Joshua 15–17

The Land of Judah

15So this was the ¹lot of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families:

^aThe border of Edom at the ^bWilderness of Zin southward was the extreme southern boundary. ²And their ^csouthern border began at the shore of the Salt Sea, from the bay that faces southward. ³Then it went out to the southern side of ^dthe Ascent of Akrabbim, passed along to Zin, ascended on the south side of Kadesh Barnea, passed along to Hezron, went up to Adar, and went around to Karkaa. ⁴From there it passed ^etoward Azmon and went out to the Brook of Egypt; and the border ended at the sea. This shall be your southern border.

⁵The east border was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan.

And the ^fborder on the northern quarter began at the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan. ⁶The border went up to ^gBeth Hoglah and passed north of Beth Arabah; and the border went up ^hto the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. ⁷Then the border went up toward ⁱDebir from ^jthe Valley of Achor, and it turned northward toward Gilgal, which is before the Ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the valley. The border continued toward the waters of En Shemesh and ended at ^kEn Rogel. ⁸And the border went up ^lby the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to the southern slope of the ^mJebusite city (which is Jerusalem). The border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the Valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the Valley ⁿof ²Rephaim northward. ⁹Then the border went around from the top of the hill to ^othe fountain of the water of Nephtoah, and extended to the cities of Mount Ephron. And the border went around ^pto Baalah (which is ^qKirjath Jearim). ¹⁰Then the border ³turned westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, passed along to the side of Mount Jearim on the north (which is Chesalon), went down to Beth Shemesh, and passed on to ^rTimnah. ¹¹And the border went out to the side of ^sEkron northward. Then the border went around to Shicron, passed along to Mount Baalah, and extended to Jabneel; and the border ended at the sea.

¹²The west border was ^tthe coastline of the Great Sea. This is the boundary of the children of Judah all around according to their families.

Caleb Occupies Hebron and Debir

^13uNow to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a share among the children of ^vJudah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, namely, ^wKirjath Arba, which is Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). ¹⁴Caleb drove out ^xthe three sons of Anak from there: ^ySheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. ¹⁵Then ^zhe went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir (formerly the name of Debir was Kirjath Sepher).

^16aAnd Caleb said, “He who ⁴attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter as wife.” ¹⁷So ^bOthniel the ^cson of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he gave him ^dAchsah his daughter as wife. ^18eNow it was so, when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So ^fshe dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?” ¹⁹She answered, “Give me a ^gblessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water.” So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

The Cities of Judah

²⁰This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families:

²¹The cities at the limits of the tribe of the children of Judah, toward the border of Edom in the South, were Kabzeel, ^hEder, Jagur, ²²Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ²⁴ⁱZiph, Telem, Bealoth, ²⁵Hazor, Hadattah, Kerioth, Hezron (which is Hazor), ²⁶Amam, Shema, Moladah, ²⁷Hazar Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth Pelet, ²⁸Hazar Shual, ^jBeersheba, Bizjothjah, ²⁹Baalah, Ijim, Ezem, ³⁰Eltolad, Chesil, ^kHormah, ^31lZiklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, ³²Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and ^mRimmon: all the cities are twenty-nine, with their villages.

³³In the lowland: ⁿEshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, ³⁴Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, ³⁵Jarmuth, ^oAdullam, Socoh, Azekah, ³⁶Sharaim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim: fourteen cities with their villages; ³⁷Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal Gad, ³⁸Dilean, Mizpah, ^pJoktheel, ^39qLachish, Bozkath, ^rEglon, ⁴⁰Cabbon, ⁵Lahmas, Kithlish, ⁴¹Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah: sixteen cities with their villages; ^42sLibnah, Ether, Ashan, ⁴³Jiphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, ⁴⁴Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah: nine cities with their villages; ⁴⁵Ekron, with its towns and villages; ⁴⁶from Ekron to the sea, all that lay near ^tAshdod, with their villages; ⁴⁷Ashdod with its towns and villages, Gaza with its towns and villages—as far as ^uthe Brook of Egypt and ^vthe Great Sea with its coastline.

