The Daily Audio Bible

Towns for the Levites

21 Then the heads of ancestral houses of the Levites approached Eleazar the kohen and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of ancestral houses of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael, ² and they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan saying: “Adonai commanded through Moses to give us towns to live in, with their pastures for our cattle.” ³ So Bnei-Yisrael gave to the Levites from their inheritance, according to the command of Adonai, these towns and their pastures: ⁴ the lot came out for the clan of the Kohathites. The children of Aaron the kohen, who were of the Levites, received 13 towns by lot from the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Simeon and the tribe of Benjamin. ⁵ The rest of the children of Kohath received 10 towns by lot from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh. ⁶ The children of Gershon received 13 towns by lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, the tribe of Asher, the tribe of Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan. ⁷ The children of Merari according to their clans received 12 towns from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸ So Bnei-Yisrael gave by lot to the Levites these towns with their pastures, as Adonai had commanded through Moses. ⁹ They gave from the tribe of the children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these towns which are here mentioned by name. ¹⁰ They were for the children of Aaron, of the clans of the Kohathites, of the children of Levi, for theirs was the first lot: ¹¹ So they gave them Kiriath-arba, the father of Anak (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah, with its surrounding pastures. ¹² But the fields of the city and its villages they had already given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession. ¹³ But to the children of Aaron the kohen they assigned Hebron (the city of refuge for the manslayer) with its pastures, Libnah with its pastures, ¹⁴ Jattir with its pastures, Eshtemoa with its pastures, ¹⁵ Holon with its pastures, Debir with its pastures, ¹⁶ Ain with its pastures, Juttah with its pastures and Beth-shemesh with its pastures—9 towns from these two tribes.

¹⁷ Then from the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon with its pastures, Geba with its pastures, ¹⁸ Anathoth with its pastures and Almon with its pastures—4 towns. ¹⁹ All the towns of the kohanim, the children of Aaron, were 13 towns with their pastures.

²⁰ As for the other clans of the children of Kohath, the remaining Levites descended from the children of Kohath, the towns of their lot were from the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹ So they gave them Shechem (the city of refuge for the manslayer) with its pastures in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pastures, ²² Kibzaim with its pastures and Beth-horon with its pastures—4 towns.

²³ From the tribe of Dan: Elteke with its pastures, Gibbethon with its pastures, ²⁴ Aijalon with its pastures and Gath-rimmon with its pastures—4 towns. ²⁵ From the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its pastures and Gath-rimmon with its pastures—2 towns. ²⁶ All the towns of the clans of the rest of the children of Kohath were 10 with their pastures.

²⁷ Now to the children of Gershon of the clans of the Levites: from the half-tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan (the city of refuge for the manslayer) in Bashan with its pastures and Beeshterah with its pastures—2 towns. ²⁸ From the tribe of Issachar: Kishion with its pastures, Dobrath with its pastures, ²⁹ Jarmuth with its pastures and En-gannim with its pastures—4 towns. ³⁰ From the tribe of Asher: Mishal with its pastures, Abdon with its pastures, ³¹ Helkath with its pastures, and Rehob with its pastures—4 towns. ³² From the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh (the city of refuge for the manslayer) in Galilee with its pastures, Hammoth-dor with its pastures, Kartan with its pastures—3 towns. ³³ All the towns of the Gershonites according to their clans were 13 towns with their pastures.

³⁴ To the remaining Levites of the clans of the children of Merari, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pastures, Kartah with its pastures, ³⁵ Dimnah with its pastures, and Nahalal with its pastures—4 towns. ³⁶ From the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its pastures, Jahaz with its pastures, ³⁷ Kedemoth with its pastures and Mephaath with its pastures—4 cities. ³⁸ From the tribe of Gad: Ramoth (the city of refuge for the manslayer) in Gilead with its pastures, Mahanaim with its pastures, ³⁹ Heshbon with its pastures, and Jazer with its pastures—4 towns in all. ⁴⁰ All the towns that went by lot to the children of Merari (the remaining Levites) according to their clans, were 12 towns.

⁴¹ The total of the towns of the Levites within the holdings of Bnei-Yisrael was 48 towns with their pastures. ⁴² Each of these towns had its own pastures; so it was for all these towns.

Adonai Keeps All His Promises

⁴³ So Adonai gave to Israel the entire land that He had sworn to give to their fathers. They took possession and settled in it. ⁴⁴ Then Adonai gave them rest on all sides, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one man of all their enemies withstood them, for Adonai gave all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵ Not one good thing that Adonai had promised to the house of Israel failed. All came to pass.

