ Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, ⁵ Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, ⁶ Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen. In total: thirteen cities and their surrounding areas. ⁷ Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan. In total: four cities and their surrounding areas. ⁸ In addition were all the areas that surround these cities as far as Baalath-beer and Ramah of the arid southern plain. This is the legacy of the clans of the Simeonite tribe. ⁹ Some of the portion of the people of Judah belonged to the legacy of the people of Simeon. This was because the portion of the people of Judah was too large for them. So the people of Simeon received a legacy inside Judah’s legacy.

Zebulun

¹⁰ The lot turned up third for the clans of Zebulun. The border of their legacy ran as far as Sarid. ¹¹ Their border went up westward to Maralah, touched Dabbesheth, and touched the ravine that is opposite Jokneam. ¹² It reversed from Sarid eastward toward the east to the border of Chisloth-tabor. It went to Daberath and then up to Japhia. ¹³ From there it passed on the east side, running eastward to Gath-hepher and Eth-kazin. Going to Rimmon, it bent toward Neah. ¹⁴ The border turned north of Hannathon and ended at the Iphtah-el Valley. ¹⁵ They also owned Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem; in total: twelve cities and their surrounding areas. ¹⁶ These cities and their surrounding areas are the legacy of Zebulun’s clans.

Issachar

¹⁷ The lot went out fourth for the clans of Issachar. ¹⁸ Their border ran toward Jezreel. They also owned Chesulloth, Shunem, ¹⁹ Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, ²⁰ Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, ²¹ Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez. ²² The border touched Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh. Their border ended at the Jordan; in total: sixteen cities with their surrounding areas. ²³ These cities and their surrounding areas are the legacy for the clans of the Issachar tribe.

Asher

²⁴ The lot went out fifth for the clans of the tribe of Asher. ²⁵ Their border included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, ²⁶ Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal. It touched Carmel on the west and Shihor-libnath. ²⁷ The border reversed eastward to Beth-dagon. It touched Zebulun and the Iphtah-el Valley on the north, also Beth-emek and Neiel. It went to Cabul on the north, ²⁸ as far as Great Sidon. They also owned Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah. ²⁹ The border turned around to Ramah as far as the fortified city of Tyre. The border turned around to Hosah and ended at the sea. They also owned Mahalab,^[a] Achzib, ³⁰ Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob; in total: twenty-two cities and their surrounding areas. ³¹ These cities and their surrounding areas are the legacy for the clans of the Asher tribe.

Naphtali

³² For the people of Naphtali, the lot went out sixth. For the clans of Naphtali ³³ their border ran from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim and Adami-nekeb and Jabneel as far as Lakkum. It ended at the Jordan. ³⁴ The border reversed westward to Aznoth-tabor. It went from there to Hukkok. It touched Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and Judah at the Jordan on the east. ³⁵ They also owned the fortified cities Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, ³⁶ Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, ³⁷ Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, ³⁸ Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh; in total: nineteen cities and their surrounding areas. ³⁹ These cities and their surrounding areas are the legacy for the clans of the Naphtali tribe.

Dan

⁴⁰ The lot went out seventh for the clans of the Danite tribe. ⁴¹ The territory of their legacy was Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, ⁴² Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, ⁴³ Elon, Timnah, Ekron, ⁴⁴ Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, ⁴⁵ Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, ⁴⁶ Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, along with the territory opposite Joppa. ⁴⁷ But the territory of the people of Dan was lost to them. So the people of Dan went up and attacked Leshem and captured it. They struck it down without mercy. They took it over and settled it. Then they named Leshem as Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor. ⁴⁸ These cities and their surrounding areas are the legacy for the clans of the Danite tribe.

Legacy for Joshua

⁴⁹ So when they finished assigning the borders of the land, the Israelites gave to Joshua, Nun’s son, a legacy among them. ⁵⁰ By the Lord’s command, they gave him the city that he asked for. This was Timnath-serah in the highlands of Ephraim. He built a city and lived in it. ⁵¹ These are the legacies that Eleazar the priest, Joshua, Nun’s son, and the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes assigned by lot at Shiloh. They did this before the Lord at the entrance of the meeting tent and finished dividing up the land.

Refuge cities

20 The Lord spoke to Joshua: ² “Say to the Israelites, ‘Set up refuge cities for yourselves. I spoke to you about these through Moses. ³ Anyone who kills by striking down someone unintentionally or by mistake may flee there. These places will be a refuge for you from any member of the victim’s family seeking revenge. ⁴ The killer will flee to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and explain their situation to the elders of that city. The elders are to let the killer into the city and provide a place of refuge for the killer to live with them. ⁵ If a member of the victim’s family follows, seeking revenge, they won’t hand the killer over. This is because the killer struck down the neighbor by accident and hadn’t been an enemy in the past. ⁶ The killer will live in that city until there can be a trial before the community or^[b] until the death of the one who is high priest at that time. Then the killer may return home, back to the city from which the flight began.’”

