1. Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites.
2. And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “Yahweh commanded through the hand of Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasturelands for our livestock.”
3. So, by command of Yahweh, the Israelites gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands from their inheritance.
4. The allotment fell for the families of the Kohathites. The descendants of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, received by lot thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.
5. The remaining descendants of Kohath received by lot ten cities from the families of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6. The descendants of Gershon received by lot thirteen cities from the families of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
7. The descendants of the Merarites according to their families received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
8. The Israelites gave to the Levites these cities and their pastureland by lot, just as Yahweh commanded through the hand of Moses.
9. They gave these cities, which are here mentioned by name, from the tribe of the families of Judah and from the tribe of the families of Simeon;
10. and they were for the descendants of Aaron, from the families of the Kohathites, from the descendants of Levi, because the first lot was theirs.