⁴⁸And in the mountain country: Shamir, Jattir, Sochoh, ⁴⁹Dannah, Kirjath Sannah (which is Debir), ⁵⁰Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, ^51wGoshen, Holon, and Giloh: eleven cities with their villages; ⁵²Arab, Dumah, Eshean, ⁵³Janum, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah, ⁵⁴Humtah, ^xKirjath Arba (which is Hebron), and Zior: nine cities with their villages; ^55yMaon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, ⁵⁶Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, ⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah: ten cities with their villages; ⁵⁸Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor, ⁵⁹Maarath, Beth Anoth, and Eltekon: six cities with their villages; ^60zKirjath Baal (which is Kirjath Jearim) and Rabbah: two cities with their villages.

⁶¹In the wilderness: Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, ⁶²Nibshan, the City of Salt, and ^aEn Gedi: six cities with their villages.

⁶³As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ^bthe children of Judah could not drive them out; ^cbut the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

Ephraim and West Manasseh

16The lot ¹fell to the children of Joseph from the Jordan, by Jericho, to the waters of Jericho on the east, to the ^awilderness that goes up from Jericho through the mountains to ²Bethel, ²then went out ³from ^bBethel to Luz, passed along to the border of the Archites at Ataroth, ³and went down westward to the boundary of the Japhletites, ^cas far as the boundary of Lower Beth Horon to ^dGezer; and ⁴it ended at the sea.

^4eSo the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their ⁵inheritance.

The Land of Ephraim

^5fThe border of the children of Ephraim, according to their families, was thus: The border of their inheritance on the east side was ^gAtaroth Addar ^has far as Upper Beth Horon.

⁶And the border went out toward the sea on the north side of ⁱMichmethath; then the border went around eastward to Taanath Shiloh, and passed by it on the east of Janohah. ⁷Then it went down from Janohah to Ataroth and ⁶Naarah, reached to Jericho, and came out at the Jordan.

⁸The border went out from ^jTappuah westward to the ^kBrook Kanah, and ⁷it ended at the sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families. ^9lThe separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.

^10mAnd they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day and have become forced laborers.

The Other Half-Tribe of Manasseh (West)

17There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the ^afirstborn of Joseph: namely for ^bMachir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war; therefore he was given ^cGilead and Bashan. ²And there was a lot for ^dthe rest of the children of Manasseh according to their families: ^efor the children of ¹Abiezer, the children of Helek, ^fthe children of Asriel, the children of Shechem, ^gthe children of Hepher, and the children of Shemida; these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families.

³But ^hZelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters. And these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ⁴And they came near before ⁱEleazar the priest, before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the rulers, saying, ^j“The Lord commanded Moses to give us an ²inheritance among our brothers.” Therefore, according to the commandment of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers. ⁵Ten shares fell to ^kManasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side of the Jordan, ⁶because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons; and the rest of Manasseh’s sons had the land of Gilead.

⁷And the territory of Manasseh was from Asher to ^lMichmethath, that lies east of Shechem; and the border went along south to the inhabitants of En Tappuah. ⁸Manasseh had the land of Tappuah, but ^mTappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim. ⁹And the ³border descended to the ⁴Brook Kanah, southward to the brook. ⁿThese cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh. The border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook; and it ended at the sea.

¹⁰Southward it was Ephraim’s, northward it was Manasseh’s, and the sea was its border. Manasseh’s territory was adjoining Asher on the north and Issachar on the east. ¹¹And in Issachar and in Asher, ^oManasseh had ^pBeth Shean and its towns, Ibleam and its towns, the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, the inhabitants of En Dor and its towns, the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns—three hilly regions. ¹²Yet ^qthe children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, but the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. ¹³And it happened, when the children of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to ^rforced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

More Land for Ephraim and Manasseh

^14sThen the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given us only ^tone ⁵lot and one share to inherit, since we are ^ua great people, inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now?”

¹⁵So Joshua answered them, “If you are a great people, then go up to the forest …