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16 The inheritance of the people of Joseph was bounded on the east by the Jordan at the waters of Jericho, and into the desert, then rising from Jericho into the highlands of Bethel. 2 From there it went to Luz, and along to Ataroth, the frontier of the land of the Archites, 3 then downward and westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the border of lower Beth-horon, then on to Gezer, and it ended at the sea. 4 So the people of Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim received their inheritance.
Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, only receive one land allotment between them. Later this will cause contention (17:14–18).
5 The territory of the Ephraimites, clan by clan, was as follows: the eastern border of their inheritance was Ataroth-addar to upper Beth-horon, 6 and the boundary went west at Michmethath on the north and turned east toward Taanath-shiloh, and passed along beyond it on the east to Janoah. 7 Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarah, touched Jericho, and ended at the Jordan. 8 From Tappuah, the boundary ran west to the wadi of Kanah and ended at the sea. This was the land allotted to the tribe of the Ephraimites, clan by clan, 9 along with the cities that were set apart for the people of Ephraim scattered within the inheritance of the people of Manasseh, all those cities and their surrounding villages. 10 But the people of Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, who have lived among the people of Ephraim to this day but are forced to serve them.
17 Land was allotted to the tribe of Manasseh, Joseph’s firstborn. Machir, the firstborn son of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, received Gilead and Bashan because he was a warrior. 2 Then land was allotted to the rest of the people of Manasseh by clans: Abiezerites, Helekites, Asrielites, Shechemites, Hepherites, and Shemidaites (the male descendants of Manasseh, son of Joseph, by clans).
Women don’t make many appearances in Israel’s story, mostly because women were not given a prominent role in ancient Middle Eastern cultures, but this episode is a startling example of equality and justice: although inheritance usually is passed from father to the oldest son, this family has only daughters. How will they pass down their land? Well the law of Moses, which has provided for so many things, also provides for this.
3 Now Zelophehad, son of Hepher, grandson of Gilead, great-grandson of Machir, great-great-grandson of Manasseh, had no sons to inherit, only five daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 These daughters came before Eleazar the priest, Joshua (son of Nun), and the leaders of the people.
Zelophehad’s Daughters: In the law, the Eternal commanded Moses to give daughters an inheritance along with male relatives.
So, as the Eternal had commanded, he gave the daughters an inheritance alongside their uncles.
5 So Manasseh was given 10 portions (in addition to the land of Gilead and Bashan on the far side of the Jordan) 6 since the daughters of Manasseh also received an inheritance among their male relatives. The land of Gilead itself was given to Manasseh’s other male descendants.
7 The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, which is east of Shechem; then the boundary went southward to the inhabitants of the spring of Tappuah. 8 (The land of Tappuah belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, but the town itself on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the people of Ephraim.) 9 From there, the boundary went south to the wadi of Kanah. The towns to the south of the river among the towns of Manasseh also belonged to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh went along the north side of the wadi and ended at the sea.
10 The south side was given to Ephraim, and the north to Manasseh with the sea forming the western boundary; the northern boundary was the land allotted to Asher, and the eastern was Issachar. 11 Within the territories of Issachar and Asher, Manasseh possessed these cities: Beth-shean and its villages, Ibleam and its villages, the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, the inhabitants of Taanach and Megiddo and their villages, the three towns of the slopes.[a]
12 But the descendants of Manasseh could not conquer those cities because the Canaanites stubbornly continued to live among them in that region. 13 At last when the Israelites grew stronger, they made the Canaanites their servants, although they did not remove them completely.
14 Then the descendants of Joseph came to Joshua and made demands of him.
Joseph’s Descendants: Why are we only receiving one share, one portion to inherit, since we are numerous and the Eternal has always generously blessed us?
Joshua (to Joseph’s descendants): 15 If there are so many of you and the hill country of Ephraim is too crowded, then why don’t you go up into the forests? Clear more land for yourselves and spread out where the Perizzites and the Rephaim live.
