Joshua 15–17

The Allotment for Judah

15The allotment for the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans reached southward ^hto the boundary of Edom, to ⁱthe wilderness of Zin at the farthest south. ²And their south boundary ran from the end of the ^hSalt Sea, from the bay that faces southward. ³It goes out southward of ^jthe ascent of Akrabbim, passes along to Zin, and goes up south of Kadesh-barnea, along by Hezron, up to Addar, turns about to Karka, ⁴passes along to Azmon, goes out by ^kthe Brook of Egypt, and comes to its end at the sea. This shall be your south boundary. ⁵And the east boundary is the ^hSalt Sea, to the mouth of the Jordan. And the boundary on the north side runs from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan. ⁶And the boundary goes up to ^lBeth-hoglah and passes along north of ^mBeth-arabah. And the boundary goes up to ⁿthe stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. ⁷And the boundary goes up to Debir from ^othe Valley of Achor, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, which is opposite ^pthe ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the valley. And the boundary passes along to the waters of ^pEn-shemesh and ends at ^qEn-rogel. ⁸Then the boundary goes up by ^rthe Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite (^sthat is, Jerusalem). And the boundary goes up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the Valley of Hinnom, on the west, at the northern end of the Valley ^tof Rephaim. ⁹Then the boundary extends from the top of the mountain ^uto the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, and from there to the cities of Mount Ephron. Then the boundary bends around to Baalah (^vthat is, Kiriath-jearim). ¹⁰And the boundary circles west of Baalah to Mount Seir, passes along to the northern shoulder of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), and goes down to ^wBeth-shemesh and passes along by ^xTimnah. ¹¹The boundary goes out ^yto the shoulder of the hill north of Ekron, then the boundary bends around to Shikkeron and passes along to Mount ^zBaalah and goes out to Jabneel. Then the boundary comes to an end at the sea. ¹²And the west boundary was ^athe Great Sea with its coastline. This is the boundary around the people of Judah according to their clans.

¹³According to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah, ^bKiriath-arba, that is, ^bHebron (Arba was the father of Anak). ¹⁴And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, ^cSheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak. ¹⁵And he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir. ^dNow the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. ¹⁶And Caleb said, “He who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter as wife.” ^17eAnd Othniel the son of Kenaz, ^fthe brother of Caleb, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. ¹⁸When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” ¹⁹She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

²⁰This is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans. ²¹The cities belonging to the tribe of the people of Judah in the extreme south, toward the boundary of Edom, were Kabzeel, ^gEder, Jagur, ²²Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ^24hZiph, Telem, Bealoth, ²⁵Hazor-hadattah, Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor), ²⁶Amam, Shema, Moladah, ²⁷Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet, ²⁸Hazar-shual, ⁱBeersheba, Biziothiah, ²⁹Baalah, Iim, Ezem, ³⁰Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, ^31jZiklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, ³²Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon: in all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.

³³And in the lowland, ^kEshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, ³⁴Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah, Enam, ^35lJarmuth, ^mAdullam, ⁿSocoh, ⁿAzekah, ³⁶Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, Gederothaim: fourteen cities with their villages.

³⁷Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad, ³⁸Dilean, Mizpeh, Joktheel, ^39oLachish, Bozkath, ^pEglon, ⁴⁰Cabbon, Lahmam, Chitlish, ⁴¹Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and ^qMakkedah: sixteen cities with their villages.

^42rLibnah, Ether, Ashan, ⁴³Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, ^44sKeilah, Achzib, and Mareshah: nine cities with their villages.

^45tEkron, with its towns and its villages; ⁴⁶from Ekron to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages.

^47tAshdod, its towns and its villages; ^tGaza, its towns and its villages; to ^uthe Brook of Egypt, and ^vthe Great Sea with its coastline.

⁴⁸And in the hill country, Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, ⁴⁹Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (^wthat is, Debir), ⁵⁰Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, ^51xGoshen, Holon, and ^yGiloh: eleven cities with their villages.

⁵²Arab, Dumah, Eshan, ⁵³Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah, ⁵⁴Humtah, ^zKiriath-arba (that is, ^zHebron), and Zior: nine cities with their villages.

^55aMaon, ^aCarmel, ^bZiph, Juttah, ⁵⁶Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, ⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah, and ^cTimnah: ten cities with their villages.

⁵⁸Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor, ⁵⁹Maarath, Beth-anoth, and Eltekon: six cities with their villages.

^60dKiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah: two cities with their villages.

⁶¹In the wilderness, ^eBeth-arabah, Middin, Secacah, ⁶²Nibshan, the City of Salt, and ^fEngedi: six cities with their villages.

⁶³But the ^gJebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ^hthe people of Judah could not drive out, ^hso the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

The Allotment for Ephraim and Manasseh

16The allotment of the people of Joseph went from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, ⁱinto the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel. ²Then ^jgoing from Bethel to Luz, it passes along to Ataroth, the territory of the Archites. ³Then it goes down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of Lower ^kBeth-horon, then to ^lGezer, and it ends at the sea.

^4mThe people of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance.

⁵The territory of the people of Ephraim by their clans was as follows: the boundary of their inheritance on the east was ⁿAtaroth-addar as far as Upper Beth-horon, ⁶and the boundary goes from there to the sea. On the north is ^oMichmethath. Then on the east the boundary turns around toward Taanath-shiloh and passes along beyond it on the east to Janoah, ⁷then it goes down from Janoah to Ataroth and ^pto Naarah, and touches Jericho, ending at the Jordan. ⁸From ^qTappuah the boundary goes westward to the brook Kanah and ends at the sea. Such is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Ephraim by their clans, ⁹together with ^qthe towns that were set apart for the people of Ephraim within the inheritance of the Manassites, all those towns with their villages. ¹⁰However, ^rthey did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made ^sto do forced labor.

17Then allotment was made to the people of Manasseh, for he was ^tthe firstborn of Joseph. To ^uMachir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, ^vwere allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war. ²And allotments were made ^wto the rest of the people of Manasseh by their clans, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These were the male descendants of Manasseh the son of Joseph, by their clans.

³Now ^xZelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: ^xMahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ⁴They approached ^yEleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, ^z“The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers.” So according to the mouth of the Lord he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. ⁵Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides ^athe land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan, ⁶because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the people of Manasseh.

⁷The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to ^bMichmethath, which is east of Shechem. Then the boundary goes along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah. ⁸The land of ^cTappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the people of Ephraim. ^9cThen the boundary went down to the brook Kanah. These cities, to the south of the brook, among the cities of Manasseh, belong to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh goes on the north side of the brook and ends at the sea, ¹⁰the land to the south being Ephraim’s and that to the north being Manasseh’s, with the sea forming its boundary. On the north Asher is reached, and on the east Issachar. ¹¹Also in Issachar and in Asher ^dManasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, and Ibleam and its villages, and the inhabitants of ^dDor and its villages, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, and the inhabitants of ^dTaanach and its villages, and the inhabitants of ^dMegiddo and its villages; ^ethe third is Naphath.^{1 12f}Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. ¹³Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites ^gto forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

¹⁴Then ^hthe people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but ⁱone lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am ^ja numerous people, since all along the Lord has blessed me?” ¹⁵And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and ^kthe Rephaim, since ^lthe hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” ¹⁶The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for…