Numbers 34
International Children’s Bible
The Borders of Canaan
34 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give this command to the people of Israel: ‘You will soon enter Canaan. It will be yours. These shall be the borders. 3 On the south you will get part of the Desert of Zin. This is near the border of Edom. On the east side your southern border will start at the south end of the Dead Sea. 4 It will cross south of Scorpion Pass. It will go through the Desert of Zin and south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and over to Azmon. 5 From Azmon it will go to the brook of Egypt. It will end at the Mediterranean Sea.
6 “‘Your western border will be the Mediterranean Sea.
7 “‘Your northern border will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and go to Mount Hor. 8 From Mount Hor it will go to Lebo Hamath. Then it will go to Zedad. 9 Then the border will go to Ziphron and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your northern border.
10 “‘Your eastern border will begin at Hazar Enan and go to Shepham. 11 From Shepham the border will go east of Ain to Riblah. It will go along the hills east of Lake Galilee. 12 Then the border will go down along the Jordan River. It will end at the Dead Sea.
“‘These are the borders around your country.’”
13 So Moses gave this command to the Israelites: “This is the land you will receive. Throw lots to divide it among the nine and a half tribes. The Lord commanded that it should be theirs. 14 The tribes of Reuben and Gad and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their land. 15 These two and a half tribes received land east of the Jordan River. It is across from Jericho.”
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, 17 “These are the men who will divide the land: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun. 18 Also take one leader from each tribe. They will divide the land. 19 These are the names of the leaders: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; 20 from the tribe of Simeon, Shemuel son of Ammihud; 21 from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Kislon; 22 from the tribe of Dan, Bukki son of Jogli; 23 from the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, Hanniel son of Ephod; 24 from the tribe of Ephraim son of Joseph, Kemuel son of Shiphtan; 25 from the tribe of Zebulun, Elizaphan son of Parnach; 26 from the tribe of Issachar, Paltiel son of Azzan; 27 from the tribe of Asher, Ahihud son of Shelomi; 28 from the tribe of Naphtali, Pedahel son of Ammihud.”
29 The Lord commanded these men to divide the land of Canaan among the Israelites.
Numbers 34
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Boundaries of Israel’s Land
34 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give the Israelites these instructions. When you enter Canaan, the land that will be given to you as your inheritance has these borders:
3 “The southern side includes part of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. In the east the southern border starts from the end of the Dead Sea 4 and turns south of the Akrabbim Pass. It then goes past Zin and ends at Kadesh Barnea. From there it goes to Hazar Addar and on to Azmon. 5 From Azmon it turns toward the River of Egypt so that the border ends at the Mediterranean Sea.
6 “The western border is the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.
7 “The northern border extends from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor, 8 and from Mount Hor to the border of Hamath so that it ends at Zedad. 9 From there the border goes to Ziphron and ends at Hazar Enan.
10 “The eastern border extends from Hazar Enan to Shepham. 11 From Shepham the border goes down to Riblah, east of Ain, and continues along the eastern slope of the Sea of Galilee. 12 Then the border goes along the Jordan River so that it ends at the Dead Sea.
“This will be your land and the borders around it.”
13 Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you will divide by drawing lots. The Lord has commanded that this land will be given to the nine-and-a-half tribes. 14 The households from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh have already received their land. 15 Those two-and-a-half tribes received land east of the Jordan River across from Jericho.”
Men Are Appointed to Divide the Land
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “These are the names of the men who will divide the land for you: the priest Eleazar and Joshua, son of Nun. 18 You must also take one leader from each tribe to divide the land. 19 These are their names:
Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;
20 Shemuel, son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Simeon;
21 Elidad, son of Kislon, from the tribe of Benjamin;
22 Bukki, son of Jogli, the leader of the tribe of Dan;
23 Hanniel, son of Ephod, the leader of the tribe of Manasseh;
24 Kemuel, son of Shiphtan, the leader of the tribe of Ephraim;
(Manasseh and Ephraim are Joseph’s descendants.) [a]
25 Elizaphan, son of Parnach, the leader of the tribe of Zebulun;
26 Paltiel, son of Azzan, the leader of the tribe of Issachar;
27 Ahihud, son of Shelomi, the leader of the tribe of Asher;
28 Pedahel, son of Ammihud, the leader of the tribe of Naphtali.”
29 These are the men the Lord commanded to divide Canaan for the Israelites.
Footnotes
- 34:24 This sentence has been moved from verse 23 in order to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.
Numbers 34
New King James Version
The Appointed Boundaries of Canaan
34 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into (A)the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance—the land of Canaan to its boundaries. 3 (B)Your southern border shall be from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom; then your southern border shall extend eastward to the end of (C)the Salt Sea; 4 your border shall turn from the southern side of (D)the Ascent of Akrabbim, continue to Zin, and be on the south of (E)Kadesh Barnea; then it shall go on to (F)Hazar Addar, and continue to Azmon; 5 the border shall turn from Azmon (G)to the Brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the Sea.
6 ‘As for the (H)western border, you shall have the Great Sea for a border; this shall be your western border.
7 ‘And this shall be your northern border: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your border line to (I)Mount Hor; 8 from Mount Hor you shall mark out your border (J)to the entrance of Hamath; then the direction of the border shall be toward (K)Zedad; 9 the border shall proceed to Ziphron, and it shall end at (L)Hazar Enan. This shall be your northern border.
10 ‘You shall mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan to Shepham; 11 the border shall go down from Shepham (M)to Riblah on the east side of Ain; the border shall go down and reach to the eastern [a]side of the Sea (N)of Chinnereth; 12 the border shall go down along the Jordan, and it shall end at (O)the Salt Sea. This shall be your land with its surrounding boundaries.’ ”
13 Then Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying: (P)“This is the land which you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half-tribe. 14 (Q)For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and the half-tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance. 15 The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance on this side of the Jordan, across from Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise.”
The Leaders Appointed to Divide the Land
16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “These are the names of the men who shall divide the land among you as an inheritance: (R)Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun. 18 And you shall take one (S)leader of every tribe to divide the land for the inheritance. 19 These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 20 from the tribe of the children of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud; 21 from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon; 22 a leader from the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli; 23 from the sons of Joseph: a leader from the tribe of the children of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod, 24 and a leader from the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan; 25 a leader from the tribe of the children of Zebulun, Elizaphan the son of Parnach; 26 a leader from the tribe of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan; 27 a leader from the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the son of Shelomi; 28 and a leader from the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.”
29 These are the ones the Lord commanded to [b]divide the inheritance among the children of Israel in the land of Canaan.
Footnotes
- Numbers 34:11 Lit. shoulder
- Numbers 34:29 apportion
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.