Joshua 16-17
New King James Version
Ephraim and West Manasseh
16 The lot [a]fell to the children of Joseph from the Jordan, by Jericho, to the waters of Jericho on the east, to the (A)wilderness that goes up from Jericho through the mountains to [b]Bethel, 2 then went out [c]from (B)Bethel to Luz, passed along to the border of the Archites at Ataroth, 3 and went down westward to the boundary of the Japhletites, (C)as far as the boundary of Lower Beth Horon to (D)Gezer; and [d]it ended at the sea.
4 (E)So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their [e]inheritance.
The Land of Ephraim
5 (F)The border of the children of Ephraim, according to their families, was thus: The border of their inheritance on the east side was (G)Ataroth Addar (H)as far as Upper Beth Horon.
6 And the border went out toward the sea on the north side of (I)Michmethath; then the border went around eastward to Taanath Shiloh, and passed by it on the east of Janohah. 7 Then it went down from Janohah to Ataroth and [f]Naarah, reached to Jericho, and came out at the Jordan.
8 The border went out from (J)Tappuah westward to the (K)Brook Kanah, and [g]it ended at the sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families. 9 (L)The separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.
10 (M)And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day and have become forced laborers.
The Other Half-Tribe of Manasseh (West)
17 There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the (N)firstborn of Joseph: namely for (O)Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war; therefore he was given (P)Gilead and Bashan. 2 And there was a lot for (Q)the rest of the children of Manasseh according to their families: (R)for the children of [h]Abiezer, the children of Helek, (S)the children of Asriel, the children of Shechem, (T)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 (U)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 (V)Eleazar the priest, before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the rulers, saying, (W)“The Lord commanded Moses to give us an [i]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 (X)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 (Y)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 (Z)Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the children of Ephraim. 9 And the [j]border descended to the [k]Brook Kanah, southward to the brook. (AA)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, (AB)Manasseh had (AC)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 (AD)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 (AE)forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.
More Land for Ephraim and Manasseh
14 (AF)Then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given us only (AG)one [l]lot and one share to inherit, since we are (AH)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 (AI)chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth Shean and its towns and those who are (AJ)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 [m]lot, 18 but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its [n]farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, (AK)though they have iron chariots and are strong.”
Footnotes
- Joshua 16:1 Lit. went out
- Joshua 16:1 LXX Bethel Luz
- Joshua 16:2 LXX to Bethel,
- Joshua 16:3 Lit. the goings out of it were at the sea
- Joshua 16:4 possession
- Joshua 16:7 Naaran, 1 Chr. 7:28
- Joshua 16:8 Lit. the goings out of it were at the sea
- 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 16-17
New Life Version
16 The share of land for the people of Joseph went from the Jordan at Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, into the desert. It went from Jericho through the hill country to Bethel. 2 It went from Bethel to Luz, and on to the land of the Archites at Ataroth. 3 Then it went west to the land of the Japhletites, as far as the land of lower Beth-horon, and to Gezer. It ended at the sea.
4 The people of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim received their land.
5 The land of the people of Ephraim by their families on the east side was Ataroth-addar, as far as upper Bethhoron. 6 Then the side of the land went toward the sea, with Michmethath on the north, and turned east to Taanath-shiloh, and on to the east side of Janoah. 7 From Janoah it went down to Ataroth, to Naarah, touched Jericho, and ended at the Jordan. 8 From Tappuah it went west to the river of Kanah and ended at the sea. This is the land given to the family group of the people of Ephraim for their families. 9 And there are the cities which were set apart for the people of Ephraim within the land that was given to the people of Manasseh, all the cities with the towns around them. 10 But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites live among Ephraim to this day. But they have been made to work for the people of Ephraim.
17 This was the share of land given to the family of Manasseh, the first-born of Joseph. Gilead and Bashan were given to Machir, the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war. 2 And land was given to the rest of the sons of Manasseh for their families. The sons of Joseph’s son Manasseh, with their families, were Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. 3 But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. The names of his daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 They came to Eleazar the religious leader, Joshua the son of Nun, and the leaders, saying, “The Lord told Moses to give us a share of land among our brothers.” So they gave them a share of land among their father’s brothers, as the Lord had said. 5 Ten parts of the land were given to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan on the other side of the Jordan; 6 because Manasseh’s daughters received a share of land among his sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh.
7 The side of the land of Manasseh went from Asher to Michmethath, east of Shechem. Then it went south to the people of En-tappuah. 8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh. But the town of Tappuah on the side of Manasseh’s land belonged to the sons of Ephraim. 9 Then the side of the land went down to the river of Kanah. The cities south of the river, among the cities of Manasseh, belonged to Ephraim. Then Manasseh’s land went along the north side of the river and ended at the sea. 10 The south side belonged to Ephraim. The north side belonged to Manasseh. Their land spread from the sea to Asher on the north and to Issachar on the east. 11 In Issachar and in Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its towns, Ibleam and its towns, the people of Dor and its towns, the people of En-dor and its towns, the people of Taanach and its towns, and the people of Megiddo and its towns. The third city is Napheth. 12 But the sons of Manasseh could not take these cities for their own because the Canaanites would not leave that land. 13 When the people of Israel became strong, they made the Canaanites work for them. But they did not drive all of them out.
14 The sons of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one share of the land? We have many people. And the Lord has brought good to us until now.” 15 Joshua said to them, “If you have many people, go up among the trees and clear a place for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” 16 The sons of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. But all the Canaanites who live in the valley have iron war-wagons. Both those in Beth-shean and its towns and those in the valley of Jezreel have them.” 17 Then Joshua said to the families of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You have many people and much power. You will not have only one share of land. 18 The hill country will be yours. It is full of trees, but you will clear it. All of it will be yours. For you will drive out the Canaanites, even if they have iron war-wagons and much strength.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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