Joshua 21-22New King James Version (NKJV)
Cities of the Levites
21 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of
the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to
the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children
of Israel. 2 And they spoke to them at Shiloh in
the land of Canaan, saying, “The Lord commanded through Moses to give
us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock.” 3 So
the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the
commandment of the Lord, these cities and their common-lands:
4 Now the lot came out for the
families of the Kohathites. And the children of Aaron the priest, who
were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of
Judah, from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin. 5 The
rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot from the families of the
tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6 And the children of Gershon had
thirteen cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar, from the
tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh
in Bashan.
7 The children of Merari according to
their families had twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of
Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun.
8 And the children of Israel gave
these cities with their common-lands by lot to the Levites, as the Lord had
commanded by the hand of Moses.
9 So they gave from the tribe of the
children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these cities
which are designated by name, 10 which were for the
children of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, who were of
the children of Levi; for the lot was theirs first. 11 And
they gave them Kirjath Arba (Arba was the father of Anak),
which is Hebron, in the mountains of Judah, with the
common-land surrounding it. 12 But the fields of
the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his
possession.
13 Thus to the children of Aaron the
priest they gave Hebron with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer),
Libnah with its common-land, 14 Jattir with its
common-land, Eshtemoa with its common-land, 15 Holon
with its common-land, Debir with its common-land, 16 Ain
with its common-land, Juttah with its common-land, and Beth Shemesh with its
common-land: nine cities from those two tribes; 17 and
from the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its common-land, Geba with its
common-land, 18 Anathoth with its common-land, and
Almon with its common-land: four cities. 19 All the
cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen
cities with their common-lands.
20 And the families of the children
of Kohath, the Levites, the rest of the children of Kohath, even they had the
cities of their lot from the tribe of Ephraim. 21 For
they gave them Shechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city
of refuge for the slayer), Gezer with its common-land, 22 Kibzaim
with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities; 23 and
from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its
common-land, 24 Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath
Rimmon with its common-land: four cities; 25 and
from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon
with its common-land: two cities. 26 All the ten
cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the
children of Kohath.
27 Also to the children of Gershon,
of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of
Manasseh, they gave Golan in Bashan with its common-land (a
city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two
cities; 28 and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion
with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land, 29 Jarmuth
with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four
cities; 30 and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with
its common-land, Abdon with its common-land, 31 Helkath
with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities; 32 and
from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of
refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its
common-land: three cities. 33 All the cities of the
Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities
with their common-lands.
34 And to the families of the
children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam
with its common-land, Kartah with its common-land, 35 Dimnah
with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four
cities; 36 and from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with
its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land, 37 Kedemoth
with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities;[a] 38 and
from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge
for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land, 39 Heshbon
with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four
cities in all. 40 So all the cities for the
children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the
Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.
41 All the cities of the Levites
within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight
cities with their common-lands. 42 Every one of
these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all
these cities.
The Promise Fulfilled
43 So the Lord gave to
Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they
took possession of it and dwelt in it. 44 The Lord gave
them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And
not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered
all their enemies into their hand. 45 Not a word
failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of
Israel. All came to pass.
Eastern Tribes Return to Their Lands
22 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites,
and half the tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them:
“You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you,
and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. 3 You
have not left your brethren these many days, up to this day, but have kept the
charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. 4 And
now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren, as He promised
them; now therefore, return and go to your tents and to the
land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you
on the other side of the Jordan. 5 But take careful
heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of
the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk
in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve
Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 6 So
Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.
7 Now to half the tribe of Manasseh
Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half
of it Joshua gave a possession among their brethren on this
side of the Jordan, westward. And indeed, when Joshua sent them away to their
tents, he blessed them, 8 and spoke to them,
saying, “Return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with
silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide
the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.”
9 So the children of Reuben, the
children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the
children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan,
to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they had
obtained according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
An Altar by the Jordan
10 And when they came to the region
of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the children of
Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar
there by the Jordan—a great, impressive altar. 11 Now
the children of Israel heard someone say, “Behold, the
children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have
built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the
Jordan—on the children of Israel’s side.” 12 And
when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole
congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war
against them.
13 Then the children of Israel sent
Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the children of Reuben, to the
children of Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, into the land of
Gilead, 14 and with him ten rulers, one ruler each
from the chief house of every tribe of Israel; and each one was the
head of the house of his father among the divisions[b] of Israel. 15 Then
they came to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to half the
tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them,
saying, 16 “Thus says the whole congregation of
the Lord: ‘What treachery is this that you have committed
against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord,
in that you have built for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel this day
against the Lord? 17 Is the
iniquity of Peor not enough for us, from which we are not cleansed till this
day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord, 18 but
that you must turn away this day from following the Lord? And it shall be,
if you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow He will be angry with
the whole congregation of Israel. 19 Nevertheless,
if the land of your possession is unclean, then cross
over to the land of the possession of the Lord, where the Lord’s
tabernacle stands, and take possession among us; but do not rebel against
the Lord, nor rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar besides
the altar of the Lord our God. 20 Did not
Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell
on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his
iniquity.’”
21 Then the children of Reuben, the
children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads
of the divisions[c] of Israel: 22 “The Lord God
of gods, the Lord God of gods, He knows, and let Israel itself
know—if it is in rebellion, or if in treachery against
the Lord, do not save us this day. 23 If we
have built ourselves an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to
offer on it burnt offerings or grain offerings, or if to offer peace offerings
on it, let the Lord Himself require an account. 24 But
in fact we have done it for fear, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your
descendants may speak to our descendants, saying, “What have you to do with
the Lord God of Israel? 25 For
the Lord has made the Jordan a border between you and us, you children
of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no part in the Lord.” So your
descendants would make our descendants cease fearing the Lord.’ 26 Therefore
we said, ‘Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt
offering nor for sacrifice, 27 but that it may
be a witness between you and us and our generations after us, that we
may perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt
offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your
descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come, “You have no part
in the Lord.”’ 28 Therefore we said that it
will be, when they say this to us or to our generations in
time to come, that we may say, ‘Here is the replica of the altar of
the Lord which our fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor
for sacrifices; but it is a witness between you and us.’ 29 Far
be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn from
following the Lord this day, to build an altar for burnt offerings,
for grain offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of
the Lord our God which is before His tabernacle.”
30 Now when Phinehas the priest and
the rulers of the congregation, the heads of the divisions[d] of Israel who were with
him, heard the words that the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and the
children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. 31 Then
Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, the
children of Gad, and the children of Manasseh, “This day we perceive that the Lord is among
us, because you have not committed this treachery against the Lord. Now
you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord.”
32 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar
the priest, and the rulers, returned from the children of Reuben and the
children of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the children
of Israel, and brought back word to them. 33 So the
thing pleased the children of Israel, and the children of Israel blessed God;
they spoke no more of going against them in battle, to destroy the land where
the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.
34 The children of Reuben and the
children of Gad[e] called the
altar, Witness, “For it is a witness between
us that the Lord is God.”
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