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Joshua 16

Ephraim's Land

   The eastern border started on the north near Janoah and went between Janoah on the southwest and Taanath-Shiloh on the northeast. Then it went south to Ataroth, Naarah, and on as far as the edge of the land that belonged to Jericho. At that point it turned east and went to the Jordan River. The clans of Ephraim received this region as their tribal land. ⁹Ephraim also had some towns and villages that were inside Manasseh's tribal land.

    ¹⁰Ephraim could not force the Canaanites out of Gezer, so there are still some Canaanites who live there among the Israelites. But now these Canaanites have to work as slaves for the Israelites.

Joshua 17

Manasseh's Land West of the Jordan River

   Hepher's son Zelophehad did not have any sons, but he did have five daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. One day the clans that were descendants of Zelophehad's five daughters went to the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of Israel. The people of these clans said, " The LORD told Moses to give us land just as he gave land to our relatives." ^[c] Joshua followed the LORD's instructions and gave land to these five clans, as he had given land to the five clans that had descended from Hepher's brothers. ^[d] So Manasseh's land west of the Jordan River was divided into ten parts. ⁷The land of the Manasseh tribe went from its northern border with the Asher tribe south to Michmethath, which is to the east of Shechem. The southern border started there, but curved even farther south to include the people who lived around Tappuah Spring. ^{[e] 8}The town of Tappuah was on Manasseh's border with Ephraim. Although the land around Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, the town itself belonged to Ephraim. ^9-10Then the border went west to the Kanah Gorge and ran along the northern edge of the gorge to the Mediterranean Sea. The land south of the gorge belonged to Ephraim. And even though there were a few towns that belonged to Ephraim north of the gorge, the land north of the gorge belonged to Manasseh.

   The western border of Manasseh was the Mediterranean Sea, and the tribe shared a border with the Asher tribe on the northwest and with the Issachar tribe on the northeast.

    ¹¹Manasseh was supposed to have the following towns with their surrounding villages inside the borders of Issachar's and Asher's tribal lands:

   Beth-Shan, Ibleam, Endor, Taanach, Megiddo, and Dor, which is also called Naphath. ^{[f] 12}But the people of Manasseh could not capture these towns, so the Canaanites kept on living in them. ¹³When the Israelites grew stronger, they made the Canaanites in these towns work as their slaves, though they never did force them to leave.

Joseph's Descendants Ask for More Land

    ¹⁷" Your tribes do have a lot of people," Joshua admitted. " I'll give you more land. Your tribes are powerful, ¹⁸so you can have the rest of the hill country, but it's a forest, and you'll have to cut down the trees and clear the land. You can also have Jezreel Valley. Even though the Canaanites there are strong and have iron chariots, you can force them to leave the valley."

Joshua 18

Joshua Gives Out the Rest of the Land

   Seven tribes still don't have any land. Each of these tribes should choose three men, and I'll send them to explore the remaining land. They will divide it into seven regions, write a description of each region, and bring these descriptions back to me. I will find out ^[k] from the LORD our God what region each tribe should get. ⁸Just before the men left camp, Joshua repeated their orders: " Explore the land and write a description of it. Then come back to Shiloh, and I will find out from the LORD how to divide the land."

    ⁹The men left and went across the land, dividing it into seven regions. They wrote down a description of each region, town by town, and returned to Joshua at the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰Joshua found out from the LORD how to divide the land, and he told the tribes what the LORD had decided.

Benjamin's Land

    ^21-24One region of Benjamin's tribal land had twelve towns with their surrounding villages. Those towns were Jericho, Beth-Hoglah, Emek-Keziz, Beth-Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, Chephar-Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba.

    ^25-28In the other region there were the following fourteen towns with their surrounding villages: Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, Zelah, Haeleph, Gibeah, Kiriath-Jearim, ^[t] and Jerusalem, which is also called Jebusite Town. These regions are the tribal lands of Benjamin.

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Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

(Matthew 1.18-25)

    ⁵Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, ⁶and while they were there, ⁷she gave birth to her first-born ^[c] son. She dressed him in baby clothes ^[d] and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds

    ¹³Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

    ¹⁴"Praise God in heaven!

   Peace on earth to everyone

   who pleases God."

    ¹⁵After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about." ¹⁶They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay.

    ¹⁷When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him. ¹⁸Everyone listened and was surprised. ¹⁹But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant.

    ²⁰As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said.

    ²¹Eight days later Jesus' parents did for him what the Law of Moses commands. ^[e] And they named him Jesus, just as the angel had told Mary when he promised she would have a baby.

Simeon Praises the Lord