Joshua 21:3

3 So out of their inheritance the people of Isra'el gave the L'vi'im the following cities with the surrounding open land:

Joshua 21:3 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 21:3

And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their
inheritance
Knowing full well there was such a command, made no objection to their motion, but freely gave them cities out of the portion of inheritance allotted to them; this they did

at the commandment of the Lord, and in obedience to it, even gave
these cities and suburbs;
after mentioned: this was done by the tribes themselves; as there were a certain number fixed by the commandment of God, they agreed among themselves how many and what cities should be given out of each tribe; and then lots were cast for them by Joshua, what and which cities should be appropriated to their several divisions, as the Kohathites that sprang from Aaron, and the rest of them that did not, and the Gershonites and Merarites, as follows.

Joshua 21:3 In-Context

1 Then the leaders of the ancestral clans of the L'vi'im approached El'azar the cohen, Y'hoshua the son of Nun and the leaders of the ancestral clans of the tribes of the people of Isra'el.

2 It was at Shiloh in the land of Kena'an that they spoke to them; they said, "ADONAI ordered through Moshe that we be given cities to live in, with the surrounding open land for our livestock."

3 So out of their inheritance the people of Isra'el gave the L'vi'im the following cities with the surrounding open land:

4 The lot came out for the families of the K'hati. The descendants of Aharon the cohen, who were of the L'vi'im, received by lot thirteen cities from the tribes of Y'hudah, Shim'on and Binyamin.

5 The rest of the descendants of K'hat received by lot ten cities from the families of the tribes of Efrayim and Dan and the half-tribe of M'nasheh.