Joshua 20-21

GOD’S WORD Translation

Six Cities of Refuge

20 The Lord said to Joshua, ² “Tell the people of Israel, ‘Now choose for yourselves the cities of refuge about which I spoke to you through Moses. ³ Choose them so that anyone who unintentionally kills someone may run to them. They will be a place of refuge from any relative who can avenge the death.

⁴ “ ‘A person who kills someone accidentally can run to one of these cities. There he will stand at the entrance to the city, where court is held, and present his case to the leaders of that city. Then they will take him into their city and give him a place to live with them.

⁵ “ ‘If the relative who can avenge the death pursues him, the leaders must not hand him over to the relative because he didn’t intend to kill the other person. He didn’t even hate the person he killed. ⁶ The accused person may remain in that city until he can stand trial in front of the congregation or until whoever is chief priest at that time dies. Then he may go back to his home in the city from which he ran away.’ ”

⁷ Kedesh in Galilee in the mountains of Naphtali, Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (now called Hebron) in the mountains of Judah were chosen as cities of refuge. ⁸ Bezer on the desert plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh were chosen as cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan River, east of Jericho.

⁹ These are the cities chosen as cities of refuge for all Israelites, including the foreigners living among them. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may escape to these cities. Then he will not be handed over to the relative who can avenge a death before he stands trial in front of the congregation.

Cities for the Tribe of Levi

21 Then the leaders of the families of Levi came to the priest Eleazar, to Joshua (son of Nun), and to the leaders of the families of the other Israelite tribes ² at Shiloh in Canaan. They said to them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that we should receive cities to live in and pasturelands for our livestock.” ³ So, as the Lord had instructed, Levi’s descendants were given the following cities with pasturelands from the Israelites’ inheritance.

⁴ These are the cities for the families of Kohath that were chosen by drawing lots. These descendants of the priest Aaron the Levite received 13 cities from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. ⁵ The rest of Kohath’s descendants received 10 cities from the families of the tribes of Ephraim and Dan and half of the tribe of Manasseh.

⁶ Gershon’s descendants received 13 cities from the families of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and half of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷ Merari’s descendants received 12 cities for their families from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. ⁸ The Israelites gave these cities with pasturelands to Levi’s descendants by drawing lots, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

Cities for Kohath’s Descendants

⁹ These are the names of the cities from the tribes of Judah and Simeon ¹⁰ that they gave Aaron’s descendants who were from the families of Kohath in the tribe of Levi. Their lot was the first one drawn. ¹¹ They gave them Kiriath Arba (Arba was Anak’s father) and the pastureland around it. This is the city of Hebron located in the mountains of Judah. ¹² But they gave its fields and villages to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, as his possession. ¹³ So they gave the following cities with pasturelands to the descendants of Aaron, the priest. The nine cities from those two tribes were Hebron (a city of refuge for murderers), Libnah, ¹⁴ Jattir, Eshtemoa, ¹⁵ Holon, Debir, ¹⁶ Ain, Juttah, and Beth Shemesh. ¹⁷ The tribe of Benjamin also gave them four cities: Gibeon, Geba, ¹⁸ Anathoth, and Almon. ¹⁹ In all, 13 cities with pasturelands were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

²⁰ Cities were chosen by lot from the tribe of Ephraim to give to the rest of Levi’s descendants who were from the families of Kohath. ²¹ These four cities with pasturelands were Shechem (a city of refuge for murderers) in the mountains of Ephraim, Gezer, ²² Kibzaim, and Beth Horon. ²³ The tribe of Dan gave them four cities: Eltekeh, Gibbethon, ²⁴ Aijalon, and Gath Rimmon. ²⁵ Half of the tribe of Manasseh gave them two cities with pasturelands: Taanach and Gath Rimmon. ²⁶ In all, ten cities with pasturelands were given to the rest of the families of Kohath.

Cities for Gershon’s Descendants

²⁷ They gave the families of Gershon’s descendants, who were in the tribe of Levi, two cities with pasturelands from half of the tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for murderers) and Ashtaroth. ²⁸ Four cities with pasturelands were also given to them from the tribe of Issachar: Kishion, Daberath, ²⁹ Jarmuth, and En Gannim. ³⁰ Another four cities with pasturelands were given to them from the tribe of Asher: Mishal, Abdon, ³¹ Helkath, and Rehob. ³² Also three cities with pasturelands were given to them from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for murderers), Hammoth Dor, and Kartan. ³³ In all, 13 cities with pasturelands were given to Gershon’s families.

Cities for Merari’s Descendants

³⁴ To the families of Merari, who were from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of Zebulun gave four cities with pasturelands: Jokneam, Kartah, ³⁵ Dimnah, and Nahalal. ³⁶ The tribe of Reuben also gave them four cities with pasturelands: Bezer, Jahaz, ³⁷ Kedemoth, and Mephaath. ³⁸ The tribe of Gad also gave them four cities with pasturelands: Ramoth in Gilead (a city of refuge for murderers), Mahanaim, ³⁹ Heshbon, and Jazer. ⁴⁰ All these cities belonged to the families of Merari. They were the last of the families of Levi. These 12 cities were chosen by lot.

⁴¹ Within the territory owned by the Israelites there were 48 cities in all for Levi’s descendants. ⁴² Each of these cities had its own pastureland around it.

⁴³ So the Lord gave Israel the whole land he had sworn to give their ancestors. They took possession of it and settled there. ⁴⁴ The Lord allowed them to have peace on every side, as he had sworn with an oath to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies stood up to them. The Lord handed all their enemies over to them. ⁴⁵ Every single good promise that the Lord had given the nation of Israel came true.