Joshua 15–17

Land for Judah

15The land that was given to the tribe of Judah was divided among all the family groups. It went all the way to the Desert of Zin in the far south, at the border of Edom.

²The southern border of Judah’s land started at the south end of the Dead Sea ³and went south of Scorpion Pass to Zin. From there it passed to the south of Kadesh Barnea and continued past Hezron to Addar. From Addar it turned and went to Karka. ⁴It continued to Azmon, the brook of Egypt, and then to the Mediterranean Sea. This was the southern border.

⁵The eastern border was the shore of the Dead Sea, as far as the mouth of the Jordan River.

The northern border started at the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan River. ⁶Then it went to Beth Hoglah and continued north of Beth Arabah to the stone of Bohan son of Reuben. ⁷Then the northern border went through the Valley of Achor to Debir where it turned toward the north and went to Gilgal. Gilgal is across from the road that goes through Adummim Pass, on the south side of the ravine. The border continued to the waters of En Shemesh and stopped at En Rogel. ⁸Then it went through the Valley of Ben Hinnom, next to the southern side of the Jebusite city (which is called Jerusalem). There the border went to the top of the hill on the west side of Hinnom Valley, at the northern end of the Valley of Giants. ⁹From there it went to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah and then it went to the cities near Mount Ephron. There it turned and went toward Baalah, which is called Kiriath Jearim. ¹⁰At Baalah the border turned west and went toward Mount Seir. It continued along the north side of Mount Jearim (also called Kesalon) and came to Beth Shemesh. From there it went past Timnah ¹¹to the hill north of Ekron. Then it turned toward Shikkeron and went past Mount Baalah and continued on to Jabneel, ending at the sea.

¹²The Mediterranean Sea was the western border. Inside these borders lived the family groups of Judah.

¹³The Lord had commanded Joshua to give Caleb son of Jephunneh part of the land in Judah, so he gave Caleb the town of Kiriath Arba, also called Hebron. (Arba was the father of Anak.) ¹⁴Caleb forced out the three Anakite families living in Hebron: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak. ¹⁵Then he left there and went to fight against the people living in Debir. (In the past Debir had been called Kiriath Sepher.) ¹⁶Caleb said, “I will give Acsah, my daughter, as a wife to the man who attacks and captures the city of Kiriath Sepher.” ¹⁷Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, captured the city, so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel to be his wife. ¹⁸When Acsah came to Othniel, she told him to ask her father for a field.

So Acsah went to her father. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?”

¹⁹Acsah answered, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in southern Canaan, also give me springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

²⁰The tribe of Judah got the land God had promised them. Each family group got part of the land.

²¹The tribe of Judah got all these towns in the southern part of Canaan near the border of Edom: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, ²²Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ²⁴Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, ²⁵Hazor Hadattah, Kerioth Hezron (also called Hazor), ²⁶Amam, Shema, Moladah, ²⁷Hazar Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth Pelet, ²⁸Hazar Shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, ²⁹Baalah, Iim, Ezem, ³⁰Eltolad, Kesil, Hormah, ³¹Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, ³²Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon. There were twenty-nine towns and their villages.

³³The tribe of Judah got these towns in the western hills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, ³⁴Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, ³⁵Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, ³⁶Shaaraim, Adithaim, and Gederah (also called Gederothaim). There were fourteen towns and their villages.

³⁷Judah was also given these towns in the western hills: Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal Gad, ³⁸Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel, ³⁹Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, ⁴⁰Cabbon, Lahmas, Kitlish, ⁴¹Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah. There were sixteen towns and their villages.

⁴²Judah was also given these towns in the western hills: Libnah, Ether, Ashan, ⁴³Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, ⁴⁴Keilah, Aczib, and Mareshah. There were nine towns and their villages.

⁴⁵The tribe of Judah was also given these towns: Ekron and all the small towns and villages near it; ⁴⁶the area west of Ekron and all the villages and small towns near Ashdod; ⁴⁷Ashdod and the small towns and villages around it; the villages and small towns around Gaza as far as the brook of Egypt and along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴⁸The tribe of Judah was also given these towns in the mountains: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, ⁴⁹Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (also called Debir), ⁵⁰Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, ⁵¹Goshen, Holon, and Giloh. There were eleven towns and their villages.