Joseph’s Descendants: 16 The hill country does not have enough room for us; and what’s more, all the Canaanites who inhabit the plains in Beth-shean and its villages and in the valley of Jezreel have iron chariots to use against us.
Joshua (to Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s descendants): 17 All right; it’s true that there are many of you and that you are powerful. You should not have just one share. 18 The hill country will be yours, and you can clear the forests and possess the land to its farthest borders. But you will have to defeat the Canaanites even with their iron chariots and powerful warriors.
18 The whole community of Israelites assembled at Shiloh and raised the congregation tent. The region was fully under their control. 2 But there were still seven tribes who had not received their inheritance of land.
Joshua (to the remaining Israelites): 3 How much more time do you intend to waste before going to claim the land the Eternal God of your ancestors is giving to you? 4 Pick three men from every tribe, and I will send them into the land so they can survey the regions in light of your inheritances and bring me back descriptions. 5 They will divide the land into seven sections, between the people of Judah remaining in its territory in the south and the people of Joseph in their places in the north. 6 After you divide the land, return here with the seven descriptions, and I will draw lots so that the Eternal One, our True God, can choose who will inherit what part of it.
7 Remember that the Levites will not receive a share in this apportioning since their inheritance is the priesthood of the Eternal. The tribes of Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance east of the Jordan that Moses, the servant of the Eternal, gave them.
The tribe of Levi is the one exception to this process of allocating land because they have been set aside as priests in service to God. The other tribes will have to take care of Levi so that they may do the work God has given them to do for the entire people.
8 So the chosen men prepared to go, and Joshua repeated his instructions to them.
Joshua: Go into the land and survey it. Keep in mind that we need to divide it into seven sections. When you come back, we will draw lots before the Eternal here in Shiloh to divide the land.
9 The men went out and passed through the land, marking the cities, dividing it into seven parts and recording their findings on a scroll. Then they returned to Joshua at Shiloh, 10 and Joshua drew lots in Shiloh in the presence of the Eternal to divide the land among the remaining Israelites, each getting a share.
11 The land assigned by lot to the tribe of the Benjaminites according to their clans was between the people of Judah in the south and the people of Joseph in the north. 12 On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan: then the boundary went up to the northern side of Jericho, climbed westward through the hill country, and ended at the wilderness of Beth-aven. 13 From there, the boundary went southward in the direction of Luz; near Luz (that is, Bethel) it went down to Ataroth-addar, on the mountain to the south of lower Beth-horon. 14 From this point, the western boundary turned southward from the mountain opposite Beth-horon to Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a town belonging to the people of Judah. This was the western boundary of their inheritance.
15 The southern boundary began on the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim and from there went west to the springs of Nephtoah. 16 Then the boundary went along the border of the mountain overlooking the valley of Ben-hinnom, which is at the north end of the valley of Rephaim; and it then went down the valley of Hinnom, south of the slope of the Jebusites, and further to En-rogel. 17 Then it curved in a northerly direction toward En-shemesh and from there went on to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim; then down to the stone of Bohan, Reuben’s son, 18 and passing on to the north of the slope of Arabah, it descended down to the Arabah.[b] 19 The boundary then went north of the slope of Beth-hoglah and ended at the northern bay of the Dead Sea where the Jordan empties into the sea. This was the southern border. 20 On the eastern side, the Jordan formed its boundary.
This, then, was the inheritance of the people of Benjamin, clan by clan, boundary by boundary. 21 And the cities of the tribe of the Benjaminites allocated to the clans were: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, 22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—12 cities and their surrounding villages. 25 Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zela, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath—14 cities with their surrounding villages. This was the inheritance of the people of Benjamin, clan by clan.
19 Jesus enters Jericho and seems only to be passing through. 2 Living in Jericho is a man named Zaccheus. He’s the head tax collector and is very rich. 3 He is also very short. He wants to see Jesus as He passes through the center of town, but he can’t get a glimpse because the crowd blocks his view. 4 So he runs ahead of the crowd and climbs up into a sycamore tree so he can see Jesus when He passes beneath him.
