1 And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and
called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for
their judges, and for their officers; and they presented
themselves before God.

2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God
of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood
in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father
of Nachor: and they served other gods.

3 And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the
flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and
multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

4 And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau
mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went
down into Egypt.

5 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to
that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out.

6 And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the
sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with
chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea.

7 And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you
and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered
them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and
ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.

8 And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt
on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave
them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I
destroyed them from before you.

9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred
against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to
curse you:

10 But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you
still: so I delivered you out of his hand.

11 And you went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men
of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the
Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the
Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered
them into your hand.

12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from
before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with
thy sword, nor with thy bow.

13 And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and
cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the
vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.

14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in
truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the
other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.

15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you
this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your
fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or
the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for
me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should
forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;

17 For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our
fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage,
and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us
in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people
through whom we passed:

18 And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the
Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve
the LORD; for he is our God.

19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for
he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive
your transgressions nor your sins.

20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will
turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done
you good.

21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the
LORD.

22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against
yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And
they said, We are witnesses.

23 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are
among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.

24 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we
serve, and his voice will we obey.

25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set
them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God,
and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that
was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

27 And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall
be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the
LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness
unto you, lest ye deny your God.

28 So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his
inheritance.

29 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of
Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten
years old.

30 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in
Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of
the hill of Gaash.

31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the
days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known
all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel.

32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought
up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground
which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem
for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance
of the children of Joseph.

33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a
hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him
in mount Ephraim.

1 And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given
rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that
Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.

2 And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and
for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers,
and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:

3 And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all
these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that
hath fought for you.

4 Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that
remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan,
with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great
sea westward.

5 And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you,
and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess
their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.

6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is
written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not
aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;

7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among
you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause
to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto
them:

8 But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this
day.

9 For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and
strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before
you unto this day.

10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God,
he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.

11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the
LORD your God.

12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant
of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall
make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to
you:

13 Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive
out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be
snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and
thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land
which the LORD your God hath given you.

14 And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and
ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one
thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your
God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and
not one thing hath failed thereof.

15 Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are
come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall
the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have
destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God
hath given you.

16 When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God,
which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods,
and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD
be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off
the good land which he hath given unto you.

Some cawing Crows, a hooting Owl,
A Hawk, a Canary, an old Marsh-Fowl,
One day all meet together
To hold a caucus and settle the fate
Of a certain bird (without a mate),
A bird of another feather.

“My friends,” said the Owl, with a look most wise,
“The Eagle is soaring too near the skies,
In a way that is quite improper;
Yet the world is praising her, so I’m told,
And I think her actions have grown so bold
That some of us ought to stop her.”

“I have heard it said,” quoth Hawk, with a sigh,
“That young lambs died at the glance of her eye,
And I wholly scorn and despise her.
This, and more, I am told they say,
And I think that the only proper way
Is never to recognize her.”

“I am quite convinced,” said Crow, with a caw,
“That the Eagle minds no moral law,
She’s a most unruly creature.“
“She’s an ugly thing,” piped Canary Bird;
“Some call her handsome–it’s so absurd–
She hasn’t a decent feature.”

Then the old Marsh-Hen went hopping about,
She said she was sure–_she_ hadn’t a doubt–
Of the truth of each bird’s story:
And she thought it a duty to stop her flight,
To pull her down from her lofty height,
And take the gilt from her glory.

But, lo! from a peak on the mountain grand
That looks out over the smiling land
And over the mighty ocean,
The Eagle is spreading her splendid wings–
She rises, rises, and upward swings,
With a slow, majestic motion.

Up in the blue of God’s own skies,
With a cry of rapture, away she flies,
Close to the Great Eternal:
She sweeps the world with her piercing sight;
Her soul is filled with the infinite
And the joy of things supernal.

Thus rise forever the chosen of God,
The genius-crowned or the power-shod,
Over the dust-world sailing;
And back, like splinters blown by the winds,
Must fall the missiles of silly minds,
Useless and unavailing.