⁵²They were also given these towns in the mountains: Arab, Dumah, Eshan, ⁵³Janim, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah, ⁵⁴Humtah, Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron), and Zior. There were nine towns and their villages.

⁵⁵Judah was also given these towns in the mountains: Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, ⁵⁶Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, ⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah. There were ten towns and their villages.

⁵⁸They were also given these towns in the mountains: Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor, ⁵⁹Maarath, Beth Anoth, and Eltekon. There were six towns and their villages.

⁶⁰The people of Judah were also given the two towns of Rabbah and Kiriath Baal (also called Kiriath Jearim) and their villages.

⁶¹Judah was given these towns in the desert: Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, ⁶²Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En Gedi. There were six towns and all their villages.

⁶³The army of Judah was not able to force out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites still live among the people of Judah to this day.

Land for Ephraim and Manasseh

16This is the land the tribe of Joseph received. It started at the Jordan River near Jericho and continued to the waters of Jericho, just east of the city. The border went up from Jericho to the mountains of Bethel. ²Then it continued from Bethel (also called Luz) to the Arkite border at Ataroth. ³From there it went west to the border of the Japhletites and continued to the area of the Lower Beth Horon. Then it went to Gezer and ended at the sea.

⁴So Manasseh and Ephraim, sons of Joseph, received their land.

⁵This is the land that was given to the family groups of Ephraim: Their border started at Ataroth Addar in the east, went to Upper Beth Horon, ⁶and then to the sea. From Micmethath it turned eastward toward Taanath Shiloh and continued eastward to Janoah. ⁷Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarah. It continued until it touched Jericho and stopped at the Jordan River. ⁸The border went from Tappuah west to Kanah Ravine and ended at the sea. This is all the land that was given to each family group in the tribe of the Ephraimites. ⁹Many of the towns were actually within Manasseh’s borders, but the people of Ephraim got those towns and their villages. ¹⁰The Ephraimites could not force the Canaanites to leave Gezer, so the Canaanites still live among the Ephraimites today, but they became slaves of the Ephraimites.

17Then land was given to the tribe of Manasseh, Joseph’s first son. Manasseh’s first son was Makir, the father of Gilead. Makir was a great soldier, so the lands of Gilead and Bashan were given to his family. ²Land was also given to the other family groups of Manasseh—Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These were all the other sons of Manasseh son of Joseph.

³Zelophehad was the son of Hepher, who was the son of Gilead, who was the son of Makir, who was the son of Manasseh. Zelophehad had no sons, but he had five daughters, named Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ⁴They went to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua son of Nun and all the leaders. They said, “The Lord told Moses to give us land like the men received.” So Eleazar obeyed the Lord and gave the daughters some land, just like the brothers of their father. ⁵So the tribe of Manasseh had ten sections of land west of the Jordan River and two more sections, Gilead and Bashan, on the east side of the Jordan River. ⁶The daughters of Manasseh received land just as the sons did. Gilead was given to the rest of the families of Manasseh.

⁷The lands of Manasseh were in the area between Asher and Micmethath, near Shechem. The border went south to the En Tappuah area, ⁸which belonged to Manasseh, except for the town of Tappuah. It was along the border of Manasseh’s land and belonged to the sons of Ephraim. ⁹The border of Manasseh continued south to Kanah Ravine. The cities in this area of Manasseh belonged to Ephraim. Manasseh’s border was on the north side of the ravine and went to the sea. ¹⁰The land to the south belonged to Ephraim, and the land to the north belonged to Manasseh. The Mediterranean Sea was the western border. The border touched Asher’s land on the north and Issachar’s land on the east.

¹¹In the areas of Issachar and Asher, the people of Manasseh owned these towns: Beth Shan and its small towns; Ibleam and its small towns; the people who lived in Dor and its small towns; the people in Naphoth Dor and its small towns; the people who lived in Taanach and its small towns; the people in Megiddo and its small towns. ¹²Manasseh was not able to defeat those cities, so the Canaanites continued to live there. ¹³When the Israelites grew strong, they forced the Canaanites to work for them, although they did not force them to leave the land.

¹⁴The people from the tribes of Joseph said to Joshua, “You gave us only one area of land, but we are many people. Why did you give us only one part of all the land the Lord gave his people?”

¹⁵And Joshua answered them, “If you have too many people, go up to the forest and make a place for yourselves to live there in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaites.…