5 Jesus comes along and looks up into the tree[, and there He sees Zaccheus].[a]
Jesus: Zaccheus, hurry down from that tree because I need to stay at your house tonight.
6 Zaccheus scrambles down and joyfully brings Jesus back to his house. 7 Now the crowd sees this, and they’re upset.
Crowd (grumbling): Jesus has become the houseguest of this fellow who is a notorious sinner.
Zaccheus: 8 Lord, I am giving half of my goods to the poor, and whomever I have cheated I will pay back four times what I took.
Jesus: 9 Today liberation has come to this house, since even Zaccheus is living as a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to liberate the lost.
11 The crowd has been listening to all this, and everyone assumes that the kingdom of God is going to appear at any moment, since He’s nearing Jerusalem. So He tells them this parable:
Jesus: 12 A ruler once planned a journey to a distant country to take the throne of that country and then return home. 13 Before his departure, he called 10 of his servants and gave them each about three months of wages.[b] “Use this money to buy and sell until I return.” 14 After he departed, the people under his rule despised him and sent messengers with a clear message: “We do not want this man to rule over us.”
15 He successfully assumed kingship of the distant country and returned home. He called his 10 servants together and told them to give an account of their success in doing business with the money he had entrusted to them.
16 The first came before him and said, “Lord, I have made 10 times the amount you entrusted to me.” 17 The ruler replied, “Well done! You’re a good servant indeed! Since you have been faithful in handling a small amount of money, I’ll entrust you with authority over 10 cities in my new kingdom.”
18 The second came and said, “Lord, I’ve made five times the original amount.” 19 The ruler replied, “I’ll entrust you with authority over five cities.”
20 A third came and said, “Lord, I have successfully preserved the money you gave me. I wrapped it up in a napkin and hid it away 21 because I was afraid of you. After all, you’re a tough man. You have a way of taking a profit without making an investment and harvesting when you didn’t plant any seed.”
22 The ruler replied, “I will condemn you using your very own words, you worthless servant! So I’m a severe man, am I? So I take a profit without making an investment and harvest without planting seed? 23 Then why didn’t you invest my money in the bank so I could have at least gained some interest on it?” 24 The ruler told the onlookers, “Take the money I gave him, and give it to the one who multiplied my investment by 10.”
It is common to speculate about when the kingdom of God will fully arrive. But Jesus, through the previous parable, makes it clear that such speculation is a waste of time. Instead, people should be busy investing their lives in the kingdom of God. Earlier, in His encounter with the rich young ruler, Jesus invited the man to stop collaborating with the Roman Empire for his own benefit and to switch sides—so he could start working with the kingdom of God for the sake of the poor. The man refused; but soon after, a man named Zaccheus volunteered to do that very thing: to stop working for his own wealth by collaborating with Caesar’s kingdom and to start working for justice for the poor by collaborating with God’s kingdom. Speculation about the dates and times of the coming of the Kingdom can obscure the point—believers should live, starting now, in the way of the Kingdom.
25 Then the onlookers replied, “Lord, he already has 10 times the original amount!”
26 The ruler responded, “Listen, whoever has some will be given more, and whoever doesn’t have anything will lose what he thinks he has. 27 And these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to rule over them—bring them here and execute them in my presence.”
Psalm 87
A song of the sons of Korah.
1 He laid His foundation on the sacred mountains.
2 The Eternal loves Zion’s gates;
He prefers it over any other place where Jacob’s descendants make their homes.
3 Spectacular things are said about you,
O Jerusalem, city of the True God.
[pause][a]
4 God says, “I tell of some who know Me in Egypt[b] and Babylon;
behold, My people are in Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia[c] too:
‘This person was born there.’”
5 It is said of Zion,
“This person and that person were born in her.”
The Most High God has established that city and makes her strong.
6 When keeping track of His people, the Eternal surely notices,
“This one was born in Zion.”
[pause]
7 Those who sing and those who dance will say together,
“All my fountains of joy are in You.”
11 Money earned hastily is easily lost,
but hard-earned money continues to grow.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.