To the rest of the Kohathites were given by lot …: Verses 54-60 dealt with the cities given to the descendants of Aaron, who were part of the Levite clan of Kohath. Verse 61 deals with the cities given to the rest of the Kohath clan. Verses 62-81 deal with the cities given to the Levite clans of Gershon and Merari.
By lot refers to the practice of using pieces of wood or stone (called “lots”) to find out what God wanted people to do. It is not clear what material was used in the Old Testament period, but linguistic and historical parallels suggest that the lots were made of wood or stone. This practice was quite common in the Old Testament (see, for example, Lev 16.8; Josh 18.6, 8, 10; 1 Chr 24.31; 25.8; 26.13-14; Neh 10.34; 11.1; Job 6.27; Psa 22.18; Joel 3.3; Oba 11; Jonah 1.7), and was also used in New Testament times as in the case of deciding what to do with the clothing of Jesus after his crucifixion (Luke 23.34; John 19.24) and in the case of selecting someone to replace Judas after his betrayal (Acts 1.26). It may be helpful to include a verb to give some indication of what was actually done. New Century Version, for example, speaks of “throwing lots.” The Masoretic Text does not have a verb with the words by lot. Revised Standard Version has added were given (Good News Translation “were assigned”) as the sense requires. This passive expression may be made active by beginning this verse with “The rest of the Levite clan of Kohath received by throwing lots…” (similarly Contemporary English Version).
Out of the family of the tribe, out of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh: What is meant by this expression? The Masoretic Text seems to contain errors here. Some scholars correct the text here to read “from the tribe of Ephraim and from the tribe of Dan and from the half tribe of Manasseh” on the basis of Josh 21.5, which reads “And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.” This correction is recommended in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; and several translations, in fact, correct the text here to agree with Josh 21.5 (so New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Osty-Trinquet, Herder, Knoppers). But the tribe of Dan is not mentioned in other places in 1 Chronicles where we would expect Dan to be mentioned (for example, in chapters 2–8, but see the comments on verse 69 and 7.12). So the omission of the tribe of Dan here may be deliberate rather than the result of a scribal error in copying. The half of Manasseh refers to the descendants of Manasseh who lived west of the Jordan River, what Good News Translation calls “West Manasseh” (see 1 Chr 7.14-19).
The other members of the Kohath clan received ten cities in the territory of West Manasseh.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .