Joshua 18–19

Chapter 18

Rest of the Land Divided

¹Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves at ^aShiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there; and the land was subdued before them.

²There remained among the sons of Israel seven tribes who had not divided their inheritance.

³So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “^aHow long will you put off entering to take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?

⁴“Provide for yourselves three men from ¹each tribe that I may send them, and that they may arise and walk through the land and write a description of it according to their inheritance; then they shall ²return to me.

⁵“They shall divide it into seven portions; ^aJudah shall stay in its territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall stay in their territory on the north.

⁶“You shall describe the land in seven divisions, and bring the description here to me. ^aI will cast lots for you here before the Lord our God.

⁷“For ^athe Levites have no portion among you, because the priesthood of the Lord is ¹their inheritance. Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh also have received their inheritance eastward beyond the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.”

⁸Then the men arose and went, and Joshua commanded those who went to describe the land, saying, “Go and walk through the land and describe it, and return to me; then I will cast lots for you here before the Lord in ^aShiloh.”

⁹So the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities in seven divisions in a book; and they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh.

¹⁰And ^aJoshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions.

The Territory of Benjamin

¹¹Now the lot of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the territory of their lot ¹lay between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.

^12aTheir border on the north side was from the Jordan, then the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the hill country westward, and ¹it ended at the wilderness of Beth-aven.

¹³From there the border continued to ^aLuz, to the side of Luz (that is, Bethel) southward; and the border went down to Ataroth-addar, near the hill which lies on the south of ^blower Beth-horon.

¹⁴The border extended from there and turned round on the west side southward, from the hill which lies before Beth-horon southward; and ¹it ended at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city of the sons of Judah. This was the west side.

¹⁵Then the ^asouth side was from the edge of Kiriath-jearim, and the border went westward and went to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah.

¹⁶The border went down to the edge of the hill which is in the ^avalley of Ben-hinnom, which is in the valley of Rephaim northward; and it went down to the valley of Hinnom, to the slope of the Jebusite southward, and went down to En-rogel.

¹⁷It extended northward and went to En-shemesh and went to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, and it went down to the ^astone of Bohan the son of Reuben.

¹⁸It continued to the side in front of the Arabah northward and went down to the Arabah.

¹⁹The border continued to the side of Beth-hoglah northward; and the ¹border ended at the north bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the south border.

²⁰Moreover, the Jordan was its border on the east side. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin, according to their families and according to its borders all around.

²¹Now the cities of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho and Beth-hoglah and Emek-keziz,

²²and Beth-arabah and Zemaraim and Bethel,

²³and Avvim and Parah and Ophrah,

²⁴and Chephar-ammoni and Ophni and ^aGeba; twelve cities with their villages.

²⁵Gibeon and Ramah and Beeroth,

²⁶and Mizpeh and Chephirah and Mozah,

²⁷and Rekem and Irpeel and Taralah,

²⁸and ^aZelah, Haeleph and the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, Kiriath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the ^bsons of Benjamin according to their families.

Chapter 19

Territory of Simeon

¹Then the second lot ¹fell to Simeon, to the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families, and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah.

²So they had as their inheritance Beersheba or ¹Sheba and Moladah,

³and Hazar-shual and Balah and Ezem,

⁴and Eltolad and Bethul and Hormah,

⁵and Ziklag and Beth-marcaboth and Hazar-susah,

⁶and Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages;

⁷Ain, Rimmon and Ether and Ashan; four cities with their villages;

⁸and all the villages which were around these cities as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the ¹Negev. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families.

⁹The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance in the midst of ¹Judah’s inheritance.

Territory of Zebulun

¹⁰Now the third lot came up for the sons of Zebulun according to their families. And the territory of their inheritance was as far as Sarid.

¹¹Then their border went up to the west and to Maralah, it then ¹touched Dabbesheth and reached to the ²brook that is before Jokneam.

¹²Then it turned from Sarid to the east toward the sunrise as far as the border of Chisloth-tabor, and it proceeded to Daberath and ¹up to Japhia.

¹³From there it continued eastward toward the sunrise to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and it proceeded to Rimmon ¹which stretches to Neah.

¹⁴The border circled around it on the north to Hannathon, and ¹it ended at the valley of Iphtahel.

¹⁵Included also were Kattah and Nahalal and Shimron and Idalah and Bethlehem; twelve cities with their villages.

¹⁶This was the inheritance of the sons of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.

Territory of Issachar

¹⁷The fourth lot ¹fell to Issachar, to the sons of Issachar according to their families.

¹⁸Their territory was to Jezreel and included Chesulloth and ^aShunem,

¹⁹and Hapharaim and Shion and Anaharath,

²⁰and Rabbith and Kishion and Ebez,

²¹and Remeth and En-gannim and En-haddah and Beth-pazzez.

²²The border reached to ^aTabor and Shahazumah and Beth-shemesh, and ¹their border ended at the Jordan; sixteen cities with their villages.

²³This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Issachar according to their families, the cities with their villages.

Territory of Asher

²⁴Now the fifth lot ¹fell to the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families.

²⁵Their territory was Helkath and Hali and Beten and Achshaph,

²⁶and Allammelech and Amad and Mishal; and it reached to Carmel on the west and to Shihor-libnath.

²⁷It turned toward the ¹east to Beth-dagon and reached to Zebulun, and to the valley of Iphtahel northward to Beth-emek and Neiel; then it proceeded on ²north to ^aCabul,

²⁸and Ebron and Rehob and Hammon and Kanah, as far as Great ^aSidon.

²⁹The border turned to Ramah and to the fortified city of Tyre; then the border turned to Hosah, and ¹it ended at the sea by the region of ^aAchzib.

³⁰Included also were Ummah, and Aphek and Rehob; twenty-two cities with their villages.

³¹This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.

Territory of Naphtali

³²The sixth lot ¹fell to the sons of Naphtali; to the sons of Naphtali according to their families.

³³Their border was from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim and Adami-nekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, and ¹it ended at the Jordan.

³⁴Then the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor and proceeded from there to Hukkok; and it reached to Zebulun on the south and ¹touched Asher on the west, and to Judah at the Jordan toward the ²east.

³⁵The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer and ^aHammath, Rakkath and ^bChinnereth,

³⁶and Adamah and Ramah and Hazor,

³⁷and Kedesh and Edrei and En-hazor,

³⁸and Yiron and Migdal-el, Horem and Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages.

³⁹This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali according to their families, the cities with their villages.

Territory of Dan

⁴⁰The seventh lot ¹fell to the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families.

⁴¹The territory of their inheritance was Zorah and Eshtaol and Ir-shemesh,

⁴²and Shaalabbin and Aijalon and Ithlah,

⁴³and Elon and Timnah and Ekron,

⁴⁴and Eltekeh and Gibbethon and Baalath,

⁴⁵and Jehud and Bene-berak and Gath-rimmon,

⁴⁶and Me-jarkon and Rakkon, with the territory over against ¹Joppa.

⁴⁷The territory of the ^asons of Dan proceeded ¹beyond them; for the sons of Dan went up and fought with Leshem and captured it. Then they struck it with the edge of the sword and possessed it and ²settled in it; and they called ^3bLeshem Dan after the name of Dan their father.

⁴⁸This was the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.

⁴⁹When they finished apportioning the land for inheritance by its borders, the sons of Israel gave an inheritance in their midst to Joshua the son of Nun.

⁵⁰In accordance with the ¹command of the Lord they gave him the city for which he asked, ^aTimnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and ²settled in it.

^51aThese are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the ¹households of the tribes of the sons of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.