^18:11The first lot belonged to the tribe of Benjamin¹³ by its clans. Their allotted territory was between Judah and Joseph.¹⁴^18:12Their northern border started at the Jordan, went up to the slope of Jericho¹⁵ on the north, ascended westward to the hill country, and extended to the desert of Beth Aven. ^18:13It then crossed from there to Luz, to the slope of Luz to the south (that is, Bethel),¹⁶ and descended to Ataroth Addar located on the hill that is south of lower Beth Horon. ^18:14It then turned on the west side southward from the hill near Beth Horon on the south and extended to Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a city belonging to the tribe¹⁷ of Judah. This is the western border.¹⁸^18:15The southern side started on the edge of Kiriath Jearim and extended westward to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah. ^18:16The border then descended to the edge of the hill country near the Valley of Ben Hinnom located in the Valley of the Rephaites to the north. It descended through the Valley of Hinnom to the slope of the Jebusites to the south and then down to En Rogel. ^18:17It went northward, extending to En Shemesh and Geliloth opposite the Pass¹⁹ of Adummim, and descended to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. ^18:18It crossed to the slope in front of the Arabah to the north and descended into the Arabah. ^18:19It then crossed to the slope of Beth Hoglah to the north and ended at the northern tip of the Salt Sea²⁰ at the mouth of the Jordan River.²¹ This was the southern border. ^18:20The Jordan River borders it on the east. These were the borders of the land assigned to the tribe of Benjamin by its clans.²²

^18:21These cities belonged to the tribe²³ of Benjamin by its clans: Jericho,²⁴ Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, ^18:22Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,²⁵^18:23Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, ^18:24Kephar Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—a total of twelve cities and their towns.

^18:25Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, ^18:26Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, ^18:27Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ^18:28Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city²⁶ (that is, Jerusalem),²⁷ Gibeah, and Kiriath—a total of fourteen cities and their towns.²⁸ This was the land assigned to the tribe of Benjamin²⁹ by its clans.

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Footnotes

13 Heb “and the lot came up for the tribe of the sons of Benjamin.”
14 Heb “and the territory of their allotment went out between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.”
15 For location see ; ; ; ; ; .
16 For location see ; ; ; ; .
17 Heb “sons,” here referring to the tribe.
18 Or “side.”
19 Or “ascent.”
20 The Salt Sea is another name for the Dead Sea.
21 Heb “to the tongue of the Salt Sea to the north, to the end of the Jordan to the south.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity (also in the following verse).
22 Heb “This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin by its borders round about, by their clans.”
23 Heb “the sons,” here referring to the tribe.
24 For location see ; ; ; ; ; .
25 For location see ; ; ; ; .
26 The word “city” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
27 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
28 The structure of this list presents problems. In v. 28 no conjunction appears before “Haeleph” or “Kiriath” in the Hebrew text. This suggests they should be compounded with the preceding names, yielding “Zelah Haeleph” and “Gibeah Kiriath” respectively. This results in a list of only twelve cities, however, while the summary statement (v. 28) gives the number fourteen. One should note, however, that the city lists in chap. 15 do not consistently use the conjunction before the name of each city. See also Josh 19:7, where no conjunction appears before “Rimmon,” but the summary assumes that Ain and Rimmon are distinct.
29 Heb “This is the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin.”