In the dark night, from sweet refreshing sleep
I wake to hear outside my window-pane
The uncurbed fury of the wild spring rain,
And weird winds lashing the defiant deep,
And roar of floods that gather strength and leap
Down dizzy, wreck-strewn channels to the main.
I turn upon my pillow and again
Compose myself for slumber.
Let them sweep;
I once survived great floods, and do not fear,
Though ominous planets congregate, and seem
To foretell strange disasters.
From a dream–
Ah! dear God! such a dream!–I woke to hear,
Through the dense shadows lit by no star’s gleam,
The rush of mighty waters on my ear.
Helpless, afraid, and all alone, I lay;
The floods had come upon me unaware.
I heard the crash of structures that were fair;
The bridges of fond hopes were swept away
By great salt waves of sorrow. In dismay
I saw by the red lightning’s lurid glare
That on the rock-bound island of despair
I had been cast. Till the dim dawn of day
I heard my castles falling, and the roll
Of angry billows bearing to the sea
The broken timbers of my very soul.
Were all the pent-up waters from the whole
Stupendous solar system to break free,
There are no floods that now can frighten me.

He who possesses virtue at its best,
Or greatness in the true sense of the word,
Has one day started even with that herd
Whose swift feet now speed but at sin’s behest.
It is the same force in the human breast
Which makes men gods or demons. If we gird
Those strong emotions by which we are stirred
With might of will and purpose, heights unguessed
Shall dawn for us; or if we give them sway
We can sink down and consort with the lost.
All virtue is worth just the price it cost.
Black sin is oft white truth that missed its way
And wandered off in paths not understood.
Twin-born I hold great evil and great good.

I strolled last eve across the lonely down;
One solitary picture struck my eye:
A distant ploughboy stood against the sky–
How far he seemed above the noisy town!

Upon the bosom of a cloud the sod
Laid its bruised cheek as he moved slowly by,
And, watching him, I asked myself if I
In very truth stood half as near to God.

The hurry of the times affects us so
In this swift rushing hour, we crowd and press
And thrust each other backward as we go,
And do not pause to lay sufficient stress
Upon that good, strong, true word, Earnestness.
In our impetuous haste, could we but know
Its full, deep meaning, its vast import, oh,
Then might we grasp the secret of success!
In that receding age when men were great,
The bone and sinew of their purpose lay
In this one word. God likes an earnest soul–
Too earnest to be eager. Soon or late
It leaves the spent horde breathless by the way,
And stands serene, triumphant at the goal.

Quite carelessly I turned the newsy sheet;
A song I sang, full many a year ago,
Smiled up at me, as in a busy street
One meets an old-time friend he used to know.

So full it was, that simple little song,
Of all the hope, the transport, and the truth,
Which to the impetuous morn of life belong,
That once again I seemed to grasp my youth.

So full it was of that sweet, fancied pain
We woo and cherish ere we meet with woe,
I felt as one who hears a plaintive strain
His mother sang him in the long ago.

Up from the grave the years that lay between
That song’s birthday and my stern present came
Like phantom forms and swept across the scene,
Bearing their broken dreams of love and fame.

Fair hopes and bright ambitions that I knew
In that old time, with their ideal grace,
Shone for a moment, then were lost to view
Behind the dull clouds of the commonplace.

With trembling hands I put the sheet away;
Ah, little song! the sad and bitter truth
Struck like an arrow when we met that day!
My life has missed the promise of its youth.

Through rivers of veins on the nameless quest
The tide of my life goes hurriedly sweeping,
Till it reaches that curious wheel o’ the breast,
The human heart, which is never at rest.
Faster, faster, it cries, and leaping,
Plunging, dashing, speeding away,
The wheel and the river work night and day.

I know not wherefore, I know not whither,
This strange tide rushes with such mad force:
It glides on hither, it slides on thither,
Over and over the selfsame course,
With never an outlet and never a source;
And it lashes itself to the heat of passion
And whirls the heart in a mill-wheel fashion.

