Chronological Plan

¹The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. And their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah.

²They had in their inheritance Beersheba (Sheba), Moladah,

³Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem,

⁴Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,

⁵Ziklag, Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susah,

⁶Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen: thirteen cities and their villages;

⁷Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan: four cities and their villages;

⁸and all the villages that were all around these cities as far as Baalath Beer, Ramah of the South. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families.

⁹The inheritance of the children of Simeon was included in the share of the children of Judah, for the share of the children of Judah was too much for them. Therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of that people.

¹⁰The third lot came out for the children of Zebulun according to their families, and the border of their inheritance was as far as Sarid.

¹¹Their border went toward the west and to Maralah, went to Dabbasheth, and extended along the brook that is east of Jokneam.

¹²Then from Sarid it went eastward toward the sunrise along the border of Chisloth Tabor, and went out toward Daberath, bypassing Japhia.

¹³And from there it passed along on the east of Gath Hepher, toward Eth Kazin, and extended to Rimmon, which borders on Neah.

¹⁴Then the border went around it on the north side of Hannathon, and it ended in the Valley of Jiphthah El.

¹⁵Included were Kattath, Nahallal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages.

¹⁶This was the inheritance of the children of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.

¹⁷The fourth lot came out to Issachar, for the children of Issachar according to their families.

¹⁸And their territory went to Jezreel, and included Chesulloth, Shunem,

¹⁹Haphraim, Shion, Anaharath,

²⁰Rabbith, Kishion, Abez,

²¹Remeth, En Gannim, En Haddah, and Beth Pazzez.

²²And the border reached to Tabor, Shahazimah, and Beth Shemesh; their border ended at the Jordan: sixteen cities with their villages.

²³This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Issachar according to their families, the cities and their villages.

²⁴The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families.

²⁵And their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,

²⁶Alammelech, Amad, and Mishal; it reached to Mount Carmel westward, along the Brook Shihor Libnath.

²⁷It turned toward the sunrise to Beth Dagon; and it reached to Zebulun and to the Valley of Jiphthah El, then northward beyond Beth Emek and Neiel, bypassing Cabul which was on the left,

²⁸including Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Greater Sidon.

²⁹And the border turned to Ramah and to the fortified city of Tyre; then the border turned to Hosah, and ended at the sea by the region of Achzib.

³⁰Also Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob were included: twenty-two cities with their villages.

³¹This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.

³²The sixth lot came out to the children of Naphtali, for the children of Naphtali according to their families.

³³And their border began at Heleph, enclosing the territory from the terebinth tree in Zaanannim, Adami Nekeb, and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum; it ended at the Jordan.

³⁴From Heleph the border extended westward to Aznoth Tabor, and went out from there toward Hukkok; it adjoined Zebulun on the south side and Asher on the west side, and ended at Judah by the Jordan toward the sunrise.

³⁵And the fortified cities are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,

³⁶Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,

³⁷Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor,

³⁸Iron, Migdal El, Horem, Beth Anath, and Beth Shemesh: nineteen cities with their villages.

³⁹This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Naphtali according to their families, the cities and their villages.

⁴⁰The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families.

⁴¹And the territory of their inheritance was Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh,

⁴²Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Jethlah,

⁴³Elon, Timnah, Ekron,

⁴⁴Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath,

⁴⁵Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon,

⁴⁶Me Jarkon, and Rakkon, with the region near Joppa.

⁴⁷And the border of the children of Dan went beyond these, because the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem and took it; and they struck it with the edge of the sword, took possession of it, and dwelt in it. They called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father.

⁴⁸This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.

⁴⁹When they had made an end of dividing the land as an inheritance according to their borders, the children of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun.

⁵⁰According to the word of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked for, Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim; and he built the city and dwelt in it.

⁵¹These were the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel divided as an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. So they made an end of dividing the country.

¹The LORD also spoke to Joshua, saying,

²“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,

³that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.

⁴And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.

⁵Then if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand.

⁶And he shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.’ ”

⁷So they appointed Kedesh in Galilee, in the mountains of Naphtali, Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and Kirjath Arba (which is Hebron) in the mountains of Judah.

⁸And on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness on the plain, from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh.

⁹These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwelt among them, that whoever killed a person accidentally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation.

¹Then 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.

²And 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.”

³So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their common-lands:

⁴Now 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.

⁵The 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.

⁶And 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.

⁷The 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.

⁸And 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.

⁹So 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,

¹⁰which 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.

¹¹And 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.

¹²But the fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³Thus 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,

¹⁴Jattir with its common-land, Eshtemoa with its common-land,

¹⁵Holon with its common-land, Debir with its common-land,

¹⁶Ain with its common-land, Juttah with its common-land, and Beth Shemesh with its common-land: nine cities from those two tribes;

¹⁷and from the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its common-land, Geba with its common-land,

¹⁸Anathoth with its common-land, and Almon with its common-land: four cities.

¹⁹All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

²⁰And 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.

²¹For 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,

²²Kibzaim with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities;

²³and from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its common-land,

²⁴Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities;

²⁵and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities.

²⁶All the ten cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the children of Kohath.

²⁷Also 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;

²⁸and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land,

²⁹Jarmuth with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four cities;

³⁰and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its common-land, Abdon with its common-land,

³¹Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities;

³²and 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.

³³All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

³⁴And 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,

³⁵Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities;

³⁶and from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land,

³⁷Kedemoth with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities;

³⁸and from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land,

³⁹Heshbon with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four cities in all.

⁴⁰So 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.

⁴¹All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their common-lands.

⁴²Every one of these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all these cities.

⁴³So 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.

⁴⁴The 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.

⁴⁵Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.