⁷ So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the highlands of Naphtali, Shechem in the highlands of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the highlands of Judah. ⁸ On the other side of the Jordan east of Jericho, they set up Bezer in the wasteland on the plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹ These cities were the ones designated for all the Israelites and for immigrants residing among them. Anyone who struck down a person by mistake could flee there and escape death at the hand of some member of the victim’s family seeking revenge, until there could be a trial before the community.

Cities for the Levites

21 The heads of the levitical families approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua, Nun’s son, and the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes. ² They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan: “The Lord gave a command through Moses to give us cities to live in and their pasturelands for our cattle.” ³ So the Israelites gave the Levites the following cities and their pasturelands out of their own legacy. This was in agreement with the Lord’s command.

⁴ The lot went out for the clans of the Kohathites. The descendants of Aaron the priest from among the Levites acquired thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. ⁵ The rest of the descendants of Kohath acquired ten cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and half of Manasseh. ⁶ The descendants of Gershon acquired thirteen cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half of Manasseh located in Bashan. ⁷ The descendants of Merari acquired twelve cities for their clans from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. ⁸ So the Israelites gave these cities and their pasturelands to the Levites by lot, exactly as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁹ They gave the following cities, identified here by name, from the tribe of the Judahites and the tribe of the Simeonites. ¹⁰ The cities belonged to the descendants of Aaron, one of the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the lot had fallen to them first. ¹¹ They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the highlands of Judah and the pastures around it. (Arba was the father of Anak.) ¹² But they had already given the fields of the city and its surrounding areas to Caleb, Jephunneh’s son, as his property. ¹³ To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave: Hebron, the refuge city for a killer, and its pastures; Libnah and its pastures; ¹⁴ Jattir and its pastures; Eshtemoa and its pastures; ¹⁵ Holon and its pastures; Debir and its pastures; ¹⁶ Ain and its pastures; Juttah and its pastures; and Beth-shemesh and its pastures. Total from these two tribes: nine cities. ¹⁷ From the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon and its pastures, Geba and its pastures, ¹⁸ Anathoth and its pastures, and Almon and its pastures. In total: four cities. ¹⁹ This is the total of all the cities of the priests descended from Aaron: thirteen cities with their pastures.

²⁰ Other clans from the levitical descendants of Kohath still remained from among the descendants of Kohath. Some of their allotted cities were from the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹ They gave them: Shechem, the refuge city for a killer, and its pastures in the highlands of Ephraim; Gezer and its pastures; ²² Kibzaim and its pastures; and Beth-horon and its pastures; in total: four cities. ²³ From the tribe of Dan: Elteke and its pastures, Gibbethon and its pastures, ²⁴ Aijalon and its pastures, Gath-rimmon and its pastures; in total: four cities. ²⁵ From half the tribe of Manasseh: Taanach and its pastures, and Gath-rimmon and its pastures; in total: two cities. ²⁶ This is the total of all cities for the clans of the remaining descendants of Kohath: ten cities with their pastures.

²⁷ To the descendants of Gershon, one of the clans of the Levites, from half the tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan, the refuge city for a killer, and its pastures; and Beeshterah and its pastures; in total: two cities. ²⁸ From the tribe of Issachar: Kishion and its pastures, Daberath and its pastures, ²⁹ Jarmuth and its pastures, En-gannim and its pastures; in total: four cities. ³⁰ From the tribe of Asher: Mishal and its pastures, Abdon and its pastures, ³¹ Helkath and its pastures, and Rehob and its pastures; in total: four cities. ³² From the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee, the refuge city for the killer, and its pastures; Hammoth-dor and its pastures; and Kartan and its pastures; in total: three cities. ³³ This is the total of all cities of the Gershonites for their clans: thirteen cities with their pastures.

³⁴ To the clans of the descendants of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam and its pastures, Kartah and its pastures, ³⁵ Dimnah and its pastures, Nahalal and its pastures; in total: four cities. ³⁶ From the tribe of Reuben: Bezer and its pastures, Jahaz and its pastures, ³⁷ Kedemoth and its pastures, and Mephaath and its pastures; in total: four cities.^{[c] 38} From the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead, the refuge city for a killer, and its pastures; Mahanaim and its pastures; ³⁹ Heshbon and its pastures; Jazer and its pastures; in total: four cities. ⁴⁰ As for the cities of the descendants of Merari for their clans, the remaining clans of the Levites, their total allotment was twelve cities.

⁴¹ This is the total of all the cities of the Levites within the property of the Israelites: forty-eight cities with their pastures. ⁴² Each of these cities had its pastures around it. This was the case for all these cities.

Summary of the conquest

⁴³ The Lord gave to Israel all the land he had pledged to give to their ancestors. They took it over and settled there. ⁴⁴ The Lord gave them rest from surrounding danger, exactly as he had pledged to their ancestors. Not one of all their enemies held out against them. The Lord gave all their enemies into their power. ⁴⁵ Not one of all the good things that the Lord had promised to the house of Israel failed. Every promise was fulfilled.