Altar of Witness

22 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh, ² and said to them: “You have kept all that Moses the servant of Adonai commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you. ³ You have not abandoned your kinsmen these many days to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of Adonai your God. ⁴ So now Adonai your God has given rest to your kinsmen, as He said to them. So now, turn and go to your tents, to the land that is your possession, which Moses the servant of Adonai gave you beyond the Jordan. ⁵ Only be very careful to observe the mitzvah and the Torah which Moses the servant of Adonai commanded you, to love Adonai your God and walk in all His ways, and to keep His mitzvot, cling to Him and worship Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

⁶ So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. ⁷ Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua gave territory among their kinsmen to the west of the Jordan. Moreover, when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them ⁸ and spoke to them saying: “Return to your tents with great wealth and with very much cattle, with silver, gold, bronze, iron and with very many clothes. Share the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.”

⁹ So the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from Bnei-Yisrael at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their inheritance that they had possessed, according to the mouth of Adonai by Moses’ hand.

¹⁰ Now when they came to the region near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan—a large, conspicuous altar. ¹¹ Then Bnei-Yisrael heard about it and said: “Behold, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar opposite the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, across from Bnei-Yisrael.” ¹² And when Bnei-Yisrael heard of it, the whole congregation of Bnei-Yisrael assembled at Shiloh to go up against them in war. ¹³ So Bnei-Yisrael sent word to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas son of Eleazar the kohen, ¹⁴ and with him ten chieftains, one chieftain from each ancestral house of each of the tribes of Israel. Every one of them was the head of his ancestral house among the thousands of Israel.

¹⁵ So they came to the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, and spoke with them saying: ¹⁶ “Thus says the whole congregation of Adonai: ‘What is this treachery that you have committed today against the God of Israel, by turning away from following Adonai, building yourselves an altar, rebelling this day against Adonai? ¹⁷ Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although a plague came on the congregation of Adonai, ¹⁸ that you would turn away this day from following Adonai? Now you rebel against Adonai today, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel! ¹⁹ If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then cross over to the land of the possession of Adonai, where Adonai’s Tabernacle stands. Acquire holdings among us, but do not rebel against Adonai or against us by building an altar for yourselves other than the altar of Adonai our God. ²⁰ Did not Achan son of Zerah act unfaithfully concerning the things under the ban, and so wrath fell on the entire community of Israel? Nor did that man perish alone in his iniquity.’”

20 On one of the days while Yeshua was teaching the people in the Temple and proclaiming the Good News, the ruling kohanim and the Torah scholars, together with the elders, confronted Him. ² And they spoke, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is the one who gave You this authority?”

³ But answering, Yeshua said to them, “I also will ask you a question, and you tell Me: ⁴ the immersion of John—was it from heaven or from men?”

⁵ They reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ then all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John is a prophet.” ⁷ So they answered that they didn’t know where it came from.

⁸ And Yeshua said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

⁹ Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard,^[a] leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey for a long time. ¹⁰ And at the season, he sent a servant to the tenants so that they would give him part of the vineyard’s fruit. But the tenants beat him up and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ So he proceeded to send another servant. They beat him too and treated him shamefully, and they sent him away empty-handed. ¹² And he proceeded to send a third one. They wounded this one too, and they threw him out.

¹³ “Now the master of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love. Probably they will show him respect.’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they discussed the matter among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir! Let’s kill him so the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the master of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

But when they heard this, they said, “May it never happen!”

¹⁷ Then Yeshua looked right at them and said, “Then what is this that has been written,

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be shattered; but the one upon whom it falls, it will crush him.”^[c]

¹⁹ The Torah scholars and the ruling kohanim tried to grab Him that very hour, because they realized that He spoke this parable against them—but they feared the people.

Silencing the Opposition

²⁰ Now they watched Him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order to trap Him in His words so they could hand Him over to the power and authority of the governor. ²¹ And they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You tell it straight and You teach it straight. You show no partiality, but teach the way of God according to the truth. ²² Is it permitted for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

²³ But carefully considering their treachery, Yeshua said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a denarius.^[d] Whose image and inscription does it have?”

And they said, “Caesar’s.”

²⁵ Then He said to them, “Well then, give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²⁶ And they could not trap Him in His words in the presence of the people. Astonished by His answer, they kept silent.

Covenant with David’s Seed

Psalm 89