Joshua 21:15

Study note

Setting — Joshua records the final allocation of towns to the Kohathite Levites during the territorial distribution of Canaan. The narrator lists Holon and Debir alongside their surrounding grazing territory as part of this specific inheritance grant.

The words — The Hebrew text uses וְאֶת־ (ve'et) to mark direct objects and pairs חֹלֹן (Cholon) with דְּבִר (Debir), each followed by מִגְרָשָׁהּ (migra-sah), meaning "its pasture lands." These terms function as a straightforward topographical inventory identifying the named settlements and their adjacent grazing territory.

The thread — The narrative cross-references these locations in Joshua 15:49 and Joshua 15:51, where they appear as part of Judah’s ancestral allotment, and Joshua 12:13, which records the former king of Debir. The repeated mention tracks the administrative transfer of these towns from tribal inheritance to priestly possession.

Why it lands — The passage requires a reader to acknowledge the precise, documented division of land among Israel’s tribes and priestly clans. It demands attention to how specific towns and their adjacent grazing lands were formally assigned and recorded without ambiguity.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.