Joshua 21:1
New International Version
Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribal families of Israel

New Living Translation
Then the leaders of the tribe of Levi came to consult with Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the other tribes of Israel.

English Standard Version
Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites came to 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.

Berean Standard Bible
Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel

King James Bible
Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel;

New King James Version
Then 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.

New American Standard Bible
Then the heads of fathers’ households of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of fathers’ households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

NASB 1995
Then the heads of households of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

NASB 1977
Then the heads of households of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the heads of households of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

Amplified Bible
Then the heads of the households of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the households of the tribes of the sons of Israel.

Christian Standard Bible
The Levite family heads approached the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The heads of the Levite families approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the Israelite tribes.

American Standard Version
Then came near the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the Heads of the Priests and Levites approached Eliazer the Priest and Yeshua son of Nun

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the heads of the families of the sons of Levi drew near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Naue, and to the heads of families of the tribes of Israel.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Then the princes of the families of Levi came to Eleazar the priest, and to Josue the son of Nun, and to the princes of the kindreds of all the tribes of the children of Israel:

English Revised Version
Then came near the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Then the leaders of the families of Levi came to the priest Eleazar, to Joshua (son of Nun), and to the leaders of the families of the other Israelite tribes

Good News Translation
The leaders of the Levite families went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the families of all the tribes of Israel.

International Standard Version
Then the family leaders of the descendants of Levi approached Eleazar the priest and Nun's son Joshua, along with the family leaders of the people of Israel.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Then came near the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel;

Literal Standard Version
And the heads of the fathers of the Levites draw near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel,

Majority Standard Bible
Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel

New American Bible
The heads of the Levite families approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua, son of Nun, and the heads of families of the other tribes of the Israelites

NET Bible
The tribal leaders of the Levites went before Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the Israelite tribal leaders

New Revised Standard Version
Then the heads of the families of the Levites came to the priest Eleazar and to Joshua son of Nun and to the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites;

New Heart English Bible
Then the heads of ancestral houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of ancestral houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel;

World English Bible
Then the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.

Young's Literal Translation
And the heads of the fathers of the Levites draw nigh unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Forty-Eight Cities for the Levites
1Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel 2at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, together with pasturelands for our livestock.”…

Cross References
Genesis 49:7
Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Numbers 35:1
Again the LORD spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:

Numbers 35:8
The cities that you apportion from the territory of the Israelites should be given to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance of each tribe: more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one."


Treasury of Scripture

Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel;

the heads

Joshua 19:51
These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So they made an end of dividing the country.

Exodus 6:14,25
These be the heads of their fathers' houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben…

Eleazar

Joshua 14:1
And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance to them.

Joshua 17:4
And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren. Therefore according to the commandment of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brethren of their father.

Numbers 34:17-29
These are the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun…

Jump to Previous
Approached Chief Children Draw Eleazar Elea'zar Heads Households Houses Israel Joshua Levites Nigh Nun Priest Tribal Tribes
Jump to Next
Approached Chief Children Draw Eleazar Elea'zar Heads Households Houses Israel Joshua Levites Nigh Nun Priest Tribal Tribes
Joshua 21
1. Forty-eight cities given by lot, out of the other tribes unto the Levites.
43. God gives the land, and rest unto the Israelites, according to his promise














Verse 1. - Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites. We are not to suppose, with Calvin, that the Levites had been overlooked. Such a supposition is little in keeping with the devout spirit of him who now directed the affairs of the Israelites, who had been minister to Moses the Levite, and had but lately been concerned with Eleazar, the high priest, in making a public recognition of that God to whose service the Levites had been specially set apart. The delay in appointing to the Levites their cities arose from the nature of the arrangement which had to be made for the Levitical cities. The prophecy which threatened (Genesis 49:7) to "scatter them in Israel" was to be fulfilled for the benefit of the whole people. Instead of a portion for himself, Levi, as we have been repeatedly informed (Joshua 13:33; Joshua 14:3; Joshua 18:7), was to have "the Lord God of Israel for his inheritance." Since, therefore, their cities were to be assigned them within the limits of the other tribes, it was impossible to apportion them until the other tribes had been provided for. Unto Eleazar the priest. The close connection between the military and the sacerdotal power is kept up throughout the book. Warned by his one act of neglect in the case of the Gibeonites, Joshua never again appears to have neglected to have recourse to the high priest, that he might ask counsel of God for him, as had been prescribed in Numbers 27:21. Eleazar is placed first here, because, as the acknowledged head of the tribe, he was the proper person to prefer its request to the leader. But the whole history shows how entirely Joshua and Eleazar acted in concert. And unto Joshua the son of Nun. In a matter of ecclesiastical organisation the ecclesiastical took precedence of the civil leader. And unto the heads. The position of Joshua was that of a chief magistrate ruling by constitutional methods. The representatives of the tribes were invariably consulted in all matters of moment. Such appear to have been the original constitution of all early communities, whether Aryan or Semitic. We find it in existence among Homer's heroes. It meets us in the early history of Germanic peoples. It took a form precisely analogous to the Jewish in the old English Witan where the chief men in Church and State took counsel with the monarch on all matters affecting the commonweal of the realm; and the remains of this aristocratic system still meet us in our own House of Lords.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Now the family
אֲב֣וֹת (’ă·ḇō·wṯ)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1: Father

heads
רָאשֵׁי֙ (rā·šê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 7218: The head

of the Levites
הַלְוִיִּ֔ם (hal·wî·yim)
Article | Noun - proper - masculine plural
Strong's 3881: Levites -- descendant of Levi

approached
וַֽיִּגְּשׁ֗וּ (way·yig·gə·šū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 5066: To draw near, approach

Eleazar
אֶלְעָזָר֙ (’el·‘ā·zār)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 499: Eleazar -- 'God has helped', six Israelites

the priest,
הַכֹּהֵ֔ן (hak·kō·hên)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3548: Priest

Joshua
יְהוֹשֻׁ֖עַ (yə·hō·wō·šu·a‘)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3091: Joshua -- 'the LORD is salvation', Moses' successor, also the name of a number of Israelites

son
בִּן־ (bin-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1121: A son

of Nun,
נ֑וּן (nūn)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 5126: Nun -- father of Joshua

and
וְאֶל־ (wə·’el-)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the heads
רָאשֵׁ֛י (rā·šê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 7218: The head

of the [other] tribes
הַמַּטּ֖וֹת (ham·maṭ·ṭō·wṯ)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4294: A staff, rod, shaft, branch, a tribe

of Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc


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OT History: Joshua 21:1 Then the heads of fathers' houses (Josh. Jos)
Joshua 20:9
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