1. The leaders of the Levite family groups approached the priest Eleazar and Joshua, the son of Nun. They also approached the leaders of the family groups of Israel's other tribes.
2. They went to all of them at Shiloh in Canaan. They said to them, "Give us towns to live in. Also give us grasslands for our livestock. That's what the Lord commanded through Moses."
3. So the people of Israel gave the Levites towns and grasslands out of their own shares of land. They did what the Lord had commanded. Here are the towns the Levites were given.
4. The first lot that was drawn out was for the people of Kohath, family group by family group. Some of the Levites came from the family line of the priest Aaron. They were given 13 towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.
5. The rest of Kohath's family groups were given ten towns from the family groups of the tribes of Ephraim and Dan and half of the tribe of Manasseh.
6. The family groups of Gershon were given 13 towns from the family groups of the tribes of Issachar, Asher and Naphtali and half of the tribe of Manasseh. That part of Manasseh was in the land of Bashan.
7. The family groups of Merari received 12 towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun. Each family group received its share.
8. So the people of Israel gave those towns and their grasslands to the Levites. They did what the Lord had commanded through Moses.
9. They gave some towns from the territories of the tribes of Judah and Simeon