Joshua 16-17
Legacy Standard Bible
Ephraim’s Inheritance
16 Then the lot for the sons of Joseph went out from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east into (A)the wilderness, going up from Jericho through the hill country to Bethel. 2 And it went out from Bethel to Luz and (B)passed on to the border of the Archites at Ataroth. 3 Then it went down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of lower (C)Beth-horon even to (D)Gezer, and [a]it ended at the sea.
4 So the (E)sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance. 5 Now this was the territory of the sons of Ephraim according to their families: the border of their inheritance eastward was (F)Ataroth-addar, as far as upper Beth-horon. 6 Then the border went westward at (G)Michmethath on the north, and the border turned about eastward to Taanath-shiloh and passed on beyond it to the east of Janoah. 7 And it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to (H)Naarah and reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan. 8 From (I)Tappuah the border continued westward to the [b]brook of Kanah, and [c]it ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim according to their families, 9 together with the cities which were set apart for the sons of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. 10 (J)But they did not dispossess the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so (K)the Canaanites live in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.
Manasseh’s Inheritance
17 And this was the lot for the tribe of (L)Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, [d]were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war. 2 So the lot was made for the rest of the sons of Manasseh according to their families: for the sons of Abiezer and for the sons of Helek and for the sons of Asriel and for the sons of Shechem and for the sons of Hepher and for the sons of Shemida; these were the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the males according to their families.
3 However, (M)Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. 4 And they came near before Eleazar the priest and before Joshua the son of Nun and before the leaders, saying, “Yahweh commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” So (N)according to the [e]word of Yahweh he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers. 5 Thus there fell ten portions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan, 6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons. And the (O)land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh.
7 And the border of Manasseh [f]ran from Asher to Michmethath which was east of Shechem; then the border went [g]southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah. 8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but (P)Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim. 9 And the (Q)border went down to the [h]brook of Kanah, southward of the [i]brook (these cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh), and the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the [j]brook, and [k]it ended at the sea. 10 The south side belonged to Ephraim and the north side to Manasseh, and the sea was [l]their border; and they reached to Asher on the north and to Issachar on the east. 11 And in Issachar and in Asher, (R)Manasseh had Beth-shean and its towns, and Ibleam and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, the third is (S)Napheth. 12 (T)But the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land. 13 Now it happened that when the sons of Israel became strong, (U)they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not dispossess them completely.
14 Then the (V)sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me only one lot and one portion for an inheritance, since I am a numerous people whom Yahweh has thus far blessed?” 15 And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go [m]up to the forest and [n]clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” 16 And the sons of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the valley land have (W)chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth-shean and its towns and those who are in the valley of Jezreel.” 17 Then Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, “You are a numerous people and have great power; you shall not have one lot only, 18 but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall [o]clear it, and to its [p]farthest borders it shall be yours; for you shall dispossess the Canaanites, even though they have (X)chariots of iron and even though they are strong.”
Footnotes
- Joshua 16:3 Lit the goings out of it were
- Joshua 16:8 Or wadi
- Joshua 16:8 Lit the goings out of it were
- Joshua 17:1 Lit and there was to him
- Joshua 17:4 Lit mouth
- Joshua 17:7 Lit was
- Joshua 17:7 Lit to the right hand
- Joshua 17:9 Or wadi
- Joshua 17:9 Or wadi
- Joshua 17:9 Or wadi
- Joshua 17:9 Lit the goings out of it were
- Joshua 17:10 Lit its
- Joshua 17:15 Lit up for yourself
- Joshua 17:15 Lit cut down
- Joshua 17:18 Lit cut it down
- Joshua 17:18 Lit goings out
Joshua 16-17
Christian Standard Bible
Joseph’s Inheritance
16 The allotment for the descendants of Joseph went from the Jordan at Jericho to the Waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness(A) ascending from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel. 2 From Bethel it went to Luz and proceeded to the border of the Archites by Ataroth.(B) 3 It then descended westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer,(C) and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. 4 So Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph,(D) received their inheritance.(E)
Ephraim’s Inheritance
5 This was the territory of the descendants of Ephraim by their clans:
The border of their inheritance went from Ataroth-addar(F) on the east to Upper Beth-horon. 6 In the north the border went westward from Michmethath;(G) it turned eastward from Taanath-shiloh and passed it east of Janoah. 7 From Janoah it descended to Ataroth and Naarah,(H) and then reached Jericho and went to the Jordan. 8 From Tappuah the border went westward along the Brook of Kanah and ended at the Mediterranean Sea.(I)
This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Ephraim by their clans, together with 9 the cities set apart for the descendants of Ephraim within the inheritance of the descendants of Manasseh—all these cities with their settlements. 10 However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer.(J) So the Canaanites still live in Ephraim today,(K) but they are forced laborers.
West Manasseh’s Inheritance
17 This was the allotment for the tribe of Manasseh(L) as Joseph’s firstborn. Gilead and Bashan were given to Machir, the firstborn of Manasseh and the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war.(M) 2 So the allotment was for the rest of Manasseh’s descendants by their clans, for the sons of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These are the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, by their clans.
3 Now Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.(N) 4 They came before the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders, saying, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our male relatives.” So they gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers, in keeping with the Lord’s instruction.(O) 5 As a result, ten tracts fell to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which are beyond the Jordan,[a] 6 because Manasseh’s daughters received an inheritance among his sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of Manasseh’s sons.
7 The border of Manasseh went from Asher to Michmethath near Shechem. It then went southward toward the inhabitants of En-tappuah. 8 The region of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah itself on Manasseh’s border(P) belonged to the descendants of Ephraim. 9 From there the border descended to the Brook of Kanah; south of the brook, cities belonged to Ephraim among Manasseh’s cities. Manasseh’s border was on the north side of the brook and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. 10 Ephraim’s territory was to the south and Manasseh’s to the north, with the Sea as its border. They reached Asher on the north and Issachar on the east. 11 Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean, Ibleam, and the inhabitants of Dor with their surrounding villages;(Q) the inhabitants of En-dor, Taanach, and Megiddo—the three cities of[b] Naphath—with their surrounding villages.(R)
12 The descendants of Manasseh could not possess these cities, because the Canaanites were determined to stay in this land. 13 However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they imposed forced labor on the Canaanites but did not drive them out completely.(S)
Joseph’s Additional Inheritance
14 Joseph’s descendants said to Joshua, “Why did you give us only one tribal allotment as an inheritance? We have many people, because the Lord has been blessing us greatly.”
15 “If you have so many people,” Joshua replied to them, “go to the forest and clear an area for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, because Ephraim’s hill country is too small for you.”
16 But the descendants of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who inhabit the valley area have iron chariots, both at Beth-shean with its surrounding villages and in the Jezreel Valley.”
17 So Joshua replied to Joseph’s family (that is, Ephraim and Manasseh), “You have many people and great strength. You will not have just one allotment, 18 because the hill country will be yours also. It is a forest; clear it and its outlying areas will be yours. You can also drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and are strong.”
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