Chapter 18

¹ The whole community of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh, where they set up the tent of meeting; and the land was subdued before them.^(A)

The Seven Remaining Portions. ² There remained seven tribes among the Israelites that had not yet received their heritage. ³ Joshua therefore said to the Israelites, “How much longer will you put off taking steps to possess the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you? ⁴ Choose three representatives from each of your tribes; I will send them to go throughout the land and describe it for purposes of acquiring their heritage. When they return to me ⁵ you shall divide it into seven parts. Judah is to retain its territory in the south,^(B) and the house of Joseph its territory in the north. ⁶ You shall bring to me here the description of the land in seven sections. I will then cast lots for you here before the Lord, our God. ⁷ For the Levites have no share among you,^(C) because the priesthood of the Lord is their heritage; while Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received the heritage east of the Jordan which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave them.”

⁸ When those who were to describe the land were ready for their journey, Joshua commanded them, “Go throughout the land and describe it; return to me and I will cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.” ⁹ So they went through the land, described its cities in writing in seven sections, and returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰ Joshua then cast lots for them before the Lord in Shiloh, and divided up the land for the Israelites into their separate shares.

Benjamin. ¹¹ One lot fell to the tribe of Benjaminites by their clans. The territory allotted them lay between the descendants of Judah and those of Joseph. ^12 (D)Their northern boundary^[a] began at the Jordan and went over the northern flank of Jericho, up westward into the mountains, until it reached the wilderness of Beth-aven. ¹³ From there it crossed over to the southern flank of Luz (that is, Bethel). Then it ran down to Ataroth-addar, on the mountaintop south of Lower Beth-horon.^{(E) 14} For the western border, the boundary line swung south from the mountaintop opposite Beth-horon until it reached Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim; this city belonged to the Judahites). This was the western boundary. ¹⁵ The southern boundary began at the limits of Kiriath-jearim and projected to the spring at Nephtoah. ^16 (F)It went down to the edge of the mountain on the north of the Valley of Rephaim, where it faces the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and continuing down the Valley of Hinnom along the southern flank of the Jebusites, reached En-rogel. ¹⁷ Inclining to the north, it extended to En-shemesh, and thence to Geliloth, opposite the pass of Adummim. Then it dropped to Eben-Bohan-ben-Reuben, ¹⁸ across the northern flank of the Arabah overlook, down into the Arabah. ¹⁹ From there the boundary continued across the northern flank of Beth-hoglah and extended northward to the tongue of the Salt Sea, toward the southern end of the Jordan. This was the southern boundary. ²⁰ The Jordan bounded it on the east. This was how the heritage of the Benjaminites by their clans was bounded on all sides.

²¹ Now the cities belonging to the tribe of the Benjaminites by their clans were: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, ²² Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, ²³ Avvim, Parah, Ophra, ²⁴ Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities and their villages. ²⁵ Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, ²⁶ Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, ²⁷ Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ²⁸ Zela, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath; fourteen cities and their villages. This was the heritage of the clans of Benjaminites.