Joshua 21:9

Of Judah, and … of Simeon. It is interesting to notice that, with the exception of Ain (v. 16), all the priestly cities were so arranged as to fall ultimately within the kingdom of Judah (1 Kings 12), of which the capital was Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. Though the Levites of the northern kingdom left their cities and their suburbs in the time of Jeroboam’s rebellion (2 Chron. 11:14), and came over to Judah, the fact that all the priests, with the insignificant exception noted in the foregoing, were already settled there, represented a great advantage.

These cities. The catalog of the Levitical cities is given in this chapter, and, with some variations and omissions, in 1 Chron. 6:54–81. Many years had elapsed and some of the cities were probably called by different names. Some adjustments may also have been made in the interval, owing to changing political situations.