The Cities of Refuge

¹Then the Lord said to Joshua, ²“Say to the people of Israel, j‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand kat the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. ⁵And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. ⁶And he shall remain in that city luntil he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’”

⁷So they set apart mKedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and nShechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and oKiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) pin the hill country of Judah. ⁸And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed qBezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and rRamoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and sGolan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and tfor the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.

Cities and Pasturelands Allotted to Levi

¹Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came uto 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 said to them vat Shiloh in the land of Canaan, w“The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasturelands for our livestock.” ³So by command of the Lord the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasturelands out of their inheritance.

⁴The lot came out for the clans of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest xreceived by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities.

⁵And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot yfrom the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

⁶The zGershonites received by lot from the clans 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 aMerarites according to their clans 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 bgave by lot to the Levites, cas the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁹Out of the tribe of the people of Judah and the tribe of the people of Simeon they gave the following cities mentioned by name, ¹⁰which went to dthe descendants of Aaron, one of the clans of the Kohathites who belonged to the people of Levi; since the lot fell to them first. ¹¹eThey gave them fKiriath-arba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, gin the hill country of Judah, along with the pasturelands around it. ¹²But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, hthe city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, iLibnah with its pasturelands, ¹⁴Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, ¹⁵Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, ¹⁶Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities out of these two tribes; ¹⁷then out of the tribe of Benjamin, jGibeon with its pasturelands, Geba with its pasturelands, ¹⁸Anathoth with its pasturelands, and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities. ¹⁹The cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

²⁰kAs to the rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Kohathite clans of the Levites, the cities allotted to them were out of the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹To them were given Shechem, lthe city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands, ²²Kibzaim with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities; ²³and out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasturelands, Gibbethon with its pasturelands, ²⁴Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities; ²⁵and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—two cities. ²⁶The cities of the clans of the rest of the Kohathites were ten in all with their pasturelands.

²⁷mAnd to the Gershonites, one of the clans of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands, lthe city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah 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, lthe city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities. ³³The cities of the several clans of the Gershonites were in all thirteen cities with their pasturelands.

³⁴nAnd to the rest of the Levites, the Merarite clans, were given 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, oBezer 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, oRamoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, the city of refuge for the manslayer, pMahanaim with its pasturelands, ³⁹pHeshbon with its pasturelands, Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all. ⁴⁰As for the cities of the several Merarite clans, that is, the remainder of the clans of the Levites, those allotted to them were in all twelve cities.

⁴¹qThe 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 each had its pasturelands around it. So it was with all these cities.

⁴³rThus 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. ⁴⁴sAnd the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. tNot one of all their enemies had withstood them, for uthe Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. ⁴⁵vNot one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.