Steden voor de priesters en Levieten
1De leiders van de stam van Levi kwamen naar Silo voor overleg met de priester Eleazar, Jozua en de leiders van de andere stammen. 2‘De Here gaf Mozes opdracht de Levieten weidegrond te geven voor hun vee en steden om in te wonen,’ zeiden zij. 3Daarom kregen zij enkele steden met de weidegrond daar omheen. 4Dertien van deze steden waren oorspronkelijk toegewezen aan de stammen van Juda, Simeon en Benjamin. Zij werden gegeven aan priesters van de Kehatieten. Die maakten deel uit van de stam van Levi en waren nakomelingen van Aäron. 5De andere gezinnen van de Kehatieten kregen tien steden in de gebieden van Efraïm, Dan en Manasse.
6De Gersonieten ontvingen dertien steden in het gebied Basan die door loting werden aangewezen. Deze steden waren afkomstig van de stammen Issachar, Aser, Naftali en Manasse.
7De Merarieten kregen twaalf steden van de stammen Ruben, Gad en Zebulon. 8Zo werd gehoorzaamd aan de opdracht van de Here aan Mozes en werden de steden en weiden door het lot aangewezen.
9-16De eersten die hun toewijzing kregen, waren de priesters, de nakomelingen van Aäron die deel uitmaakten van de Kehatieten. De stammen van Juda en Simeon gaven hun de volgende negen steden met de omringende weidegrond: de vrijstad Hebron in het bergland van Juda—ook wel Kirjat-Arba genoemd—maar het akkerland rond de stad en de omringende dorpen werden aan Kaleb gegeven, en verder Libna, Jatthir, Esthemoa, Holon, Debir, Aïn, Jutta en Bet-Semes. Bij elke stad kregen zij tevens de weidegronden. 17-18 De stam van Benjamin gaf hun de volgende vier steden met de bijbehorende weidegrond: Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth en Almon. 19Zo werden in totaal dertien steden aan de priesters, de nakomelingen van Aäron, overgedragen. 20-22De andere families van de Kehatieten ontvingen vier steden met bijbehorende weidegrond van de stam van Efraïm: de vrijstad Sichem, Gezer, Kibzaïm en Bet-Horon. 23-24 De volgende vier steden met weidegronden werden gegeven door de stam van Dan: Elteké, Gibbethon, Ajalon en Gath-Rimmon. 25De halve stam van Manasse gaf de steden Taänach en Gath-Rimmon met de omringende weidegronden. 26Zo kreeg de rest van de Kehatieten in totaal tien steden toegewezen. 27De nakomelingen van Gerson, een andere groep Levieten, ontvingen twee steden met weidegrond van de stam van Manasse: de vrijstad Golan in Basan en Beësthera. 28-29 De stam van Issachar gaf vier steden: Kisjon, Dobrath, Jarmuth en En-Gannim, elk met de weidegronden. 30-31 De stam van Aser gaf vier steden met weidegrond: Misal, Abdon, Helkath en Rechob. 32De stam van Naftali gaf de vrijstad Kedes in Galilea, Hammoth-Dor en Kartan. 33Zo werden er dertien steden met de bijbehorende grond toegewezen aan de Gersonieten.
34-35 De overblijvende Levieten—de Merarieten—kregen van de stam van Zebulon de volgende vier steden met weidegrond: Jokneam, Karta, Dimna en Nahalal.
36-37 De stam van Ruben gaf hun Beser, Jahza, Kedemoth en Mefaäth, ook elk met weidegrond. 38-39 Van de stam van Gad kregen zij de volgende vier steden met de omliggende weidegrond: de vrijstad Ramot in Gilead, Machanaïm, Chesbon en Jazer. 40Zo kregen de Merarieten in totaal twaalf steden in bezit. 41-42 Het totaal aantal steden dat aan de Levieten werd gegeven, bedroeg achtenveertig.
43De Here gaf de Israëlieten al het land, dat Hij hun voorouders had beloofd. Zij kwamen het land binnen, veroverden het en gingen er wonen. 44De Here gaf hun vrede, zoals Hij had beloofd. Niemand kon het tegen hen opnemen, de Here hielp hen al hun vijanden te verslaan. 45Alle beloften die de Here aan het volk Israël had gedaan, werden vervuld.
Towns Are Given to the Levites
1The leaders of the Levite family groups approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua, the son of Nun. They also approached the leaders of the family groups of Israel’s other tribes. 2They went to all of them at Shiloh in Canaan. They said to them, “Give us towns to live in. Also give us grasslands for our livestock. That’s what the Lord commanded through Moses.”
