Joshua 15–17

Land Is Given to Judah

15Land was given to the tribe of Judah, family group by family group. It reached down to the territory of Edom. It went as far south as the Desert of Zin.

²Judah’s border on the south started from the bay at the south end of the Dead Sea. ³It went across to the south of Scorpion Pass. It continued on to Zin. It went over to the south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it ran past Hezron up to Addar. It curved around to Karka. ⁴It then went along to Azmon. There it joined the Wadi of Egypt and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. That was the southern border of Judah.

⁵The border on the east was the Dead Sea. It went north all the way to where the Jordan River enters the sea.

The border on the north started at the bay of the Dead Sea. That’s where the Jordan River enters the sea. ⁶From there it went up to Beth Hoglah. It continued north of Beth Arabah to the Stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben. ⁷Then it went from the Valley of Achor up to Debir. It turned north to Gilgal. Gilgal faces the Pass of Adummim south of the valley. The border continued along to the springs of En Shemesh. It came to an end at En Rogel. ⁸Then it ran up the Valley of Ben Hinnom. It went along the south slope of Jerusalem. From there it climbed to the top of the hill that is west of the Hinnom Valley. The hill is also at the north end of the Valley of Rephaim. ⁹From the top of the hill the border headed toward the springs of Nephtoah. It went to the towns near Mount Ephron. It went down toward Kiriath Jearim. ¹⁰Then it curved west from Kiriath Jearim to Mount Seir. It ran along the north slope of Mount Kesalon. It continued down to Beth Shemesh and crossed over to Timnah. ¹¹It went to the north slope of Ekron. Then it turned toward Shikkeron. It passed along to Mount Baalah and reached Jabneel. The border came to an end at the Mediterranean Sea.

¹²The border on the west was the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

Those were the borders of the family groups of the tribe of Judah.

¹³Joshua gave a part of Judah’s share of land to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. That was in keeping with the Lord’s command to Joshua. The share Caleb received was the city of Hebron. It was also called Kiriath Arba. Anak came from the family line of Arba. ¹⁴Caleb drove three Anakites out of Hebron. Their names were Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. They were from the family line of Anak.

¹⁵From Hebron, Caleb marched out against the people who were living in Debir. It used to be called Kiriath Sepher. ¹⁶Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah to be married. I’ll give her to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”

¹⁷Othniel captured it. So Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him to be his wife. Othniel was the son of Kenaz. He was Caleb’s brother.

¹⁸One day Acsah came to Othniel. She begged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb spoke to her. He asked, “What can I do for you?”

¹⁹She replied, “Do me a special favor. You have given me some land in the Negev Desert. Give me springs of water also.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

²⁰Here is the share of land that was given to the tribe of Judah, family group by family group.

²¹The towns farthest south that were given to Judah were in the Negev Desert. They were near the border of Edom. Here is a list of those towns.

Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, ²²Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ²⁴Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, ²⁵Hazor Hadattah, 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. The total number of towns was 29. Some of them had villages near them.

³³Towns were also given to Judah in the western hills. Here is a list of those towns.

Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, ³⁴Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, ³⁵Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, ³⁶Shaaraim, Adithaim and Gederah. Gederah is also called Gederothaim. The total number of towns was 14. Some of them had villages near them.

³⁷Here’s another list of towns that were given to Judah in the western hills.

Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal Gad, ³⁸Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel, ³⁹Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, ⁴⁰Cabbon, Lahmas, Kitlish, ⁴¹Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah and Makkedah. The total number of towns was 16. Some of them had villages near them.

⁴²Here’s another list of towns that were given to Judah in the western hills.

Libnah, Ether, Ashan, ⁴³Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, ⁴⁴Keilah, Aczib and Mareshah. The total number of towns was nine. Some of them had villages near them.

⁴⁵Judah was also given Ekron and the settlements and villages that were around it. ⁴⁶West of Ekron, Judah was given all of the settlements and villages that were near Ashdod. ⁴⁷Judah was given Ashdod and the settlements and villages that were around it. And Judah was given Gaza and its settlements and villages. Judah’s territory went all the way to the Wadi of Egypt and the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴⁸Towns were also given to Judah in the central hill country. Here is a list of those towns.

Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, ⁴⁹Dannah, Debir, ⁵⁰Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, ⁵¹Goshen, Holon and Giloh. The total number of towns was 11. Some of them had villages near them.

⁵²Here’s another list of towns that were given to Judah in the central hill country.

Arab, Dumah, Eshan, ⁵³Janim, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah, ⁵⁴Humtah, Hebron and Zior. The total number of towns was nine. Some of them had villages near them.

⁵⁵Here’s another list of towns that were given to Judah in the central hill country.

Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, ⁵⁶Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, ⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah and Timnah. The total number of towns was ten. Some of them had villages near them.

⁵⁸Here’s another list of towns that were given to Judah in the central hill country.

Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor, ⁵⁹Maarath, Beth Anoth and Eltekon. The total number of towns was six. Some of them had villages near them.

⁶⁰Here’s another list of towns that were given to Judah in the central hill country.

Kiriath Jearim and Rabbah. The total number of towns was two. They had villages near them.

⁶¹Towns were also given to Judah in the desert. Here is a list of those towns.

Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, ⁶²Nibshan, the City of Salt and En Gedi. The total number of towns was six. Some of them had villages near them.

⁶³Judah couldn’t drive out the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem. So they live there with the people of Judah to this very day.

Land Is Given to Ephraim and Manasseh

16The land that was given to the two tribes in the family line of Joseph began at the Jordan River near Jericho. Their border started east of the springs of Jericho. It went up from there through the desert into the hill country of Bethel. ²Bethel is also called Luz. From Bethel it crossed over to Ataroth. That’s where the Arkites live. ³Then it went west down to the territory of the Japhletites. It went all the way to the area of Lower Beth Horon. It went on to Gezer. It came to an end at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴The tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim were from the family line of Joseph. So they received that land as their share.

⁵Here is the territory that was given to the tribe of Ephraim, family group by family group.

The border of their share of land started at Ataroth Addar in the east. It went to Upper Beth Horon. ⁶It continued toward the Mediterranean Sea. From Micmethath on the north, it curved toward the east. It went to Taanath Shiloh. It passed by Taanath Shiloh to Janoah on the east. ⁷Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah. It touched Jericho and came to an end at the Jordan River. ⁸From Tappuah the border went west to the Kanah Valley. It came to an end at the Mediterranean Sea. That was the land that was given to the tribe of Ephraim. Each family group received its share.

⁹The tribe of Ephraim was also given other towns and villages that were set apart for them. Those towns and villages were in the share of land that was given to the tribe of Manasseh.

¹⁰The people of Ephraim didn’t drive out the people of Canaan who were living in Gezer. The people of Canaan live among the people of Ephraim to this very day. But they are forced to work hard for the people of Ephraim.

17Land was given to the tribe of Manasseh. It was given to Makir. Manasseh was Joseph’s oldest son. Makir was Manasseh’s oldest son. The people of Gilead came from the family line of Makir. The people of Gilead had received the lands of Gilead and Bashan. That’s because the people of Makir were great soldiers. ²So land was given to the rest of the people of Manasseh. It was given to the family groups of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher and Shemida. They were the other men in the family line of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. Those were their names by their family groups.

³Makir was the son of Manasseh. Gilead was the son of Makir. Hepher was the son of Gilead. And Zelophehad was the son of Hepher. Zelophehad didn’t have any sons. He only had daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.

⁴The daughters of Zelophehad went to the priest Eleazar and to Joshua, the son of Nun. They also went to the other leaders. They said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us our share of land among our male relatives.” So Joshua gave them land along with their male relatives. That was in keeping with what the Lord had commanded.

⁵Manasseh’s share was made up of ten pieces of land. That land was in addition to Gilead and Bashan east of the Jordan River. ⁶So the five granddaughters of Hepher in the family line of Manasseh received land, just as the other five sons of Manasseh did. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the family line of Manasseh.

⁷The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Micmethath. Micmethath was east of Shechem. The border ran south from Micmethath. The people who were living at En Tappuah were inside the border. ⁸Manasseh had the land around Tappuah. But the town of Tappuah itself was on the border of…