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And the children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs.

And lots were drawn for the families of the Kohathites; and the children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had by lot from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.

And the children of Israel gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

They became the property of the descendants of Aaron, being of the family of the Kohathites, who were the children of Levi, for theirs was the first lot.

Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest, Hebron, the city of refuge for the slayers, with its suburbs, and Libnah with its suburbs,

All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priest, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

And for the families of the Kohathites, the Levites, that remained of the children of Kohath, they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

And the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, received their cities out of the tribe of Reuben, Jahaz with its suburbs, Kermoth with its suburbs, Kiriathim with its suburbs,

So all the cities for the children of Merari by their families, who were remaining of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities with their suburbs.

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

So the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possessions, in which they were given an inheritance, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

And the children of Israel heard it said, Behold, the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the border of the land of Canaan, in Gilgal which is by the side of the Jordan, in the land of the children of Israel.

Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh to go to war against them.

And the children of Israel sent to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,

And if we have not rather done this thing because of reverence to him, so that in time to come your children might not say to our children, What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel, O you Reubenites and Gadites?

For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you; now therefore you have no part in the LORD; so in time to come shall your children make our children cease from worshipping the LORD.

But that it may be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, and between ourselves and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, in the place where the LORD chooses to dwell; so that your children may not say to our children in time to come, You have no part in the LORD.

And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half tribe of Manasseh. This day we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against the LORD; now you have delivered the children of Israel, that the hand of the LORD might not be against them with wrath.

Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes who were with him, returned from the Reubenites and from the Gadites and the Manashites, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them an answer.

And the answer pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and decided not to go up against them to battle to destroy the land wherein the Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manashites dwelt.