Joshua 18–19

Land Distribution at Shiloh

18The entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh ⁱwhere it set up the tent of meeting there; the land had been subdued by them. ²Seven tribes among the Israelites were left who had not divided up their inheritance. ³So Joshua said to the Israelites, “How long will you delay going out to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, gave you? ^j4Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe, and I will send them out. They are to go and survey the land, write a description of it for the purpose of their inheritance, and return to me. ⁵Then they are to divide it into seven portions. Judah is to remain in its territory in the south and Joseph’s family in their ^kterritory in the north. ^l6When you have written a description of the seven portions of land and brought it to me, I will cast lots for ^myou here in the presence of the Lord our God. ⁿ⁷But the Levites among you do not get a portion, because their inheritance is the priesthood of the Lord. ^oGad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan to the east, which Moses the Lord’s servant gave them.”

⁸As the men prepared to go, Joshua commanded them ^pto write down a description of the land, saying, “Go and survey the land, write a description of it, and return to me. I will then cast lots for you here in Shiloh in the presence of the Lord.” ⁹So the men left, went through the land, and described it by towns in a document of seven sections. They returned to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh. ¹⁰Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord where he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their divisions.

Benjamin’s Inheritance

¹¹The lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants by their clans, and their allotted territory lay between Judah’s descendants and Joseph’s descendants.

¹²Their border on the north side began at the Jordan, ascended to the slope of Jericho on the north, through the hill country westward, and ended at the wilderness of Beth-aven. ^q13From there the border went toward Luz, to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel); it then went down by Ataroth-addar, over the hill south of Lower Beth-horon. ^r

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

¹⁵The south side began at the edge of Kiriath-jearim, and the border extended westward; it went to the spring at the Waters of Nephtoah. ¹⁶The border descended to the foot of the hill that faces the Valley of Hinnom at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim. It ran down the Valley of Hinnom toward the south Jebusite slope and downward to En-rogel. ¹⁷It curved northward and went to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth, which is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, and continued down to the Stone of Bohan ^sson of Reuben. ¹⁸Then it went north to the slope opposite the Jordan Valley ^tuand proceeded into the valley. ^v19The border continued to the north slope of Beth-hoglah and ended at the northern bay of the Dead Sea, at the southern end of the Jordan. This was the southern border.

²⁰The Jordan formed the border on the east side.

This was the inheritance of Benjamin’s descendants, by their clans, according to its surrounding borders.

Benjamin’s Cities

²¹These were the cities of the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants by their clans:

Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, ²²Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, ²³Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, ²⁴Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—12 cities, with their villages; ²⁵Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, ²⁶Mizpeh, ^wChephirah, Mozah, ²⁷Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ²⁸Zela, Haeleph, Jebus ^x(that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath ^y—14 cities, with their villages.

This was the inheritance for Benjamin’s descendants by their clans.

Simeon’s Inheritance

19The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of his descendants by their clans, but their inheritance was within the portion of Judah’s descendants. ²Their inheritance included:

Beer-sheba (or Sheba ^z), Moladah, ³Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, ⁴Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, ⁵Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, ⁶Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—13 cities, with their villages; ⁷Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities, with their villages; ⁸and all the villages surrounding these cities as far as Baalath-beer (Ramah of the south ^a).

This was the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon’s descendants by their clans. ⁹The inheritance of Simeon’s descendants was within the territory of Judah’s descendants, because the share for Judah’s descendants was too large for them. So Simeon’s descendants received an inheritance within Judah’s portion.

Zebulun’s Inheritance

¹⁰The third lot came up for Zebulun’s descendants by their clans.

The territory of their inheritance stretched as far as Sarid; ¹¹their border went up westward to Maralah, reached Dabbesheth, and met the brook east of Jokneam. ¹²From Sarid, it turned east toward the sunrise along the border of Chisloth-tabor, went to Daberath, and went up to Japhia. ¹³From there, it went east toward the sunrise to Gath-hepher and to Eth-kazin; it extended to Rimmon, curving around to Neah. ¹⁴The border then circled around Neah on the north to Hannathon and ended at the Valley of Iphtah-el, ¹⁵along with Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—12 cities, with their villages.

¹⁶This was the inheritance of Zebulun’s descendants by their clans, these cities, with their villages.

Issachar’s Inheritance

¹⁷The fourth lot came out for the tribe of Issachar’s descendants by their clans.

¹⁸Their territory went to Jezreel, and included Chesulloth, Shunem, ^b19Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, ²⁰Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, ²¹Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, Beth-pazzez. ²²The border reached Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and ended at the Jordan—16 cities, with their villages.

²³This was the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar’s descendants by their clans, the cities, with their villages.

Asher’s Inheritance

²⁴The fifth lot came out for the tribe of Asher’s descendants by their clans.

²⁵Their boundary included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, ²⁶Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal and reached westward to Carmel and Shihor-libnath. ²⁷It turned eastward to Beth-dagon, passed Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah-el, north toward Beth-emek and Neiel, and went north to Cabul, ^c28Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Great Sidon. ²⁹The boundary then turned to Ramah as far as the fortified city of Tyre; it turned back to Hosah and ended at the sea, including Mahalab, Achzib, ^d30Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob—22 cities, with their villages.

³¹This was the inheritance of the tribe of Asher’s descendants by their clans, these cities with their villages.

Naphtali’s Inheritance

³²The sixth lot came out for Naphtali’s descendants by their clans.

³³Their boundary went from Heleph and from the oak in Zaanannim, including Adami-nekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, and ended at the Jordan. ³⁴To the west, the boundary turned to Aznoth-tabor and went from there to Hukkok, reaching Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and Judah ^eat the Jordan on the east. ³⁵The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, ^f36Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, ³⁷Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, ³⁸Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh—19 cities, with their villages.

³⁹This was the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali’s descendants by their clans, the cities with their villages.

Dan’s Inheritance

⁴⁰The seventh lot came out for the Danite tribe by its clans.

⁴¹The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, ⁴²Shaalabbin, Aijalon, ^gIthlah, ⁴³Elon, Timnah, Ekron, ⁴⁴Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, ⁴⁵Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, ⁴⁶Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the territory facing Joppa. ^h

⁴⁷When the territory of the Danites slipped out of their control, ⁱthey went up and fought against Leshem, captured it, and struck it down with the sword. So they took possession of it, lived there, and renamed Leshem after ^jtheir ancestor Dan. ^k48This was the inheritance of the Danite tribe by its clans, these cities with their villages.

Joshua’s Inheritance

⁴⁹When they had finished distributing the land into its territories, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them. ⁵⁰By the Lord’s command, they gave him the city Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, ^lwhich he requested. He rebuilt the city and lived in it.

⁵¹These were the portions that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families distributed to the Israelite tribes by lot at Shiloh in the Lord’s presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ^mSo they finished dividing up the land.