| 1 | Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came to Elea'zar 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; |
| 2 | and they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, "The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasture lands for our cattle." |
| 3 | So by command of the LORD the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasture lands out of their inheritance. |
| 4 | The lot came out for the families of the Ko'hathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities. |
| 5 | And the rest of the Ko'hathites received by lot from the families of the tribe of E'phraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manas'seh, ten cities. |
| 6 | The Gersonites received by lot from the families of the tribe of Is'sachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naph'tali, and from the half-tribe of Manas'seh in Bashan, thirteen cities. |
| 7 | The Merar'ites according to their families received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zeb'ulun, twelve cities. |
| 8 | These cities and their pasture lands the people of Israel gave by lot to the Levites, as the LORD had commanded through Moses. |
| 9 | Out of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Simeon they gave the following cities mentioned by name, |
| 10 | which went to the descendants of Aaron, one of the families of the Ko'hathites who belonged to the Levites; since the lot fell to them first. |
| 11 | They gave them Kir'iath-ar'ba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasture lands round about it. |
| 12 | But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephun'neh as his possession. |
| 13 | And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasture lands, Libnah with its pasture lands, |
| 14 | Jattir with its pasture lands, Eshtemo'a with its pasture lands, |
| 15 | Holon with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands, |
| 16 | A'in with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, Beth-she'mesh with its pasture lands -- nine cities out of these two tribes; |
| 17 | then out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands, |
| 18 | An'athoth with its pasture lands, and Almon with its pasture lands -- four cities. |
| 19 | The cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were in all thirteen cities with their pasture lands. |
| 20 | As to the rest of the Ko'hathites belonging to the Ko'hathite families of the Levites, the cities allotted to them were out of the tribe of E'phraim. |
| 21 | To them were given Shechem, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasture lands in the hill country of E'phraim, Gezer with its pasture lands, |
| 22 | Kib'za-im with its pasture lands, Beth-hor'on with its pasture lands -- four cities; |
| 23 | and out of the tribe of Dan, El'teke with its pasture lands, Gib'bethon with its pasture lands, |
| 24 | Ai'jalon with its pasture lands, Gath-rim'mon with its pasture lands -- four cities; |
| 25 | and out of the half-tribe of Manas'seh, Ta'anach with its pasture lands, and Gath-rim'mon with its pasture lands -- two cities. |
| 26 | The cities of the families of the rest of the Ko'hathites were ten in all with their pasture lands. |
| 27 | And to the Gershonites, one of the families of the Levites, were given out of the half-tribe of Manas'seh, Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, and Beesh'terah with its pasture lands -- two cities; |
| 28 | and out of the tribe of Is'sachar, Ki'shion with its pasture lands, Dab'erath with its pasture lands, |
| 29 | Jarmuth with its pasture lands, En-gan'nim with its pasture lands -- four cities; |
| 30 | and out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands, |
| 31 | Helkath with its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands -- four cities; |
| 32 | and out of the tribe of Naph'tali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Ham'moth-dor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands -- three cities. |
| 33 | The cities of the several families of the Gershonites were in all thirteen cities with their pasture lands. |
| 34 | And to the rest of the Levites, the Merar'ite families, were given out of the tribe of Zeb'ulun, Jok'ne-am with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands, |
| 35 | Dimnah with its pasture lands, Na'halal with its pasture lands -- four cities; |
| 36 | and out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its pasture lands, Jahaz with its pasture lands, |
| 37 | Ked'emoth with its pasture lands, and Meph'a-ath with its pasture lands -- four cities; |
| 38 | and out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the slayer, Mahana'im with its pasture lands, |
| 39 | Heshbon with its pasture lands, Jazer with its pasture lands -- four cities in all. |
| 40 | As for the cities of the several Merar'ite families, that is, the remainder of the families of the Levites, those allotted to them were in all twelve cities. |
| 41 | The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel were in all forty-eight cities with their pasture lands. |
| 42 | These cities had each its pasture lands round about it; so it was with all these cities. |
| 43 | Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers; and having taken possession of it, they settled there. |
| 44 | And 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. |
| 45 | Not one of all the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. |
| 1 | Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manas'seh, |
| 2 | and said to them, "You have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you; |
| 3 | you have not forsaken your brethren these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the LORD your God. |
| 4 | And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brethren, as he promised them; therefore turn and go to your home in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan. |
| 5 | Take good care to observe the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." |
| 6 | So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their homes. |
| 7 | Now to the one half of the tribe of Manas'seh Moses had given a possession in Bashan; but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brethren in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, |
| 8 | he said to them, "Go back to your homes with much wealth, and with very many cattle, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing; divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren." |
| 9 | So the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manas'seh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the LORD through Moses. |
| 10 | And when they came to the region about the Jordan, that lies in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manas'seh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of great size. |
| 11 | And the people of Israel heard say, "Behold, the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manas'seh have built an altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel." |
| 12 | And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh, to make war against them. |
| 13 | Then the people of Israel sent to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manas'seh, in the land of Gilead, Phin'ehas the son of Elea'zar the priest, |
| 14 | and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. |
| 15 | And they came to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manas'seh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, |
| 16 | "Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD, `What is this treachery which you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the LORD, by building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the LORD? |
| 17 | Have we not had enough of the sin at Pe'or from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the LORD, |
| 18 | that you must turn away this day from following the LORD? And if you rebel against the LORD today he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow. |
| 19 | But now, if your land is unclean, pass over into the LORD's land where the LORD's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us; only do not rebel against the LORD, or make us as rebels by building yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God. |
| 20 | Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.'" |
| 21 | Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manas'seh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, |
| 22 | "The Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith toward the LORD, spare us not today |
| 23 | for building an altar to turn away from following the LORD; or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or cereal offerings or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself take vengeance. |
| 24 | Nay, but we did it from fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, `What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? |
| 25 | For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no portion in the LORD.' So your children might make our children cease to worship the LORD. |
| 26 | Therefore we said, `Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, |
| 27 | but to be a witness between us and you, and between the generations after us, that we do perform the service of the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings; lest your children say to our children in time to come, "You have no portion in the LORD."' |
| 28 | And we thought, If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, `Behold the copy of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.' |
| 29 | Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn away this day from following the LORD by building an altar for burnt offering, cereal offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle!" |
| 30 | When Phin'ehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manas'sites spoke, it pleased them well. |
| 31 | And Phin'ehas the son of Elea'zar the priest said to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manas'sites, "Today we know that the LORD is in the midst of us, because you have not committed this treachery against the LORD; now you have saved the people of Israel from the hand of the LORD." |
| 32 | Then Phin'ehas the son of Elea'zar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. |
| 33 | And the report pleased the people of Israel; and the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them, to destroy the land where the Reubenites and the Gadites were settled. |
| 34 | The Reubenites and the Gadites called the altar Witness; "For," said they, "it is a witness between us that the LORD is God." |
