Joshua 18-19

Tree of Life Version

Scouting the Land Further

18 Then the whole congregation of Bnei-Yisrael assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there, after the land was now subdued before them. ² Yet there remained among Bnei-Yisrael seven tribes that still had not received their portions. ³ So Joshua said to Bnei-Yisrael, “How long will you be slack about going in to possess the land which Adonai, the God of your fathers, has given you? ⁴ Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe, and I will send them, and they will arise and walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance, and then return to me. ⁵ They are to divide it into seven portions: Judah will remain within its territory in the south, and the house of Joseph will remain within their territory in the north. ⁶ After you have described the seven portions of land, bring the description here to me. Then I will cast lots for you here before Adonai our God. ⁷ But the Levites have no portion among you—for the priesthood of Adonai is their inheritance. Also Gad, Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of Adonai gave them.”

⁸ So the men arose and went, and Joshua charged those who went to write a description of the land, saying: “Go and walk through the land and describe it, then return to me, and I will cast lots for you here before Adonai in Shiloh.” ⁹ So the men went, passing through the land, and described it in a scroll, town by town, in seven parts. Then they came to Joshua at the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰ Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Adonai, and there Joshua apportioned the land to Bnei-Yisrael according to their divisions.

Inheritance of Benjamin

¹¹ Now the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up, for their clans. The territory of their allotment lay between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph. ¹² Now their border on the north side was from the Jordan—the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the hill country westward, and it ended at the wilderness of Beth-aven. ¹³ Then the border passed from there to Luz, to the side of Luz (that is, Bethel) southward. Next the border went down to Atroth-addar, near the mountain that lies to the south of Lower Beth-horon.

¹⁴ On the west side, from the hill facing Beth-horon southward, the border curved, turning about southward, and ended at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a town of the children of Judah. This was the west side.

¹⁵ Then the south side was from the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim, then the border went westward, going to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah. ¹⁶ Then the border went down to the foot of the mountain by the Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim. Then it went down to the Valley of Hinnom, to the slope of the Jebusite southward, and went down to En-rogel. ¹⁷ Then it curved north, and went to En-shemesh and ran to Geliloth opposite the Ascent of Adummim, and went down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. ¹⁸ Next it passed northward to the slope facing the Arabah (of the Jordan Valley), and went down to the Arabah. ¹⁹ Then the border passed along the side of Beth-hoglah northward, and the border ended at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the southern border.

²⁰ The Jordan was to be the border on the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, and its borders all around according to their clans.

²¹ Now the towns of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their clans were: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, ²² Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, ²³ Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, ²⁴ Chephar-ammonah, Ophni, and Geba—12 towns with their villages. ²⁵ Gibeon, Ramah, Beerot, ²⁶ Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, ²⁷ Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ²⁸ Zela, Eleph, and Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath—14 towns with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their clans.

Portions for Other Tribes

19 Then the second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their clans. Now their portion was in the midst of the portion of the children of Judah. ² They had for their inheritance: Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah, ³ Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, ⁴ El-tolad, Bethul, Hormah, ⁵ Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, ⁶ Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen—13 towns with their villages; ⁷ also Ain, Rimmon, Ether and Ashan—4 towns with their villages; ⁸ all the villages that were around these towns as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the Negev. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their clans. ⁹ The inheritance of the children of Simeon was taken out of the allotment of the children of Judah, for the portion of the children of Judah was too much for them; so the children of Simeon had inheritance within Judah’s inheritance.

¹⁰ Now the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their clans. The territory of their inheritance was as far as Sarid. ¹¹ Their border went up westward to Maralah, then reached Dabbesheth, and on to the wadi alongside Jokneam. ¹² It turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrise to the border of Chisloth-tabor, then went on to Dobrath and up to Japhia. ¹³ From there it went east to Gath-hepher, to Ethkazin, and went on to Rimmon, where it curved to Neah. ¹⁴ Then the border circled around on the north to Hannathon and ended at the Valley of Iphtahel. ¹⁵ Included also were Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah and Bethlehem—12 towns with their villages. ¹⁶ This is the inheritance of the children of Zebulun according to their clans, these towns with their villages.

¹⁷ The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the children of Issachar according to their clans. ¹⁸ Now their territory was to Jezreel, and included Chesulloth, Shunem, ¹⁹ Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, ²⁰ Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, ²¹ Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah and Beth-pazzez. ²² The border extended to Tabor, Shahazim, and Beth-shemesh, and ended at the Jordan—16 towns with their villages. ²³ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Issachar according to their clans, the towns with their villages.

²⁴ Then the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according to their clans. ²⁵ Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, ²⁶ Allam-melech, Amad, and Mishal. It extended to Carmel westward and Shihor-libnath. ²⁷ Then it turned toward the sunrise to Beth-dagon, extended to Zebulun and to the Iphtahel Valley on the north toward Beth-emek and Neiel, then went on to Cabul on the north, ²⁸ then Ebron, Rehob, Hammon and Kanah, up to greater Sidon. ²⁹ Next the border turned to Ramah, then to the fortified city of Tyre. Then the border turned to Hosah and ended at the sea in the region of Achzib, ³⁰ Also included were Ummah, Aphek and Rehob—22 towns with their villages. ³¹ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher according to their clans, these towns with their villages.

³² The sixth lot came out for the children of Naphtali, for the children of Naphtali according to their clans. ³³ Their border went from Heleph and from Elon-beza-anannim, including Adami-nekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, and ended at the Jordan. ³⁴ Then the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor, and went on from there to Hukok. It touched Zebulun on the south, touched Asher on the west, and Judah at the Jordan toward the east. ³⁵ The fortified cities were Ziddim-zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, ³⁶ Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, ³⁷ Kedesh, Edrei, En-Hazor, ³⁸ Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh—19 towns with their villages. ³⁹ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Naphtali according to their clans, the towns with their villages.

⁴⁰ The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their clans. ⁴¹ The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, ⁴² Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, ⁴³ Elon, Timnah, Ekron, ⁴⁴ Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, ⁴⁵ Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, ⁴⁶ and the Waters of Jarkon and Rakkon along the border opposite Joppa. ⁴⁷ The territory of the children of Dan slipped away from them, so the children of Dan went up and fought against Leshem and captured it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, possessed it and settled in it, and called Leshem Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor. ⁴⁸ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their clans, these towns with their villages.

⁴⁹ When they had finished allotting the land for inheritance by its borders, Bnei-Yisrael gave a portion to Joshua son of Nun in their midst. ⁵⁰ According to the command of Adonai they gave him the city that he requested, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built up the city and lived in it.

⁵¹ These are the portions which Eleazar the kohen and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the ancestral houses of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh before Adonai, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. So they finished apportioning the land.