Joshua 21:34

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Joshua 21:34 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Joshua 21:34 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/joshua/21/34.

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English Translation
To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs,
World English Bible · Public Domain
Highlights
  • 1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
  • 1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs,
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And for the clans of the sons of Merari, the remaining Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its pasturelands, Kartah and its pasturelands,

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs,
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    This is what the Merarite clan (the rest of the Levites) were given: From the tribe of Zebulun they were given Jokneam, Kartah,
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    This is what the Merarite clan (the rest of the Levites) were given: From the tribe of Zebulun they were given Jokneam, Kartah,
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs,
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    Also vnto the families of the children of Merari the rest of the Leuites, they gaue out of the tribe of Zebulun, Iokneam with her suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbes,
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And to the children of Merari, Levites of the inferior degree, by their families were given of the tribe of Zabulon, Jecnam and Cartha,
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    And for the families of the sons of Merari, the Levites, who are left, `are,' out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its suburbs, Kartah and its suburbs,
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And for the families of the sons of Merari, the Levites, who are left, [are,] out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its outskirts, Kartah and its outskirts,
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    To the rest of the Levites—the clans of Merari—were given out of the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pasturelands, Kartah with its pasturelands,
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And for the clans of the sons of Merari, the remaining Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its pasturelands, Kartah and its pasturelands,
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And to the families of the children of Merari, that remained of the Levites, [they gave] out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and its suburbs, Kartah and its suburbs,
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands,
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs,
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    The families of the descendants of Merari, those remaining from the tribe of Levi, received the following four towns and their pastures from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam, Kartah,
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And to the rest of the Levites, that is, the families of the children of Merari, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam and Kartah with their grass-lands;
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with the open land about it, and Kartah with the open land about it;

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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קַרְתָּ֖ה
Qartâh
H7177
“Kartah”
Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7176

TWOT: None

Kartah = "city" - a town in Zebulun allotted to the Merarite Levites
  1. וּלְמִשְׁפְּח֣וֹת mishpâchâh H4940 “and · to/for · families of” Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct
  2. בְּנֵֽי bên H1121 “sons of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct
  3. מְרָרִי֮ Mᵉrârîy H4847 “Merari” Noun, Proper
  4. הַלְוִיִּ֣ם Lêvîyîy H3881 “the · Levites” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  5. הַנּוֹתָרִים֒ yâthar H3498 “the · remaining” Particle, Definite Article + Verb, Niphal, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  6. מֵאֵת֙ ʼêth H854 “from · with” Preposition + Preposition
  7. מַטֵּ֣ה maṭṭeh H4294 “staff of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  8. זְבוּלֻ֔ן Zᵉbûwlûwn H2074 “Zebulun” Noun, Proper
  9. אֶֽת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  10. יָקְנְעָ֖ם Yoqnᵉʻâm H3362 “Jokneam” Noun, Proper
  11. וְאֶת ʼêth H853 “and · -” Conjunction + Particle, Direct Object
  12. מִגְרָשֶׁ֑הָ migrâsh H4054 “common lands · her” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  13. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  14. וְאֶת ʼêth H853 “and · -” Conjunction + Particle, Direct Object
  15. מִגְרָשֶֽׁהָ migrâsh H4054 “common lands · her” Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

16
words
12
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

  • קַרְתָּ֖ה Kartah H7177

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

  • קַרְתָּ֖ה Kartah H7177

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יָקְנְעָ֖ם Jokneam H3362 occurs in 3 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 1 verb
  • 10 nouns
  • 1 preposition
  • 4 particles

Verb forms

  • הַנּוֹתָרִים֒ Niphal · Participle Active

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • מִגְרָשֶׁ֑הָ common land H4054 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 28 words from the Hebrew and 30 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 16 Hebrew tokens and 27 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

5

Topical passages linked to Joshua 21:34 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • 1 Chronicles 6:77 To the rest of [the Levites], the sons of Merari, [were given], out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmono with its suburbs, Tabor with its suburbs;
  • Joshua 12:22 the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
  • Joshua 19:11 and their border went up westward, even to Maralah, and reached to Dabbesheth; and it reached to the brook that is before Jokneam;
  • Joshua 19:15 and Kattath, and Nahalal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages.
  • Joshua 21:7 The children of Merari according to their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Joshua 21:34 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּלְמִשְׁפְּח֣וֹת בְּנֵֽי מְרָרִי֮ הַלְוִיִּ֣ם הַנּוֹתָרִים֒ מֵאֵת֙ מַטֵּ֣ה זְבוּלֻ֔ן אֶֽת יָקְנְעָ֖ם וְאֶת מִגְרָשֶׁ֑הָ אֶת קַרְתָּ֖ה וְאֶת מִגְרָשֶֽׁהָ

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

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 21:34 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ δῆμος υἱός μεραρι ὁ λευίτης ὁ λοιπός ἐκ ὁ φυλή υἱός ζαβουλων ὁ μααν καί ὁ περισπόριον αὐτός καί ὁ καδης καί ὁ περισπόριον αὐτός

And to the family of the sons of Merari the Levites that remained, he gave out of the tribe of Zabulon, Maan and its suburbs; and Cades and its suburbs,

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

1

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
    וּלְזַרְעֲיַת בְּנֵי מְרָרִי לֵוָאֵי דִי אִשְׁתַּאֲרוּ מִן שִׁבְטָא דִזְבוּלֻן יַת יָקְנְעָם וְיַת רְוָחָהָא יַת קַרְתָּה וְיַתְ רְוָחָהָא:

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Joshua 21:34 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

They are here called the rest, because they are last numbered, and Merari was the younger brother, Gen. 46:11.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

34–42. The Cities of the Merarites

34. And unto the families of the children of Merari] were assigned twelve cities, viz.,

(a) Four in Zebulun,

(b) Four in Reuben,

(c) Four in Gad.

Jokneam] See Jos_19:11; Kartah and Dimnah unknown.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites,.... The descendants of the youngest son of Levi, who were all that remained of the Levites unprovided of cities:

out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her suburbs; which lay near Carmel, and was a royal city; See Gill on Jos 12:22,

and Kartah with her suburbs; perhaps the same with Kattath, Jos 19:15.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Merarite cities. Some of these places are not found in the list of Zebulonite cities in Jos 19:10-16. The text is considered corrupt.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

To the rest of the Levites—the clans of Merari—were given out of the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam

This can be stated in active form. AT: The rest of the Levites—the clans of Merari—received from the tribe of Zebulun Jokneam" (See: Active or Passive)

Merari

name of a person (See: How to Translate Names)

Jokneam ... Kartah ... Dimnah ... Nahalal

names of cities (See: How to Translate Names)

four cities in all

The cities are referred to in total as a number. (See: Numbers)

translationWords

Levi

Zebulun

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Joshua, in the Historical, opens this verse with 16 words (12 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Qartâh (“Kartah”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. How does “Kartah” (Qartâh) shape what this verse is saying?
  2. This verse holds 1 word here found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. What might the rare word draw attention to?
  3. The word “Kartah” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
  4. Joshua 12:22 shares the word «Jokneam» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
  5. “common land” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  6. These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
  7. The verb «הַנּוֹתָרִים֒» is Niphal Participle Active. How does its form color the action?
  8. Reading how Geneva Bible (1599) and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

  • 1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
  • 1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
  • This verse counts 16 Hebrew ↔ 27 Greek words.
  • These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
  • “common land” occurs 2× in this single verse.

Reading settings

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Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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