3So the Israelites gave the Levites towns and grasslands out of their own shares of land. They did what the Lord had commanded. Here are the towns the Levites were given.
4The first lot drawn out was for the people of Kohath, according to their family groups. Some of the Levites came from the family line of Aaron the priest. They were given 13 towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.
5The rest of Kohath’s family groups were given ten towns. Those towns were from the family groups of the tribes of Ephraim and Dan and half of the tribe of Manasseh.
6The family groups of Gershon were given 13 towns. Those towns were from the family groups of the tribes of Issachar, Asher and Naphtali and half of the tribe of Manasseh. That part of Manasseh was in the land of Bashan.
7The family groups of Merari received 12 towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun. Each family group received its share.
8So the Israelites gave those towns and their grasslands to the Levites. They did what the Lord had commanded through Moses.
9Some towns were given from the territories of the tribes of Judah and Simeon. 10The Israelites gave them to the members of the family line of Aaron. The towns were given to the family groups of Kohath. They were Levites. The first lot drawn out was for them. Here are the towns the family groups of Kohath were given.
11The Israelites gave them Kiriath Arba and the grasslands around it. Kiriath Arba is also called Hebron. It’s in the hill country of Judah. Anak came from the family line of Arba. 12But Israel had already given away the fields and villages around the city. They had given them to Caleb as his share. Caleb was the son of Jephunneh. 13So they gave Hebron to the members of the family line of Aaron the priest. Hebron was a city where anyone charged with murder could go for safety. They also gave them Libnah, 14Jattir, Eshtemoa, 15Holon, Debir, 16Ain, Juttah and Beth Shemesh. They gave those towns and their grasslands to the family groups of Kohath. The total number of towns from the tribes of Judah and Simeon came to nine.
17The Israelites gave some towns from the tribe of Benjamin to the family groups of Kohath.
The towns were Gibeon, Geba, 18Anathoth and Almon. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to four.
19So the total number of towns and their grasslands given to the priests in Aaron’s family line came to 13.
20There were other family groups of Kohath among the Levites. They were given towns from the tribe of Ephraim. Here are the towns those other family groups of Kohath were given.
21In the hill country of Ephraim they were given
Shechem. It was a city where anyone charged with murder could go for safety. They were also given Gezer, 22Kibzaim and Beth Horon. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to four.
23From the tribe of Dan they received
Eltekeh, Gibbethon, 24Aijalon and Gath Rimmon. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to four.
25From half of the tribe of Manasseh they received
Taanach and Gath Rimmon. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to two.
26So all these ten towns and their grasslands were given to the other family groups of Kohath.
27Here are the towns given to the family groups of Gershon among the Levites.
From half of the tribe of Manasseh they received
Golan in the land of Bashan. Golan was a city where anyone charged with murder could go for safety. They also received Be Eshterah. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to two.
28From the tribe of Issachar they received
Kishion, Daberath, 29Jarmuth and En Gannim. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to four.
30From the tribe of Asher they received
Mishal, Abdon, 31Helkath and Rehob. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to four.
32From the tribe of Naphtali they received
Kedesh in Galilee. Kedesh was a city where anyone charged with murder could go for safety. They also received Hammoth Dor and Kartan. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to three.
33So the total number of towns and their grasslands given to the family groups of Gershon came to 13.
34The rest of the Levites were from the family groups of Merari. Here are the towns they were given.
From the tribe of Zebulun they received
Jokneam, Kartah, 35Dimnah and Nahalal. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to four.
36From the tribe of Reuben they received
Bezer, Jahaz, 37Kedemoth and Mephaath. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to four.
38From the tribe of Gad they received
Ramoth in Gilead. Ramoth was a city where anyone charged with murder could go for safety. They also received Mahanaim, 39Heshbon and Jazer. The total number of these towns and their grasslands came to four.
40So the total number of towns given to the family groups of Merari came to 12. That concludes the list of towns the rest of the Levites received.
41The total number of Levite towns and their grasslands in the territory given to Israel came to 48. 42Each of those towns had grasslands around it. That was true of all of them.
43So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had promised to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And Israel took it over. Then they made their homes there. 44The Lord gave them peace and rest on every side. He had promised their people of long ago that he would do that. Not one of Israel’s enemies was able to fight against them and win. The Lord handed all their enemies over to them. 45The Lord kept all the good promises he had made to the Israelites. Every one of them came true.
