Joshua 21:16

16 Ain, Juttah and Beth Shemesh. They gave those towns and their grasslands to the family groups of Kohath. The total number of towns from the tribes of Judah and Simeon was nine.

Joshua 21:16 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 15:16

And Ain with her suburbs (See Gill on Joshua 15:32); and Juttah with her suburbs; (See Gill on Joshua 15:55); [and] Bethshemesh with her suburbs;
which is not mentioned among the cities of Judah, ( Joshua 15:21-63 ) ; only as in the borders of it, ( Joshua 21:10 ) ; and perhaps is the same Bethshemesh to which the ark was directed by the Philistines from Ashdod, ( 1 Samuel 6:9 1 Samuel 6:12 ) ; in it formerly was a temple dedicated to the sun, from whence it had its name: nine cities out of those two tribes;
and they seem all but one, which is Ain, to be of the tribe of Judah, and that originally belonged to it; and as that tribe had the largest number of cities in its lot, the more were given out of it to the Levites, according to a rule prescribed, ( Numbers 35:8 ) .

Joshua 21:16 In-Context

14 Jattir, Eshtemoa,

15 Holon, Debir,

16 Ain, Juttah and Beth Shemesh. They gave those towns and their grasslands to the family groups of Kohath. The total number of towns from the tribes of Judah and Simeon was nine.

17 The people of Israel gave some towns from the tribe of Benjamin to the family groups of Kohath. The towns were Gibeon, Geba,

18 Anathoth and Almon. The total number of those towns and their grasslands was four.