Forty-Eight Cities for the Levites
(Numbers 35:1–8; 1 Chronicles 6:54–81)

1And the heads of the fathers of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 2And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “YHWH commanded by the hand of Moses to give to us cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for our livestock.”

3And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance at the mouth of YHWH these cities and their pasturelands.

4And the lot came out for the clans of the Kohathite, and there were for the sons of Aaron the priest of the Levites, from the tribe of Judah, and from the tribe of the Simeonite, and from the tribe of Benjamin, by lot thirteen cities;

5and for the sons of Kohath remaining, out of the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, and from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, by lot ten cities;

6and for the sons of Gershon, from the clans of 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, by lot thirteen cities;

7for the sons of Merari by their clans, from the tribe of Reuben, and from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

8And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites these cities and their pasturelands, as YHWH had commanded by the hand of Moses by lot.

9And they gave from the tribe of the sons of Judah, and from the tribe of the sons of Simeon, these cities that are called by name, 10which were for the sons of Aaron, from the clans of the Kohathite, from the sons of Levi; for theirs was the first lot:

11And they gave to them Kiriath-arba (the father of Anak) that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, and with its pasturelands surrounding it. 12And the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

13And to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave a city of refuge for the manslayer, Hebron and its pasturelands, and Libnah and its pasturelands, 14and Jattir and its pasturelands, and Eshtemoa and its pasturelands, 15and Holon and its pasturelands, and Debir and its pasturelands, 16and Ain and its pasturelands, and Juttah and its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh and its pasturelands—nine cities from these two tribes.

17From the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon and its pasturelands, and Geba and its pasturelands, 18Anathoth and its pasturelands, and Almon and its pasturelands—four cities.

19All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities and their pasturelands.

20And for the clans of the sons of Kohath, the Levites remaining of the sons of Kohath, the cities of their lot were even:

From the tribe of Ephraim, 21and they gave to them a city of refuge for the manslayer, Shechem and its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer and its pasturelands, 22and Kibzaim and its pasturelands, and Beth-horon and its pasturelands—four cities.

23And from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh and its pasturelands, Gibbethon and its pasturelands, 24Aijalon and its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon and its pasturelands—four cities.

25And from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach and its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon and its pasturelands—two cities.

26All the cities were ten, and their pasturelands, for the clans of the remaining sons of Kohath.

27And to the sons of Gershon, of the clans of the Levites:

From the half-tribe of Manasseh a city of refuge for the manslayer, Golan in Bashan and its pasturelands, and Beeshterah and its pasturelands—two cities.

28And from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion and its pasturelands, Daberath and its pasturelands, 29Jarmuth and its pasturelands, En-gannim and its pasturelands—four cities.

30And from the tribe of Asher, Mishal and its pasturelands, Abdon and its pasturelands, 31Helkath and its pasturelands, and Rehob and its pasturelands—four cities.

32And from the tribe of Naphtali, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Kedesh in Galilee and its pasturelands, and Hammoth-dor and its pasturelands, and Kartan and its pasturelands—three cities.

33All the cities of the Gershonite by their clans were thirteen cities and their pasturelands.

34And to the clans of the sons of Merari, the remaining Levites:

From the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its pasturelands, Kartah and its pasturelands, 35Dimnah and its pasturelands, Nahalal and its pasturelands—four cities.

36And from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer and its pasturelands, and Jahaz and its pasturelands, 37Kedemoth and its pasturelands, and Mephaath and its pasturelands—four cities.

38And from the tribe of Gad, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Ramoth in Gilead and its pasturelands, and Mahanaim and its pasturelands, 39Heshbon and its pasturelands, Jazer and its pasturelands—in all four cities.

40And all the cities for the sons of Merari by their clans, the remaining of the clans of the Levites, by their lot, were twelve cities.

41All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the sons of Israel were forty-eight cities and their pasturelands. 42These cities were each city and its pasturelands surrounding it. And were all these cities.

43And YHWH gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and dwelt in it.

44And YHWH gave rest to them all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and not a man stood against them of all their enemies; all their enemies YHWH delivered into their hands.

45Not a word failed of any good thing that YHWH had spoken to the house of Israel; everything came to pass.