Forty-Eight Cities of the Levites

(Numbers 35:1-5; 1 Chronicles 6:54-81)

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 spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, Jehovah commanded Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle. 3And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of Jehovah, these cities with their suburbs. 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 their suburbs, as Jehovah commanded by 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 suburbs thereof 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 its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Libnah with its suburbs, 14and Jattir with its suburbs, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs, 15and Holon with its suburbs, and Debir with its suburbs, 16and Ain with its suburbs, and Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. 17And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs, 18Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities. 19All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

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 its suburbs in the hill-country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its suburbs, 22and Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth-horon with its suburbs; four cities. 23And out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs, 24Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; four cities. 25And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; two cities. 26All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with their suburbs.

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 its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Be-eshterah with its suburbs; two cities. 28And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs, 29Jarmuth with its suburbs, En-gannim with its suburbs; four cities. 30And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs, 31Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities. 32And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities. 33All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

34And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs, 35Dimnah with its suburbs, Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities. 36And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, and Jahaz with its suburbs, 37Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; four cities. 38And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs, 39Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; 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 in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs. 42These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them: thus it was with all these cities.

43So Jehovah gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. 44And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; Jehovah delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45There failed not aught of any good thing which Jehovah had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.