Joshua 18

Easy-to-Read Version

Dividing the Rest of the Land

18 All the Israelites gathered together at Shiloh where they set up the Meeting Tent. The Israelites controlled that country. They had defeated all the enemies in that land. ² But at this time there were still seven tribes of Israel that had not yet received their land.

³ So Joshua said to the Israelites, “Why do you wait so long to take your land? The Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given this land to you. ⁴ So each of your tribes should choose three men. I will send them out to study the land. They will describe that land, and then they will come back to me. ⁵ They will divide the land into seven parts. The people of Judah will keep their land in the south. The people of Joseph will keep their land in the north. ⁶ But you should describe the land and divide it into seven parts. Bring the map to me, and we will throw lots to let the Lord our God decide how to divide the land among the tribes. ⁷ The Levites don’t get a share of the land. Their share is to serve the Lord as priests. Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received the land that was promised to them. They are on the east side of the Jordan River. Moses, the Lord’s servant, gave them that land.”

⁸ So the men who were chosen went to look at the land and write down what they saw. Joshua told them, “Go through the land and describe it in writing. Then come back to me at Shiloh. I will throw lots and let the Lord decide how you will share the land.”

⁹ So the men went into the land. As they walked through it, they wrote down what they saw. They listed all the cities and divided the land into seven parts. Then they went back to Joshua at Shiloh. ¹⁰ Joshua threw lots for them in front of the Lord at Shiloh. In this way Joshua divided the land and gave each tribe its part of the land.

Land for Benjamin

¹¹ The tribe of Benjamin was given the land that was between the areas of Judah and Joseph. Each family in the tribe of Benjamin got its land. This is the land that was chosen for Benjamin: ¹² The northern border started at the Jordan River. It went along the northern edge of Jericho. Then the border went west into the hill country. It continued until it was just east of Beth Aven. ¹³ Then the border went south to Luz (Bethel), then down to Ataroth Addar. Ataroth Addar is on the hill south of Lower Beth Horon. ¹⁴ At the hill south of Beth Horon, the border turned south and went along the west side of the hill. The border went to Kiriath Baal (also called Kiriath Jearim). This town belonged to the people of Judah. This was the western border.

¹⁵ The southern border started near Kiriath Jearim and went to the River of Nephtoah. ¹⁶ Then the border went down to the bottom of the hill near the valley of Ben Hinnom, north of Rephaim Valley. It continued down Hinnom Valley just south of the Jebusite city. Then the border went on to En Rogel. ¹⁷ There it turned north, went to En Shemesh, and then continued on to Geliloth. (Geliloth is near the Adummim Pass in the mountains.) The border went down to the Great Stone that was named for Bohan, the son of Reuben. ¹⁸ It continued to the northern part of Beth Arabah. Then the border went down into the Jordan Valley. ¹⁹ Then it went to the northern part of Beth Hoglah and ended at the north shore of the Dead Sea. This is where the Jordan River flows into that sea. That was the southern border.

²⁰ The Jordan River was the eastern border. So this was the land that was given to the tribe of Benjamin. These were the borders on all sides. ²¹ Each family got its land. These are their cities: Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, ²² Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, ²³ Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, ²⁴ Kephar Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba. There were twelve cities and the fields around them.

²⁵ The tribe of Benjamin also got Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, ²⁶ Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, ²⁷ Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ²⁸ Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath. There were 14 cities and the fields around them. The tribe of Benjamin got all these areas.