Joshua 17
New King James Version
The Other Half-Tribe of Manasseh (West)
17 There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the (A)firstborn of Joseph: namely for (B)Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war; therefore he was given (C)Gilead and Bashan. 2 And there was a lot for (D)the rest of the children of Manasseh according to their families: (E)for the children of [a]Abiezer, the children of Helek, (F)the children of Asriel, the children of Shechem, (G)the children of Hepher, and the children of Shemida; these were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families.
3 But (H)Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters. And these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 And they came near before (I)Eleazar the priest, before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the rulers, saying, (J)“The Lord commanded Moses to give us an [b]inheritance among our brothers.” Therefore, according to the commandment of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers. 5 Ten shares fell to (K)Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side of the Jordan, 6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons; and the rest of Manasseh’s sons had the land of Gilead.
7 And the territory of Manasseh was from Asher to (L)Michmethath, that lies east of Shechem; and the border went along south to the inhabitants of En Tappuah. 8 Manasseh had the land of Tappuah, but (M)Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim. 9 And the [c]border descended to the [d]Brook Kanah, southward to the brook. (N)These cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh. The border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook; and it ended at the sea.
10 Southward it was Ephraim’s, northward it was Manasseh’s, and the sea was its border. Manasseh’s territory was adjoining Asher on the north and Issachar on the east. 11 And in Issachar and in Asher, (O)Manasseh had (P)Beth Shean and its towns, Ibleam and its towns, the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, the inhabitants of En Dor and its towns, the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns—three hilly regions. 12 Yet (Q)the children of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, but the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. 13 And it happened, when the children of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to (R)forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
More Land for Ephraim and Manasseh
14 (S)Then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given us only (T)one [e]lot and one share to inherit, since we are (U)a great people, inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now?”
15 So Joshua answered them, “If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.”
16 But the children of Joseph said, “The mountain country is not enough for us; and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have (V)chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth Shean and its towns and those who are (W)of the Valley of Jezreel.”
17 And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—saying, “You are a great people and have great power; you shall not have only one [f]lot, 18 but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its [g]farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, (X)though they have iron chariots and are strong.”
Footnotes
- Joshua 17:2 Jeezer, Num. 26:30
- Joshua 17:4 possession
- Joshua 17:9 boundary
- Joshua 17:9 Wadi
- Joshua 17:14 allotment
- Joshua 17:17 allotment
- Joshua 17:18 Lit. goings out
Joshua 17
Contemporary English Version
Manasseh's Land West of the Jordan River
17 1-6 (A) Manasseh was Joseph's oldest son, and Machir was Manasseh's oldest son. Machir had a son named Gilead, and some of his descendants had already received the regions of Gilead and Bashan because they were good warriors. The other clans of the Manasseh tribe descended from Gilead's sons Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. The following is a description of the land they received.
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.”[a]
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.[b] So Manasseh's land west of the Jordan River was divided into ten parts.
7 The 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.[c] 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.
9-10 Then 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.
11 Manasseh 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.[d]
12 (B) But the people of Manasseh could not capture these towns, so the Canaanites kept on living in them. 13 When 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
14 One day the Joseph tribes[e] came to Joshua and asked, “Why didn't you give us more land? The Lord has always been kind to us, and we have too many people for this small region.”
15 Joshua replied, “If there's not enough room for you in the hill country of Ephraim, then go into the forest that belonged to the Perizzites and the Rephaim.[f] Clear out the trees and make more room for yourselves there.”
16 “Even if we do that,” they answered, “there still won't be enough land for us in the hill country. And we can't move down into Jezreel Valley, because the Canaanites who live in Beth-Shan and in other parts of the valley have iron chariots.”
17 “Your tribes do have a lot of people,” Joshua admitted. “I'll give you more land. Your tribes are powerful, 18 so 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.”
Footnotes
- 17.1-6 The Lord told Moses … relatives: See Numbers 27.1-11; 36.1-12.
- 17.1-6 the clans that were descendants of Zelophehad's five daughters … Hepher's brothers: Or “Zelophehad's five daughters went to the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of Israel. The five sisters said, ‘The Lord told Moses to give us land just as he gave land to our relatives.’ Joshua followed the Lord's instructions and gave land to these five sisters, as he had given land to Hepher's brothers.”
- 17.7 to include … Tappuah Spring: Hebrew; one ancient translation “to Jassiben-Tappuah” or “and turns toward Tappuah Spring.”
- 17.11 Dor … Naphath: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 17.14 Joseph tribes: Ephraim and the half of Manasseh that lived west of the Jordan River.
- 17.15 Rephaim: See the note at 12.4.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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