I can hear in the hush of the still, still night,
The ceaseless sound of that mighty river;
I can hear it gushing, gurgling, rushing,
With a wild, delirious, strange delight,
And a conscious pride in its sense of might,
As it hurries and worries my heart forever.

And I wonder oft as I lie awake,
And list to the river that seethes and surges
Over the wheel that it chides and urges–
I wonder oft if that wheel will break
With the mighty pressure it bears, some day,
Or slowly and wearily wear away.

For little by little the heart is wearing,
Like the wheel of the mill, as the tide goes tearing
And plunging hurriedly through my breast,
In a network of veins on a nameless quest,
From and forth, unto unknown oceans,
Bringing its cargoes of fierce emotions,
With never a pause or an hour for rest.

I saw the day lean o’er the world’s sharp edge
And peer into night’s chasm, dark and damp;
High in his hand he held a blazing lamp,
Then dropped it and plunged headlong down the ledge.

With lurid splendor that swift paled to gray,
I saw the dim skies suddenly flush bright.
‘Twas but the expiring glory of the light
Flung from the hand of the adventurous day.

Because of the fullness of what I had
All that I have seems void and vain.
If I had not been happy I were not sad;
Though my salt is savorless, why complain?

From the ripe perfection of what was mine,
All that is mine seems worse than naught;
Yet I know as I sit in the dark and pine,
No cup could be drained which had not been fraught.

From the throb and thrill of a day that was,
The day that now is seems dull with gloom;
Yet I bear its dullness and darkness because
‘Tis but the reaction of glow and bloom.

From the royal feast which of old was spread
I am starved on the diet which now is mine;
Yet I could not turn hungry from water and bread,
If I had not been sated on fruit and wine.

Let me lean hard upon the Eternal Breast:
In all earth’s devious ways I sought for rest
And found it not. I will be strong, said I,
And lean upon myself. I will not cry
And importune all heaven with my complaint.
But now my strength fails, and I fall, I faint:
Let me lean hard.

Let me lean hard upon the unfailing Arm.
I said I will walk on, I fear no harm,
The spark divine within my soul will show
The upward pathway where my feet should go.
But now the heights to which I most aspire
Are lost in clouds. I stumble and I tire:
Let me lean hard.

Let me lean harder yet. That swerveless force
Which speeds the solar systems on their course
Can take, unfelt, the burden of my woe,
Which bears me to the dust and hurts me so.
I thought my strength enough for any fate,
But lo! I sink beneath my sorrow’s weight:
Let me lean hard.

There is a haunting phantom called Regret,
A shadowy creature robed somewhat like Woe,
But fairer in the face, whom all men know
By her sad mien and eyes forever wet.
No heart would seek her; but once having met,
All take her by the hand, and to and fro
They wander through those paths of long ago–
Those hallowed ways ’twere wiser to forget.

One day she led me to that lost land’s gate
And bade me enter; but I answered “No!
I will pass on with my bold comrade, Fate;
I have no tears to waste on thee–no time;
My strength I hoard for heights I hope to climb:
No friend art thou for souls that would be great.“

Methinks ofttimes my heart is like some bee
That goes forth through the summer day and sings.
And gathers honey from all growing things
In garden plot or on the clover lea.

When the long afternoon grows late, and she
Would seek her hive, she cannot lift her wings.
So heavily the too sweet bin den clings,
From which she would not, and yet would, fly free.

So with my full, fond heart; for when it tries
To lift itself to peace crowned heights, above
The common way where countless feet have trod,
Lo! then, this burden of dear human ties,
This growing weight of precious earthly love,
Binds down the spirit that would soar to God.

1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the
half tribe of Manasseh,

2 And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of
the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I
commanded you:

3 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day,
but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your
God.

4 And now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren,
as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto
your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses
the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side Jordan.

5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law,
which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the
LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his
commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with
all your heart and with all your soul.

6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away: and they went unto
their tents.

7 Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given
possession in Bashan: but unto the other half thereof gave
Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward. And
when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he
blessed them,

8 And he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto
your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with
gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much
raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.

