Joshua 21:6

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Joshua 21:6 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 21:6 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/joshua/21/6.

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English Translation
The children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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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
    The children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And for the sons of Gershon, 13 cities by the lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar and from the tribe of Asher and from the tribe of Naphtali and from the half of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

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
    The children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    The descendants of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    The descendants of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    Also the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of ye tribe of Naphtali, and out of the halfe tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteene cities.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    And the lot came out to the children of Gerson, that they should take of the tribes of Issachar and of Aser and of Nephtali, and of the half tribe of Manasses in Basan, thirteen cities.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    And for the sons of Gershon `are', out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, by lot, thirteen cities.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And for the sons of Gershon, out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, [are] thirteen cities by lot.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    Then the people descended from Gershon were given, by the casting of lots, thirteen cities from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And for the sons of Gershon, 13 cities by the lot from the clans of the tribe of Issachar and from the tribe of Asher and from the tribe of Naphtali and from the half of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    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.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    The families of the descendants of Gershon were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh living in Bashan.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    The children of Gershon by their families were given thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar and Asher and Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh which was in Bashan.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

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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גֵרְשׁ֗וֹן
Gêrᵉshôwn
H1648
“Gershon”
Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H1644

TWOT: None

Gershon or Gershom = "exile" - firstborn son of Levi born before Jacob's family went to Egypt
  1. וְלִבְנֵ֣י bên H1121 “and · to/for · sons of” Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct
  2. מִמִּשְׁפְּח֣וֹת mishpâchâh H4940 “from · families of” Preposition + Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct
  3. מַטֵּֽה maṭṭeh H4294 “staff of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  4. יִשָּׂשכָ֣ר Yissâˢkâr H3485 “Issachar” Noun, Proper
  5. וּמִמַּטֵּֽה maṭṭeh H4294 “and · from · staff of” Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  6. אָ֠שֵׁר ʼÂshêr H836 “Asher” Noun, Proper
  7. וּמִמַּטֵּ֨ה maṭṭeh H4294 “and · from · staff of” Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  8. נַפְתָּלִ֜י Naphtâlîy H5321 “Naphtali” Noun, Proper
  9. וּ֠מֵחֲצִי chêtsîy H2677 “and · from · half of” Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  10. מַטֵּ֨ה maṭṭeh H4294 “staff of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
  11. מְנַשֶּׁ֤ה Mᵉnashsheh H4519 “Manasseh” Noun, Proper
  12. בַבָּשָׁן֙ Bâshân H1316 “in/at the · Bashan” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Proper
  13. בַּגּוֹרָ֔ל gôwrâl H1486 “in/at the · lot” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  14. עָרִ֖ים ʻîyr H5892 “cities” Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute
  15. שְׁלֹ֥שׁ shâlôwsh H7969 “three” Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute
  16. עֶשְׂרֵֽה ʻâsâr H6240 “teen” Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

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 →

17
words
14
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is גֵרְשׁ֗וֹן Gershon H1648 — appearing just 17 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

גֵרְשׁ֗וֹן Gershon H1648 occurs in 17 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 15 nouns
  • 2 adjectives

Repetition

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

  • מַטֵּֽה staff H4294 ×4

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 41 words from the Hebrew and 38 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 17 Hebrew tokens and 30 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 21:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Joshua 21:27–33 To the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh [they gave] Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Be-eshterah with its suburbs; two cities.
  • Exodus 6:16–17 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred thirty-seven years.
  • Numbers 3:21–22 Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
  • 1 Chronicles 6:62 To the sons of Gershom, according to their families, out of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities.
  • 1 Chronicles 6:71–76 To the sons of Gershom [were given], out of the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, and Ashtaroth with its suburbs;

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 21:6 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְלִבְנֵ֣י גֵרְשׁ֗וֹן מִמִּשְׁפְּח֣וֹת מַטֵּֽה יִשָּׂשכָ֣ר וּמִמַּטֵּֽה אָ֠שֵׁר וּמִמַּטֵּ֨ה נַפְתָּלִ֜י וּ֠מֵחֲצִי מַטֵּ֨ה מְנַשֶּׁ֤ה בַבָּשָׁן֙ בַּגּוֹרָ֔ל עָרִ֖ים שְׁלֹ֥שׁ עֶשְׂרֵֽה

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

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 21:6 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ υἱός γεδσων ἀπό ὁ φυλή ισσαχαρ καί ἀπό ὁ φυλή ασηρ καί ἀπό ὁ φυλή νεφθαλι καί ἀπό ὁ ἥμισυς φυλή μανασσή ἐν ὁ βασαν πόλις δέκα τρεῖς

And the sons of Gedson had thirteen cities, out of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Aser, and out of the tribe of Nephthali, and out of the half tribe of Manasse in Basan.

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)
    וְלִבְנֵי גֵרְשׁוֹן מִזַרְעֲיַת שִׁבְטָא דְיִשָׂשכָר וּמִשִׁבְטָא דְאָשֵׁר וּמִשִׁבְטָא דְנַפְתָּלִי וּמִפַּלְגוּת שִׁבְטָא דִמְנַשֶׁה בְּמַתְנַן בְּעַדְבָא קִרְוִין תְּלַת עַשְׂרֵי:

    (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 21:6 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 →

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

21:6 The clan of Gershon received cities among the four northernmost tribes in Israel.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

6. And the children of Gershon] The eldest of the three sons of Levi during the march through the wilderness had been stationed behind the Tabernacle, on the west side (Num_3:23). It had been their duty to take charge of the tapestry of the Tabernacle, all its curtains, hangings, and coverings, the pillars of the hangings, and the implements used in connection therewith (Num_3:21-26; Num_4:22-28).

had by lot] Thirteen cities out of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan.

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 the children of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar,.... These were Levites who descended from Gershon, the eldest son of Levi, and had their cities by lot assigned them in tribes at a greater distance, not only out of Issachar, but

out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan; which was the other half of the tribe beyond Jordan:

thirteen cities; as many as were given out of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

6. Gershon — The second division.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Gershon

Gershon was one of the sons of Levi. (See: How to Translate Names)

casting of lots

A random method of choosing to remove the choice from the leader's will, often done with the idea that God will decide the outcome. See how you translated this in Joshua 19:1.

Merari

Merari was one of the sons of Levi. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

Issachar

Asher

Naphtali

Manasseh

Bashan

Reuben

Gad

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 17 words (14 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Gêrᵉshôwn (“Gershon”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. The word Gêrᵉshôwn carries the sense “Gershon.” How does it shape the verse?
  2. How does Genesis 46:11, which shares the word «Gershon», read alongside this verse?
  3. What does the repetition of “staff” (4× in this one verse) do in this verse?
  4. These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
  5. Compare how Tyndale Open Study Notes and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

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Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

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).

Comparing translations? Open the Compare panel on any verse page to stack up to four side by side.