Joshua 16-18
New International Reader's Version
Land Is Given to Ephraim and Manasseh
16 The land given to the two tribes in the family line of Joseph began at the Jordan River. Their border started east of the springs of Jericho. It went up from there through the desert into the hill country of Bethel. 2 Bethel is also called Luz. From Bethel the border crossed over to Ataroth. That’s where the Arkites live. 3 Then 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. The border came to an end at the Mediterranean Sea.
4 The tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim were from the family line of Joseph. So they received that land as their share.
5 Here is the territory given to the tribe of Ephraim, according to its family groups.
The border of their share of land started at Ataroth Addar in the east. It went to Upper Beth Horon. 6 It continued toward the Mediterranean Sea. From Mikmethath on the north, it curved toward the east. It went to Taanath Shiloh. It passed by Taanath Shiloh to Janoah on the east. 7 Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah. It touched Jericho and came to an end at the Jordan River. 8 From Tappuah the border went west to the Kanah Valley. It came to an end at the Mediterranean Sea. That was the land given to the tribe of Ephraim. Each family group received its share.
9 The 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 given to the tribe of Manasseh.
10 The people of Ephraim didn’t drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer. The Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim to this day. But they are forced to work hard for the people of Ephraim.
17 Land 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. 2 So 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.
3 Makir 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, Milkah and Tirzah. 4 The daughters of Zelophehad went to Eleazar the priest 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 according to what the Lord had commanded. 5 Manasseh’s share was made up of ten pieces of land. That land was in addition to Gilead and Bashan east of the Jordan River. 6 So 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.
7 The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Mikmethath. Mikmethath was east of Shechem. The border ran south from Mikmethath. The people living at En Tappuah were inside the border. 8 Manasseh had the land around Tappuah. But the town of Tappuah itself was on the border of Manasseh’s land. It belonged to the people of Ephraim. 9 The border continued south to the Kanah Valley. Some of the towns that belonged to Ephraim were located among the towns of Manasseh. But the border of Manasseh was the north side of the valley. The border came to an end at the Mediterranean Sea. 10 The land on the south belonged to Ephraim. The land on the north belonged to Manasseh. The territory of Manasseh reached the Mediterranean Sea. The tribe of Asher was the border on the north. The tribe of Issachar was the border on the east.
11 Inside the land given to Issachar and Asher, the towns of Beth Shan and Ibleam belonged to Manasseh. The towns of Dor, Endor, Taanach and Megiddo and their people also belonged to Manasseh. Manasseh was given all those towns and the settlements around them. The third town in the list was also called Naphoth Dor.
12 But the people of Manasseh weren’t able to take over those towns. That’s because the Canaanites had made up their minds to live in that area. 13 The Israelites grew stronger. Then they forced the Canaanites to work hard for them. But they didn’t drive them out completely.
14 The people in the family line of Joseph spoke to Joshua. They said, “Why have you given us only one share of the land to have as our own? There are large numbers of us. The Lord has blessed us greatly.”
15 “That’s true,” Joshua said. “There are large numbers of you. And the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you. So go up into the forest. Clear out some land for yourselves in the territory of the Perizzites and Rephaites.”
16 The people in Joseph’s family line replied, “The hill country isn’t big enough for us. And all the Canaanites who live in the plains use chariots that have iron parts. They include the people of Beth Shan and its settlements. They also include the people who live in the Valley of Jezreel.”
17 Joshua spoke again to the people in Joseph’s family line. He said to the people of Ephraim and Manasseh, “There are large numbers of you. And you are very powerful. You will have more than one piece of land. 18 You will also have the central hill country. It’s covered with trees. Cut them down and clear the land. That whole land from one end to the other will belong to you. The Canaanites use chariots that have iron parts. And those people are strong. But you can drive them out.”
The Rest of the Land Is Divided Up
18 The whole community of Israel gathered together at Shiloh. They set up the tent of meeting there. The country was brought under their control. 2 But there were still seven tribes in Israel who had not yet received their shares of land.
3 So Joshua spoke to the Israelites. He said, “The Lord, the God of your people, has given you this land. How long will you wait before you begin to take it over? 4 Appoint three men from each tribe. I’ll send them to map out the land. Then they’ll write a report about its features. The report will point out the share of land each tribe will receive. Then the men will return to me. 5 You must divide the land up into seven shares. Judah must remain in its territory in the south. The people in Joseph’s family line must remain in their territory in the north. 6 Write reports about the features of those seven shares of land. Bring them here to me. Then I’ll cast lots for you in the sight of the Lord our God. 7 But the Levites don’t get any share of your land. That’s because their share is to serve the Lord as priests. The tribes of Gad and Reuben and half of the tribe of Manasseh have already received their shares. They are on the east side of the Jordan River. Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave their shares to them.”
8 The men started out on their way to map out the land. Joshua directed them, “Go and map out the land. Write a report about its features. Then return to me. I’ll cast lots for you here at Shiloh in the sight of the Lord.” 9 So the men left and went through the land. They wrote a report about its features on a scroll. It showed how they divided up the land into seven shares. It listed the towns in each share. The men returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh.
10 Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh in the sight of the Lord. There he gave out a share of land to each of the remaining tribes in Israel.
Land Is Given to Benjamin
11 The first lot drawn out was for the tribe of Benjamin, according to its family groups. The territory they were given was located between the tribes of the people of Judah and the people of Joseph. Here are the borders of Benjamin’s territory.
12 On the north side their border started at the Jordan River. It went past the north slope of Jericho. Then it headed west into the central hill country. It came to an end at the Desert of Beth Aven. 13 From there the border crossed to the south slope of Bethel. Then it went down to Ataroth Addar on the hill south of Lower Beth Horon.
14 From the hill that faces Beth Horon on the south the border turned south. Then the border went along the west side of the hill. It came to an end at Kiriath Jearim. That town belongs to the people of Judah. That was the border on the west.
15 The border on the south side started at the west edge of Kiriath Jearim. It came to an end at the springs of Nephtoah. 16 It went down to the foot of the hill that faces the Valley of Ben Hinnom. The hill is north of the Valley of Rephaim. The border continued down the Hinnom Valley. It went along the south slope of Jerusalem, where the people of Jebus live. It continued on to En Rogel. 17 Then it curved north. It went to En Shemesh. It continued on to Geliloth. Geliloth faces the Pass of Adummim. The border ran down to the Stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben. 18 It continued to the north slope of Beth Arabah. It went on down into the Arabah Valley. 19 From there it went to the north slope of Beth Hoglah. It came to an end at the north bay of the Dead Sea. That’s where the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea. That was the border on the south.
20 The Jordan River formed the border on the east side.
Those were the borders that marked out on all sides the land the family groups of Benjamin received as their share.
21 Here is a list of towns given to the tribe of Benjamin, according to its family groups.
Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, 22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar Ammoni, Ophni and Geba. The total number of towns and their villages was 12.
25 Here is another list of towns given to Benjamin.
Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zelah, Haeleph, Jerusalem, Gibeah and Kiriath. The total number of towns and their villages was 14.
That was the share of land the family groups of Benjamin received.
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