The Territory of Simeon

19 The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of Simeon, according to its families; its inheritance lay within the inheritance of the tribe of Judah. ² It had for its inheritance Beer-sheba, Sheba, Moladah, ³ Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, ⁴ Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, ⁵ Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, ⁶ Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen towns with their villages; ⁷ Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four towns with their villages; ⁸ together with all the villages all around these towns as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the Negeb. This was the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon according to its families. ⁹ The inheritance of the tribe of Simeon formed part of the territory of Judah; because the portion of the tribe of Judah was too large for them, the tribe of Simeon obtained an inheritance within their inheritance.

The Territory of Zebulun

¹⁰ The third lot came up for the tribe of Zebulun, according to its families. The boundary of its inheritance reached as far as Sarid; ¹¹ then its boundary goes up westward, and on to Maralah, and touches Dabbesheth, then the wadi that is east of Jokneam; ¹² from Sarid it goes in the other direction eastward toward the sunrise to the boundary of Chisloth-tabor; from there it goes to Daberath, then up to Japhia; ¹³ from there it passes along on the east toward the sunrise to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and going on to Rimmon it bends toward Neah; ¹⁴ then on the north the boundary makes a turn to Hannathon, and it ends at the valley of Iphtah-el; ¹⁵ and Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—twelve towns with their villages. ¹⁶ This is the inheritance of the tribe of Zebulun, according to its families—these towns with their villages.

The Territory of Issachar

¹⁷ The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the tribe of Issachar, according to its families. ¹⁸ Its territory included Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem, ¹⁹ Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, ²⁰ Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, ²¹ Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, Beth-pazzez; ²² the boundary also touches Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and its boundary ends at the Jordan—sixteen towns with their villages. ²³ This is the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar, according to its families—the towns with their villages.

The Territory of Asher

²⁴ The fifth lot came out for the tribe of Asher according to its families. ²⁵ Its boundary included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, ²⁶ Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal; on the west it touches Carmel and Shihor-libnath, ²⁷ then it turns eastward, goes to Beth-dagon, and touches Zebulun and the valley of Iphtah-el northward to Beth-emek and Neiel; then it continues in the north to Cabul, ²⁸ Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, Kanah, as far as Great Sidon; ²⁹ then the boundary turns to Ramah, reaching to the fortified city of Tyre; then the boundary turns to Hosah, and it ends at the sea; Mahalab,^[a] Achzib, ³⁰ Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob—twenty-two towns with their villages. ³¹ This is the inheritance of the tribe of Asher according to its families—these towns with their villages.

The Territory of Naphtali

³² The sixth lot came out for the tribe of Naphtali, for the tribe of Naphtali, according to its families. ³³ And its boundary ran from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, and Adami-nekeb, and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum; and it ended at the Jordan; ³⁴ then the boundary turns westward to Aznoth-tabor, and goes from there to Hukkok, touching Zebulun at the south, and Asher on the west, and Judah on the east at the Jordan. ³⁵ The fortified towns are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, ³⁶ Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, ³⁷ Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, ³⁸ Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh—nineteen towns with their villages. ³⁹ This is the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali according to its families—the towns with their villages.

The Territory of Dan

⁴⁰ The seventh lot came out for the tribe of Dan, according to its families. ⁴¹ The territory of its inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, ⁴² Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, ⁴³ Elon, Timnah, Ekron, ⁴⁴ Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, ⁴⁵ Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, ⁴⁶ Me-jarkon, and Rakkon at the border opposite Joppa. ⁴⁷ When the territory of the Danites was lost to them, the Danites went up and fought against Leshem, and after capturing it and putting it to the sword, they took possession of it and settled in it, calling Leshem, Dan, after their ancestor Dan. ⁴⁸ This is the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, according to their families—these towns with their villages.

Joshua’s Inheritance

⁴⁹ When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the Israelites gave an inheritance among them to Joshua son of Nun. ⁵⁰ By command of the Lord they gave him the town that he asked for, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim; he rebuilt the town, and settled in it.

⁵¹ These are the inheritances that the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites distributed by lot at Shiloh before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

The Cities of Refuge

20 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ² “Say to the Israelites, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, ³ so that anyone who kills a person without intent or by mistake may flee there; they shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴ The slayer shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and explain the case to the elders of that city; then the fugitive shall be taken into the city, and given a place, and shall remain with them. ⁵ And if the avenger of blood is in pursuit, they shall not give up the slayer, because the neighbor was killed by mistake, there having been no enmity between them before. ⁶ The slayer shall remain in that city until there is a trial before the congregation, until the death of the one who is high priest at the time: then the slayer may return home, to the town in which the deed was done.’”

⁷ So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. ⁸ And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹ These were the cities designated for all the Israelites, and for the aliens residing among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so as not to die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until there was a trial before the congregation.

Psalm 112

Blessings of the Righteous

Law or Faith

3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! ² The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? ⁴ Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. ⁵ Well then, does God^[a] supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

⁶ Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” ⁷ so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. ⁸ And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.” ⁹ For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” ¹¹ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”^{[b] 12} But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law^[c] will live by them.” ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— ¹⁴ in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Promise to Abraham

¹⁵ Brothers and sisters,^[d] I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will^[e] has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it. ¹⁶ Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;^[f] it does not say, “And to offsprings,”^[g] as of many; but it says, “And to your offspring,”^[h] that is, to one person, who is Christ. ¹⁷ My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.

The Purpose of the Law

¹⁹ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring^[i] would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator. ²⁰ Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.

²¹ Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. ²² But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ^[j] might be given to those who believe.

²³ Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. ²⁴ Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. ²⁷ As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,^[k] heirs according to the promise.