1And the heads of the patriarchal houses of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the patriarchal houses of the Israelite tribes, 2and they spoke to them in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The LORD charged through Moses to give us towns in which to dwell and their fields for our cattle.” 3And the Israelites gave these towns and fields to the Levites from their estate at the behest of the LORD. 4And the lot came out for the Kohathite clans, and by lot the sons of Aaron the priest from the Levites had thirteen towns from the tribe of Judah and from the tribe of Simeon and from the tribe of Benjamin. 5And the remaining Kohathites had by lot ten towns from the tribe of Ephraim and from the tribe of Dan and from the half-tribe of Manasseh. 6And the sons of Gershon according to their clans had by lot thirteen towns from the tribe of Issachar and from the tribe of Asher and from the tribe of Naphtali and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. 7The sons of Merari according to their clans had twelve towns from the tribe of Reuben and from the tribe of Gad and from the tribe of Zebulun. 8And the Israelites gave to the Levites by lot these towns and their fields as the LORD had charged through Moses. 9And they gave from the tribe of the Judahites and from the tribe of the Simeonites these towns which will here be called by name. 10And it came to the sons of Aaron for the Kohathite clans from the sons of Levi, for theirs was the first lot, 11and they gave them Kiriath-Arba father of Anak, which is Hebron, in the high country of Judah, and its fields around it. 12And the town’s open land and its pastureland they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh in his holding. 13And to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave the town of asylum for the murderer, Hebron and its fields, and Libnah and its fields, 14and Jattir and its fields and Eshtamoa and its fields, 15and Holon and its fields and Debir and its fields, 16and Ain and its fields and Juttah and its fields, and Beth-Shemesh and its fields—nine towns from these tribes. 17And from the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon and its fields and Geba and its fields, 18Anathoth and its fields and Almon and its fields—four towns. 19All the towns of the sons of Aaron, the priest, were thirteen towns and their fields. 20And for the clans of the Kohathites, the remaining Levites of the Kohathites, the towns of their lot were from the tribe of Ephraim. 21And they gave the towns of asylum for the murderer, Shechem and its fields in the high country of Ephraim and Gezer and its fields, 22and Kibzaim and its fields and Beth-Horon and its fields—four towns. 23And from the tribe of Dan, Elteta and its fields, Gibthon and its fields, 24Ajalon and its fields, Gath-Rimmon and its fields—four towns. 25And from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and its fields and Gath-Rimmon and its fields—two towns. 26All the towns and their fields were ten for the remaining Kohathites. 27And to the Gershonites from the clans of the Levites, from the half-tribe of Manasseh the asylum town for the murderer, Golan in Bashan and its fields and Beeshterah and its fields—two towns. 28And from the tribe of Issachar, Keshion and its fields, Dobrath and its fields, 29Jarmuth and its fields, Ein-Gannim and its fields—four towns. 30And from the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its fields, Abdon and its fields. 31Helkath and its fields and Rehob and its fields—four towns. 32And from the tribe of Naphtali, the town of asylum for the murderer, Kedesh in the Galilee and its fields and Hamath-Dor and its fields and Kartan and its fields—three towns. 33All the towns of the Gershonites according to their clans were thirteen towns and their fields. 34And for the clans of the remaining Merarites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its fields, Kartah and its fields, 35Dimnah and its fields, Nahalal and its fields—four towns. 36And from the tribe of Gad, the town of asylum for the murderer, Ramoth in Gilead and its fields, and Mahanaim and its fields, 37Heshbon and its fields and Jazer and its fields—all the towns were four. 38All the towns for the remaining Merarites according to their clans that were their lot came to twelve towns. 39All the towns of the Levites within the holdings of the Israelites were forty-eight towns and their fields. 40These towns, each town and its fields all around, thus these towns were. 41And the LORD gave to Israel the whole land that He had vowed to give to their fathers, and they took hold of it and dwelled in it. 42And the LORD granted them rest round about, as all that He had vowed to their fathers, and no man of all their enemies could stand against them—the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. 43Nothing failed of all the good things that the LORD had spoken to the House of Israel—everything came about.
CHAPTER 21 NOTES
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2. The LORD charged . . . to give us towns. It is difficult to assess to what extent the list of levitical towns reflects historical reality. It is improbable that the Levites actually had forty-eight of their own settlements, or that the other tribes would have ceded that much real estate to them. Ahituv plausibly suggests that what they were given was quarters within the towns, which continued to be part of the domain of the host tribe.
4. the sons of Aaron the priest. Through verse 19, we have the apportionment of towns to the priests (kohanim). What follows is the apportionment to the Levites, who make up the rest of the tribe of Levi.
8. these towns and their fields. In an agricultural economy, the houses within the town would have been places of residence but not sites from which income could be generated. Hence the need to have a share in the fields outside the town where crops could be grown or flocks pastured. For these areas outside the town, three terms are used: migrash, “field,” as here; ḥatseir, “pastureland,” evidently an enclosed field; and (verse 12) sadeh, “open land,” probably extending beyond the migrashim.
21. towns of asylum. As this list makes clear, all the towns of asylum are levitical towns, but many others assigned to the Levites are not towns of asylum.
36. And from the tribe of Gad. In between the end of the preceding verse and these words, some Hebrew manuscripts insert the following: “and from the tribe of Reuben Bezer and its fields and Johzah and its fields, Kedemoth and its fields, and Mephath and its fields—four towns.”
40. These towns, each town and its fields all around, thus these towns were. The syntax of the Hebrew is rather crabbed, but this seems to be the sense of the verse.
43. Nothing failed. The literal sense of the Hebrew is “nothing fell.”
the good things. The Hebrew uses a singular noun and it could also be understood to mean “the good word.”