Bible Strands
Joshua 21:22
Kibzaim, and Beth-horon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua records the final allocation of Levitical cities from the tribe of Ephraim. The narrator lists Kibzaim and Beth-horon as part of this territorial distribution.
The words — The text names קִבְצַיִם (kiv.Tza.yim), meaning Kibzaim, and מִגְרָשָׁהּ (migra-shah), literally "its pasture lands." These terms designate the specific urban centers and their surrounding grazing territory allotted to the priests.
The thread — Beth-horon appears repeatedly in Joshua as a boundary marker for Ephraim’s territory (Joshua 16:3, 16:5, 18:13). The same region transitions from tribal inheritance to Levitical possession in this chapter.
Why it lands — The passage functions as a legal inventory that fulfills the covenant land promise through precise geographic allocation. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine provision is recorded in concrete, verifiable boundaries.
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.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and Beth–horon with her suburbs; four cities.
Cross-references
- Joshua 16:3 Then it descended westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and on to Gezer, and it ended at the Sea.
- Joshua 16:5 This was the territory of the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: The border of their inheritance went from Ataroth-addar in the east to Upper Beth-horon
- Joshua 18:13 From there the border crossed over to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth-addar on the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.
- 1 Chronicles 6:68 Jokmeam, Beth-horon,