Joshua 18
EasyEnglish Bible
Joshua gives land to the other tribes
18 All the Israelite people met together at Shiloh.[a] There they put up the Tent of Meeting. They now ruled the whole land. 2 But there were still seven tribes that Joshua had not yet given a part of the land for themselves.
3 Joshua said to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you the land. How much longer will you wait before you take it? 4 Choose three men from each tribe. I will send them to look at the whole land, to see what it is like. They must describe each part and then bring a report back to me. 5 You must make it into seven parts. Judah's tribe will keep the land in the south. Joseph's two tribes will keep their land in the north.[b] Divide the rest of the land into seven parts. 6 See what the land is like and describe each of the seven parts. Bring your report to me. Then I will use lots to choose which tribe should receive each part of the land. The Lord our God will decide this. 7 The Levites will not have any land of their own. Their gift from the Lord is to serve him. Gad, Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh already have their land on the east side of the Jordan River. The Lord's servant, Moses, gave it to them.’
8 Before the men left, Joshua said to them, ‘Go and look carefully at the land. Describe what you see. Then bring your report back to me here in Shiloh. I will use lots so that the Lord decides how to share the land between you.’
9 So the men left and they travelled through the land. They described the land and each town and they wrote it in a book. They wrote about each of the seven parts of the land. Then they went back to Joshua at Shiloh, where the Israelites had put up their tents.
10 There at Shiloh, Joshua used lots to see how the Lord wanted to divide the land. He told each of the seven Israelite tribes which part of the land they would receive.
Land for Benjamin's tribe
11 The first part of the land was for Benjamin's tribe, clan by clan. Their land was between the land that Joshua had already given to the tribes of Judah and Joseph.
12 The north border of their land began at the Jordan River, and it went up the hills to the north of Jericho. From there it went west into the hills, to the desert of Beth Aven. 13 Then their border continued to the south of Luz (that is Bethel) and went down to Ataroth Addar. That is on the hill south of Lower Beth Horon.
14 From that hill, their west border went south to Kiriath Baal (that is Kiriath-Jearim). This town belonged to the people of Judah. That was the west border of Benjamin's land.
15 The south border went from the edge of Kiriath-Jearim to the springs of water at Nephtoah. 16 Then it went to the edge of the hill country, near Ben Hinnom valley. This was north of the Valley of the Rephaites. It continued down the Hinnom valley, south of the Jebusite city and then went on to En Rogel. 17 Then it went north to En Shemesh. It continued to Geliloth, opposite the valley of Adummim. Then it went to the great stone of Bohan, Reuben's son. 18 It continued to the north of Beth Arabah down into the Jordan Valley. 19 Then it went north of Ben Hoglah, to the north end of the Salt Sea, where the Jordan River ends. That was the south border of Benjamin's land.
20 The east border of their land was the Jordan River.
Those are the borders of the land that Joshua gave to the families of Benjamin's tribe.
21 These are the cities that Joshua gave to the tribe of Benjamin:
Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, 22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar, Ammoni, Ophni and Geba.
There were 12 towns and their villages.
25 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 towns and their villages.
Joshua gave these cities to Benjamin's tribe, for each clan to live in.
Footnotes
- 18:1 Shiloh was near the middle of the land of Canaan. It was easy for everyone to get there.
- 18:5 Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh had already received their land. See Joshua 16—17.
Joshua 18
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Land Distribution at Shiloh
18 The entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh(A) and set up the tent of meeting there. The land had been subdued before them, 2 but seven tribes among the Israelites were left who had not divided up their inheritance. 3 So Joshua asked the Israelites, ‘How long will you delay going out to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, gave you?(B) 4 Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe, and I will send them out. They are to go and survey the land, write a description of it for the purpose of their inheritance, and return to me. 5 Then they are to divide it into seven portions. Judah is to remain in its territory in the south and Joseph’s family in their territory in the north.(C) 6 When you have written a description of the seven portions of land and brought it to me, I will cast lots(D) for you here in the presence of the Lord our God.(E) 7 But the Levites among you do not get a portion, because their inheritance is the priesthood of the Lord.(F) Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan to the east, which Moses the Lord’s servant gave them.’
8 As the men prepared to go, Joshua commanded them[a] to write down a description of the land, saying, ‘Go and survey the land, write a description of it, and return to me. I will then cast lots for you here in Shiloh in the presence of the Lord.’ 9 So the men left, went through the land, and described it by towns in a document of seven sections. They returned to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh. 10 Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord where he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their divisions.
Benjamin’s Inheritance
11 The lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants by their clans, and their allotted territory lay between Judah’s descendants and Joseph’s descendants.
12 Their border on the north side began at the Jordan, ascended to the slope of Jericho on the north, through the hill country westwards, and ended at the wilderness around Beth-aven.(G) 13 From there the border went towards Luz, to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel); it then went down by Ataroth-addar, over the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.(H)
14 On the west side, from the hill facing Beth-horon on the south, the border curved, turning southwards, and ended at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city of the descendants of Judah. This was the west side of their border.
15 The south side began at the edge of Kiriath-jearim, and the border extended westwards; it went to the spring at the Waters of Nephtoah. 16 The border descended to the foot of the hill that faces Ben Hinnom Valley at the northern end of Rephaim Valley. It ran down Hinnom Valley towards the south Jebusite slope and downwards to En-rogel. 17 It curved northwards and went to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth, which is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, and continued down to the Stone of Bohan(I) son of Reuben. 18 Then it went north to the slope opposite the Arabah[b] and proceeded into the plains.[c] 19 The border continued to the north slope of Beth-hoglah and ended at the northern bay of the Dead Sea, at the southern end of the Jordan. This was the southern border.
20 The Jordan formed the border on the east side.
This was the inheritance of Benjamin’s descendants, by their clans, according to its surrounding borders.
Benjamin’s Cities
21 These were the cities of the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants by their clans:
Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, 22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba – twelve cities, with their settlements; 25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zela, Haeleph, Jebus[d] (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath[e] – fourteen cities, with their settlements.
This was the inheritance for Benjamin’s descendants by their clans.
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