Joshua 21:3

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.

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 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.