Ver. 10-18. Which the Kohathites had; for their's was the first lot— Thus the Levite priests had for their part, as well in Simeon as in Judah, Hebron, excepting the country about it, which was already given to Caleb; ch. Joshua 14:14. Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh; and in the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth, and Almon, all which cities have been mentioned before, particularly in ch. 15: Of these, as well as of the other cities assigned to the Levites, we have a catalogue in 1 Chronicles 6 but that is imperfect; and, it should be observed, that the cities there are sometimes named otherwise than here. This may proceed from two causes: first, that, it being impracticable, to take some of these cities from the Canaanites, there was a necessity of substituting others in their stead, which are named in the list inserted 1 Chronicles 6. Secondly, that some of these cities had probably two names, or else had changed their names in the course of time. We also meet with differences in the names of the cities which fell to the Levites, on reading them in the version of the LXX. The copies printed from the Alexandrian manuscript render the Hebrew with the utmost exactness; but several names are there omitted. On the contrary, the copies which follow the Vatican manuscript omit very few names of cities, but those are mostly disfigured, or wholly different.
Joshua 21:10-18
10 Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot.
11 And they gave them the cityb of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it.
12 But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.
13 Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,
14 And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs,
15 And Holonc with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs,
16 And Aind with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Bethshemesh with her suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes.
17 And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Gebae with her suburbs,
18 Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almonf with her suburbs; four cities.