Joshua 16–18

The Allotment of Ephraim and Manasseh

16The allotment of the descendants^a of Joseph went from the Jordan by Jericho, at the waters of Jericho to the east, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel; ²it continues from Bethel to Luz, and it passes along to the territory of the Arkites^b at Ataroth. ³Then it goes down, to the west, to the territory of the Japhletites,^c up to the territory of Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer, and it ends^d at the sea.

⁴And the descendants^e of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance. ⁵This was the border of the descendants^f of Ephraim according to their families: the border of their inheritance to the east was Ataroth Addar, up to Upper Beth-horon. ⁶The border continues to the sea; from Micmethath to the north, the border turns to the east to Taanath Shiloh, and it passes along it from the east to Janoah. ⁷Then it goes down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarah; it touches Jericho and ends at the Jordan; ⁸from Tappuah the border goes to the west, to the wadi^g of Kanah, and it ends^h at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendantsⁱ of Ephraim according to their families, ⁹with the cities that were set apart for the descendants^j of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the descendants^k of Manasseh, all the cities and their villages. ¹⁰But they did not drive out the Canananites^l who were dwelling in Gezer, and so the Canaanites^m live in the midst of Ephraim to this day, but they became forced laborers.

The Allotment of the Other Half-Tribe of Manasseh

17Then the allotment was made for the tribe of Manasseh, because he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Makir, the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted^a Gilead and Bashan, because he was a warrior.^{b 2}An allotment was made for the remaining descendants^c of Manasseh, according to their families: For the children of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida—these were the male descendants^d of Manasseh son of Joseph according to their families.

³But Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ⁴They came before Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders, saying, “Yahweh commanded Moses to give an inheritance to us among our kinsmen.”^e Therefore, according to the command of Yahweh^f he gave them an inheritance among the kinsmen^g of their father. ⁵Thus ten shares fell to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan, ⁶because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons. And the land of Gilead was allotted to the remaining descendants^h of Manasseh. ⁷The border of Manasseh was from Asher to Micmethath, which is opposite Shechem;ⁱ then the border goes to the south, to the inhabitants of En Tappuah. ⁸The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh,^j but Tuppuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the descendants of Ephraim.^{k 9}Then the border goes down to the wadi^l of Kanah to the south of the wadi. These cities belong to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh. The border of Manasseh is north of the wadi, and it ends^m at the sea. ¹⁰The south is Ephraim’s, and the north is Manasseh’s; the sea is theirⁿ border; Asher touches the north and on the east Issachar. ¹¹In Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, Ibleam and its villages, the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, the inhabitants of Taanach and its villages, the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; the third is Napheth. ¹²But the descendants^o of Manasseh were not able to take possession of these towns; the Canaanites^p were determined to live in this land. ¹³And it happened, when the Israelites^q grew strong, they put the Canaanites^r to forced labor but never drove them out completely.

The Tribes of Joseph Object

¹⁴The descendants^s of Joseph spoke with Joshua, saying, “Why have you given us^t one allotment and one share as an inheritance? We are many people, which Yahweh has blessed.” ¹⁵And Joshua said to them, “If you are many people, go up to the forest and clear a place there for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites^u and Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” ¹⁶And the descendants^v of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all of the Canaanites^w living in the land of the valley have chariots^x of iron, those in Beth-shean and its villages, and those in the Jezreel Valley.” ¹⁷And Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are many people and have great power; you will not have one allotment only; ¹⁸the hill country will be yours. Even though it is a forest, you will clear it, and it will be yours to its farthest borders. You will drive out the Canaanites,^y even though they have iron chariots and are strong.”

The Last of the Land Is Divided

18The entire congregation of the Israelites^a assembled at Shiloh, and they set up there the tent of meeting, and the land was subdued before them.^{b 2}And seven tribes remained among the Israelites^c who had not been apportioned their inheritance. ³And Joshua said to the Israelites,^d “How long^e will you be slack about going to take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^f has given you? ⁴Provide three men from each tribe,^g and I will send them so that they may begin to go through the land and write a description of it according to their inheritance,^h and let them come to me. ⁵They will divide it among themselves into seven portions; Judah will maintain its borderⁱ from the south, and the house of Joseph will maintain its border^j from the north. ⁶Describe the land in seven divisions, and bring it to me here; I will cast lots for you here before Yahweh our God. ⁷The Levites among you have no portion, for their inheritance is the priesthood of Yahweh; Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh received their inheritance beyond the Jordan to the east, which Moses Yahweh’s servant gave to them.”

⁸And the men went immediately,^k and Joshua commanded the ones going to describe the land, saying, “Go and walk about through the land, write a description, and return to me, and here I will cast a lot for you before^l Yahweh at Shiloh.” ⁹And the men went and passed through the land, and they described^m the cities in seven divisions in a book; and they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh, ¹⁰and Joshua cast a lot for them at Shiloh beforeⁿ Yahweh, and there he divided the land for the Israelites,^o to each a portion.^p

The Allotment of Benjamin

¹¹And the allotment of the tribe of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the border of their allotment fell^q between the descendants^r of Judah and the descendants^s of Joseph. ¹²Their northern border began at the Jordan and went up to the slope of Jericho on the north and continued into the hill country to the west; it ends^t at the wilderness of Beth Aven. ¹³The border passes on from there to Luz, to the slope of Luz to the south (that is, Bethel); then the border goes down to Ataroth Addar to the mountain that is south of Lower Beth-Horon. ¹⁴Then the border changes direction and turns to the western side southward, from the mountain that is opposite^u Beth-Horon to the south. It ends^v at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a town belonging to the descendants^w of Judah. This is the western side. ¹⁵The southern side begins on the outskirts of Kiriath Jearim, and the border continues to the west to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah; ¹⁶the border goes down to the foot^x of the mountain, which is opposite the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^y which is in the valley of Rephaim to the north; then it goes down the valley of Hinnom to the slope of the Jebusites^z to the south, and then it goes down to En Rogel. ¹⁷It changes direction from the north, and it continues to En Shemesh; it goes out to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, and it goes down to the stone of Bohan, son of Reuben. ¹⁸It passes on to the slope opposite the Arabah^a to the north, and it goes down to the Arabah.^{b 19}The border passes on to the slope of Beth-hoglah to the north and ends^c at the north bay of the Salt Sea^d at the south end of the Jordan. This is the southern border. ²⁰The Jordan forms its border on the eastern side. This is the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin, its borders that surrounds them, according to their families.

²¹Now the towns of the tribes of the descendants^e of Benjamin, according to their families, were Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek Keziz, ²²Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, ²³Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, ²⁴Kephar Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities and their villages.

²⁵Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, ²⁶Mizpeh, Kephirah, Mozah, ²⁷Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ²⁸Zela, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath; fourteen cities and their villages. This is the inheritance of the descendants^f of Benjamin according to their families.