The same people who had been responsible for assigning the western tribes their territory are responsible for assigning the cities to the Levites: Eleazar, Joshua, and the tribal leaders (see 19.51). They use the same process, that of drawing lots, and it is done in the same place, Shiloh (see 18.1).

The reference to the instructions given to Moses is to be found in Numbers 35.1-8, where it is specified that the Levites be assigned the six cities of refuge plus forty-two other cities, a total of forty-eight.

By translating verses 1-2 as a unit, it is possible to remove some of the repetition and reorder certain of the phrases:

• When the people of Israel were camped near the city of Shiloh in the land of Canaan, the leaders of the Levite families went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and to the heads of the families of all of the tribes of Israel, and said …

Or the sentence may be divided into two sentences, with the indirect discourse of Good News Translation changed to direct discourse:

• The people of Israel were now camped near the city of Shiloh in the land of Canaan. While they were there, the leaders of the Levite families went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and to the heads of the families of all the tribes of Israel, and said, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Give the Levites cities to live in, and give them the pasture land around the cities for their livestock.’ ”

In some languages the shift to direct discourse for the Lord’s words to Moses may require a time marker or verb tense which indicates that this event had happened some time ago.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .