The Tanakh · JPS 1917 Translation

Joshua 21

Jewish Publication Society 1917 · Nevi'im — the Prophets

Joshua chapter 21 — part of the Nevi'im — the Prophets in the Jewish Bible. In the classic JPS 1917 translation it opens: “Then came near the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads…” — the complete text of all 45 verses is below, free to read online.

1Then came near the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel;

2and they spoke unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying: 'The HaShem commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the open land thereabout for our cattle.'

3And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of HaShem, these cities with the open land about them.

4And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites; and the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.

5And the rest of the children of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

6And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

7The children of Merari according to their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

8And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with the open land about them, as HaShem commanded by the hand of Moses.

9And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name.

10And they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot.

11And they gave them Kiriath-arba, which Arba was the father of Anak--the same is Hebron--in the hill-country of Judah, with the open land round about it.

12But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

13And unto the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with the open land about it, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Libnah with the open land about it;

14and Jattir with the open land about it, and Eshtemoa with the open land about it;

15and Holon with the open land about it, and Debir with the open land about it;

16and Ain with the open land about it, and Juttah with the open land about it, and Beth-shemesh with the open land about it; nine cities out of those two tribes.

17And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with the open land about it, Geba with the open land about it;

18Anathoth with the open land about it, and Almon with the open land about it; four cities.

19All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with the open land about them.

20And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

21And they gave them Shechem with the open land about it in the hill-country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with the open land about it;

22and Kibzaim with the open land about it, and Beth-horon with the open land about it; four cities.

23And out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with the open land about it, Gibbethon with the open land about it;

24Aijalon with the open land about it, Gath-rimmon with the open land about it; four cities.

25And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with the open land about it, and Gath-rimmon with the open land about it; two cities.

26All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with the open land about them.

27And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with the open land about it, the city of refuge for the manslayer; and Beeshterah with the open land about it; two cities.

28And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with the open land about it, Dobrath with the open land about it;

29Jarmuth with the open land about it, En-gannim with the open land about it; four cities.

30And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with the open land about it, Abdon with the open land about it;

31Helkath with the open land about it, and Rehob with the open land about it; four cities.

32And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with the open land about it, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with the open land about it, and Kartan with the open land about it; three cities.

33All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with the open land about them.

34And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with the open land about it, and Kartah with the open land about it;

35Dimnah with the open land about it, Nahalal with the open land about it; four cities.

36And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with the open land about it, and Jahaz with the open land about it;

37Kedemoth with the open land about it, and Mephaath with the open land about it; four cities.

38And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with the open land about it, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with the open land about it;

39Heshbon with the open land about it, Jazer with the open land about it; four cities in all.

40All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites; and their lot was twelve cities.

41All the cities of the Levites--forty and eight cities with the open land about them--shall be in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel,

42even these cities, every one with the open land round about it; thus it shall be with all these cities.

43So HaShem gave unto Israel all the land which He swore to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.

44And HaShem gave them rest round about, according to all that He swore unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies against them; HaShem delivered all their enemies into their hand.

45There failed not aught of any good thing which HaShem had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

45 verses · JPS 1917 (public domain)

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