¹ Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal and [one of] the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.

² Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

³ Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, [to wit], with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, the men of war.

⁴ And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it,

⁵ that there came men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with meal-offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the house of Jehovah.

⁶ And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.

⁷ And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, [and cast them] into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him.

⁸ But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not; for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.

⁹ Now the pit wherein Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain, by the side of Gedaliah (the same was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel,) Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.

¹⁰ Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the children of Ammon.

¹¹ But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,

¹² then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.

¹³ Now it came to pass that, when all the people that were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad.

¹⁴ So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and came back, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah.

¹⁵ But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the children of Ammon.

¹⁶ Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, [to wit], the men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon:

¹⁷ and they departed, and dwelt in Geruth Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into Egypt,

¹⁸ because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.

¹ Then the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.

² They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, "Yahweh commanded Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for our livestock."

³ The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of Yahweh, these cities with their suburbs.

⁴ The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.

⁵ The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶ The children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷ The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸ The children of Israel gave these cities with their suburbs by lot to the Levites, as Yahweh commanded by Moses.

⁹ They gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are mentioned by name:

¹⁰ and they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot.

¹¹ They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (the same is Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its suburbs around it.

¹² But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

¹³ To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah with its suburbs,

¹⁴ Jattir with its suburbs, Eshtemoa with its suburbs,

¹⁵ Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs,

¹⁶ Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth Shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes.

¹⁷ Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs,

¹⁸ Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities.

¹⁹ All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

²⁰ The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹ They gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its suburbs,

²² Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth Horon with its suburbs; four cities.

²³ Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs,

²⁴ Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; four cities.

²⁵ Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; two cities.

²⁶ All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with their suburbs.

²⁷ They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Be Eshterah with its suburbs; two cities.

²⁸ Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs,

²⁹ Jarmuth with its suburbs, En Gannim with its suburbs; four cities.

³⁰ Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs,

³¹ Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities.

³² Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.

³³ All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

³⁴ To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, Kartah with its suburbs,

³⁵ Dimnah with its suburbs, and Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities.

³⁶ Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, Jahaz with its suburbs,

³⁷ Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; four cities.

³⁸ Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs,

³⁹ Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; four cities in all.

⁴⁰ All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites. Their lot was twelve cities.

⁴¹ All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs.

⁴² Each of these cities included their suburbs around them. It was this way with all these cities.

⁴³ So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it.

⁴⁴ Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand.

⁴⁵ Nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.