Joshua 21:33
in Joshua 21In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the Gershonite clans.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
KJV
All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
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This verse in Joshua 21
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
the Levite clans of the Gershonites
on Joshua 21:27-40
Gershon takes the north and Merari takes Zebulun with Reuben and Gad, and four refuge cities stand in verses 27, 32, 36 and 38. Ramoth in Gilead is where Ahab dies at 1 Kings 22:29-37, and Mahanaim is where David shelters from Absalom at 2 Samuel 17:24.
This site's exposition
given to the Gershonite clans
Two towns from Manasseh, four each from Issachar and Asher and three from Naphtali make the thirteen. Numbers 3:22 counted 7,500 Gershonite males, more than the 6,200 Merarites of Numbers 3:34. Gershon draws one town more.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
All the cities of the Gershonites, according to their families,.... Which were divided among them, according to the number of their families: were thirteen cities with their suburbs; two out of the half tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan, four out of Issachar, four out of Asher, and three out of Naphtali.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
they gave . . . these cities which are here mentioned by name--It was overruled by the unerring providence of the Divine Lawgiver that the cities of the priests lay within the territories of Judah and Benjamin. This was a provision, the admirable wisdom and propriety of which were fully manifested on the schism that took place in the reign of Rehoboam.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עָרֵ֥י | ʾarei | [the] cities of | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| הַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּ֖י | hagereshuni | the Gershonite[s] | H1649 → | |
| לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם | lemishpechotam | to clans their | H4940 → | 303 times |
| שְׁלֹשׁ־ | shelosh- | [were] thir- | H7969 → | 432 times |
| עֶשְׂרֵ֥ה | ʾesreh | teen | H6240 → | 338 times |
| עִ֖יר | ʾir | citi[es] | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| וּמִגְרְשֵׁיהֶֽן׃ ס | umigresheihen | and pasture lands their | H4054 → | 119 times |
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עָרֵ֥י[the] cities of
ʾareiH5892 →1090 times
הַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּ֖יthe Gershonite[s]
hagereshuniH1649 →
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑םto clans their
lemishpechotamH4940 →303 times
שְׁלֹשׁ־[were] thir-
shelosh-H7969 →432 times
עֶשְׂרֵ֥הteen
ʾesrehH6240 →338 times
עִ֖ירciti[es]
ʾirH5892 →1090 times
וּמִגְרְשֵׁיהֶֽן׃ סand pasture lands their
umigresheihenH4054 →119 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies11
About Joshua
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth.