Joshua 18

Division of the Rest of the Land

18The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh^w and set up the tent of meeting^x there. The country was brought under their control, ²but there were still seven Israelite tribes who had not yet received their inheritance.

³So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you? ⁴Appoint three men from each tribe. I will send them out to make a survey of the land and to write a description of it,^y according to the inheritance of each.^z Then they will return to me. ⁵You are to divide the land into seven parts. Judah is to remain in its territory on the south^a and the tribes of Joseph in their territory on the north.^{b 6}After you have written descriptions of the seven parts of the land, bring them here to me and I will cast lots^c for you in the presence of the Lord our God. ⁷The Levites, however, do not get a portion among you, because the priestly service of the Lord is their inheritance.^d And Gad, Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan. Moses the servant of the Lord gave it to them.^e”

⁸As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua instructed them, “Go and make a survey of the land and write a description of it.^f Then return to me, and I will cast lots for you here at Shiloh^g in the presence of the Lord.” ⁹So the men left and went through the land. They wrote its description on a scroll, town by town, in seven parts, and returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰Joshua then cast lots^h for them in Shiloh in the presenceⁱ of the Lord, and there he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their tribal divisions.^j

Allotment for Benjamin

¹¹The first lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin according to its clans. Their allotted territory lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph:

¹²On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan, passed the northern slope of Jericho and headed west into the hill country, coming out at the wilderness^k of Beth Aven.^{l 13}From there it crossed to the south slope of Luz^m (that is, Bethelⁿ) and went down to Ataroth Addar^o on the hill south of Lower Beth Horon.

¹⁴From the hill facing Beth Horon^p on the south the boundary turned south along the western side and came out at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim),^q a town of the people of Judah. This was the western side.

¹⁵The southern side began at the outskirts of Kiriath Jearim on the west, and the boundary came out at the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.^{r 16}The boundary went down to the foot of the hill facing the Valley of Ben Hinnom, north of the Valley of Rephaim.^s It continued down the Hinnom Valley^t along the southern slope of the Jebusite city and so to En Rogel.^{u 17}It then curved north, went to En Shemesh, continued to Geliloth,^v which faces the Pass of Adummim,^w and ran down to the Stone of Bohan^x son of Reuben. ¹⁸It continued to the northern slope of Beth Arabah^ay and on down into the Arabah.^{z 19}It then went to the northern slope of Beth Hoglah^a and came out at the northern bay of the Dead Sea,^b at the mouth of the Jordan in the south. This was the southern boundary.

²⁰The Jordan formed the boundary on the eastern side.

These were the boundaries that marked out the inheritance of the clans of Benjamin on all sides.^c

²¹The tribe of Benjamin, according to its clans, had the following towns:

Jericho, Beth Hoglah,^d Emek Keziz, ²²Beth Arabah,^e Zemaraim,^f Bethel,^{g 23}Avvim,^h Parah, Ophrah,^{i 24}Kephar Ammoni, Ophni and Geba^j—twelve towns and their villages.

²⁵Gibeon,^k Ramah,^l Beeroth,^{m 26}Mizpah,ⁿ Kephirah,^o Mozah, ²⁷Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ²⁸Zelah,^p Haeleph, the Jebusite city^q (that is, Jerusalem^r), Gibeah^s and Kiriath—fourteen towns and their villages.^t

This was the inheritance of Benjamin for its clans.^u