9 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the
half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the
children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of
Canaan, to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their
possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word
of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

10 And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the
land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad
and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by Jordan,
a great altar to see to.

11 And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of
Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh
have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the
borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel.

12 And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole
congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves
together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them.

13 And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben,
and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh,
into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the
priest,

14 And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince
throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head
of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel.

15 And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children
of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of
Gilead, and they spake with them, saying,

16 Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass
is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to
turn away this day from following the LORD, in that ye have
builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the
LORD?

17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are
not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in
the congregation of the LORD,

18 But that ye must turn away this day from following the LORD?
and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that
to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of
Israel.

19 Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean,
then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the LORD,
wherein the LORD’s tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession
among us: but rebel not against the LORD, nor rebel against
us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the LORD our
God.

20 Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the
accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of
Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.

21 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the
half tribe of Manasseh answered, and said unto the heads of
the thousands of Israel,

22 The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and
Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in
transgression against the LORD, (save us not this day,)

23 That we have built us an altar to turn from following the
LORD, or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering,
or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the LORD himself
require it;

24 And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing,
saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our
children, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of
Israel?

25 For the LORD hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye
children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the
LORD: so shall your children make our children cease from
fearing the LORD.

26 Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar,
not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice:

27 But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our
generations after us, that we might do the service of the LORD
before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices,
and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say
to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the LORD.

28 Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say
to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say
again, Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our
fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but
it is a witness between us and you.

29 God forbid that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn
this day from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt
offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the
altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle.

30 And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the
congregation and heads of the thousands of Israel which were
with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the
children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spake, it pleased
them.

31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the
children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the
children of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the LORD is
among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against
the LORD: now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of
the hand of the LORD.

32 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes,
returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of
Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to
the children of Israel, and brought them word again.

33 And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children
of Israel blessed God, and did not intend to go up against
them in battle, to destroy the land wherein the children of
Reuben and Gad dwelt.

34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the
altar Ed: for it shall be a witness between us that the LORD
is God.

I may not reach the heights I seek,
My untried strength may fail me,
Or, half-way up the mountain peak,
Fierce tempests may assail me.
But though that place I never gain,
Herein lies comfort for my pain–
I will be worthy of it.

I may not triumph in success,
Despite my earnest labor;
I may not grasp results that bless
The efforts of my neighbor;
But though my goal I never see,
This thought shall always dwell with me–
I will be worthy of it.

The golden glory of Love’s light
May never fall on my way;
My path may always lead through night,
Like some deserted by-way;
But though life’s dearest joy I miss
There lies a nameless strength in this–
I will be worthy of it.

Only a simple rhyme of love and sorrow,
Where “blisses” rhymed with “kisses,” “heart,” with “dart:“
Yet, reading it, new strength I seemed to borrow,
To live on bravely and to do my part.

A little rhyme about a heart that’s bleeding–
Of lonely hours and sorrow’s unrelief:
I smiled at first; but there came with the reading
A sense of sweet companionship in grief.

The selfishness of my own woe forsaking,
I thought about the singer of that song.
Some other breast felt this same weary aching;
Another found the summer days too long.

The few sad lines, my sorrow so expressing,
I read, and on the singer, all unknown,
I breathed a fervent though a silent blessing,
And seemed to clasp his hand within my own.

And though fame pass him and he never know it,
And though he never sings another strain,
He has performed the mission of the poet,
In helping some sad heart to bear its pain.

In the still jungle of the senses lay
A tiger soundly sleeping, till one day
A bold young hunter chanced to come that way.

“How calm,” he said, “that splendid creature lies!
I long to rouse him into swift surprise.“
The well aimed arrow shot from amorous eyes,

And lo! the tiger rouses up and turns,
A coal of fire his glowing eyeball burns,
His mighty frame with savage hunger yearns.

He crouches for a spring; his eyes dilate–
Alas! bold hunter, what shall be thy fate?
Thou canst not fly; it is too late, too late.

