Choose Your Plan to Get Started

or choose a plan

Free

Essential Bible reading tools

$0/month

Full 66-book KJV Bible reader

3 AI commentaries per day

3 Apologetics Q&A per day

13 curated apologetics topics

Basic Bible search

Bookmark verses

Verse of the Day

Unlimited AI commentary

Unlimited Apologetics Q&A

Save apologetics answers

Sermon Prep mode

Premium

Full AI-powered Bible study suite

$9.99/month

Free for 7 days, then $9.99/month

Everything in Free, plus:

Unlimited AI commentary

Unlimited Apologetics Q&A

Save apologetics answers

Sermon Prep mode

Compare Translations (KJV, ESV, NIV, NASB)

Verse highlighting (6 colors)

Reading Plans with streak tracking

Study Notes & journal

Verse sharing cards

Priority AI response times

7-day free trial

Secure payments via Stripe

Cancel anytime

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

BibleCompass

Get Started Free

/Chapter 21

21 / 24

Joshua

ESV

Chapter 21

¹Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. ²And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for our livestock.” ³So the people of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of the LORD, these cities with their pasturelands. ⁴The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. So the people of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, received by lot from the tribe of Judah, the tribe of the Simeonites, and the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. ⁵And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities. ⁶The Gershonites received 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, thirteen cities. ⁷The Merarites according to their families received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. ⁸These cities and their pasturelands the people of Israel gave by lot to the Levites, as the LORD had commanded through Moses. ⁹From the tribe of the people of Judah and the tribe of the people of Simeon they gave the cities that are mentioned by name, ¹⁰which went to the people of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the sons of Levi; for the lot fell to them first. ¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah, Arba being the father of Anak. ¹²But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession. ¹³And to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasturelands, and Libnah with its pasturelands, ¹⁴and Jattir with its pasturelands, and Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, ¹⁵and Holon with its pasturelands, and Debir with its pasturelands, ¹⁶and Ain with its pasturelands, and Juttah with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities out of these two tribes. ¹⁷And out of the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, ¹⁸Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. ¹⁹All the cities of the priests, the sons of Aaron, were thirteen cities with their pasturelands. ²⁰As to the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites who remained of the sons of Kohath, the cities of their lot were from the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer with its pasturelands, ²²and Kibzaim with its pasturelands, and Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities. ²³And from the tribe of Dan: Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands, ²⁴Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities. ²⁵And from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—two cities. ²⁶All the cities for the families of the rest of the Kohathites were ten with their pasturelands. ²⁷And to the Gershonites, one of the families of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the slayer, and Be-eshterah with its pasturelands—two cities. ²⁸And out of the tribe of Issachar: Kishion with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, ²⁹Jarmuth with its pasturelands, En-gannim with its pasturelands—four cities. ³⁰And out of the tribe of Asher: Mishal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, ³¹Helkath with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities. ³²And out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the slayer, and Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities. ³³All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their pasturelands. ³⁴And to the families of the sons of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands, ³⁵Dimnah with its pasturelands, Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities. ³⁶And out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its pasturelands, Jahaz with its pasturelands, ³⁷Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities. ³⁸And out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the slayer, and Mahanaim with its pasturelands, ³⁹Heshbon with its pasturelands, Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all. ⁴⁰All these were the cities of the sons of Merari according to their families, which remained of the families of the Levites, twelve cities by lot. ⁴¹The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasturelands. ⁴²These cities were each with its pasturelands around it. So it was with all these cities. ⁴³Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. ⁴⁴And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. ⁴⁵Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.