Once having tasted human flesh, ah! then,
Woe, woe unto the whole rash world of men.
The wakened tiger will not sleep again.

1 Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto
Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto
the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of
Israel;

2 And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan,
saying, The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give us
cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle.

3 And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their
inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and
their suburbs.

4 And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and
the children of Aaron the priest, which were of the Levites,
had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of
Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities.

5 And the rest of the children of Kohath had by lot out of the
families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan,
and out of the half tribe of Manasseh, ten cities.

6 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.

7 The children of Merari by their families had out of the tribe
of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe
of Zebulun, twelve cities.

8 And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these
cities with their suburbs, as the LORD commanded by the hand
of Moses.

9 And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and
out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which
are here mentioned by name.

10 Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the
Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs
was the first lot.

11 And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which
city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs
thereof round about it.

12 But the fields of the city, and the villages thereof, gave
they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

13 Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with
her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah
with her suburbs,

14 And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs,

15 And Holon with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs,

16 And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and
Bethshemesh with her suburbs; nine cities out of those two
tribes.

17 And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs,
Geba with her suburbs,

18 Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs; four
cities.

19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were
thirteen cities with their suburbs.

20 And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites which
remained of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities
of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

21 For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim,
to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her
suburbs,

22 And Kibzaim with her suburbs, and Bethhoron with her suburbs;
four cities.

23 And out of the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with her suburbs,
Gibbethon with her suburbs,

24 Aijalon with her suburbs, Gathrimmon with her suburbs; four
cities.

25 And out of the half tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with her
suburbs, and Gathrimmon with her suburbs; two cities.

26 All the cities were ten with their suburbs for the families of
the children of Kohath that remained.

27 And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the
Levites, out of the other half tribe of Manasseh they gave
Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for
the slayer; and Beeshterah with her suburbs; two cities.

28 And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishon with her suburbs,
Dabareh with her suburbs,

29 Jarmuth with her suburbs, Engannim with her suburbs; four
cities.

30 And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with her suburbs, Abdon
with her suburbs,

31 Helkath with her suburbs, and Rehob with her suburbs; four
cities.

32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with her
suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Hammothdor
with her suburbs, and Kartan with her suburbs; three cities.

33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families
were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

34 And unto the families of the children of Merari, the rest of
the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with her
suburbs, and Kartah with her suburbs,

35 Dimnah with her suburbs, Nahalal with her suburbs; four
cities.

36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and
Jahazah with her suburbs,

37 Kedemoth with her suburbs, and Mephaath with her suburbs; four
cities.

38 And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her
suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim
with her suburbs,

39 Heshbon with her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs; four cities
in all.

40 So all the cities for the children of Merari by their
families, which were remaining of the families of the Levites,
were by their lot twelve cities.

41 All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the
children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their
suburbs.

42 These cities were every one with their suburbs round about
them: thus were all these cities.

43 And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to
give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt
therein.

44 And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that
he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all
their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their
enemies into their hand.

45 There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

Come, cuddle your head on my shoulder, dear,
Your head like the golden-rod,
And we will go sailing away from here
To the beautiful Land of Nod.
Away from life’s hurry and flurry and worry,
Away from earth’s shadows and gloom,
To a world of fair weather we’ll float off together,
Where roses are always in bloom.

Just shut your eyes and fold your hands,
Your hands like the leaves of a rose,
And we will go sailing to those fair lands
That never an atlas shows.
On the North and the West they are bounded by rest,
On the South and the East, by dreams;
’Tis the country ideal, where nothing is real,
But everything only seems.

Just drop down the curtains of your dear eyes
Those eyes like a bright bluebell,
And we will sail out under starlit skies,
To the land where the fairies dwell.

Down the river of sleep our barque shall sweep,
Till it reaches that mystical Isle
Which no man hath seen, but where all have been,
And there we will pause awhile.
I will croon you a song as we float along
To that shore that is blessed of God,
Then, ho! for that fair land, we’re off for that rare land,
That beautiful Land of Nod.