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21 The tribe of Benjamin, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live in Jerusalem among the people of Benjamin.

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63 But the tribe of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites, who lived in the city of Jerusalem, so the Jebusites live there among the people of Judah to this day.

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David Captures Jerusalem

David then led his men to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land who were living there. The Jebusites taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could keep you out!” For the Jebusites thought they were safe. But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David.

On the day of the attack, David said to his troops, “I hate those ‘lame’ and ‘blind’ Jebusites.[a] Whoever attacks them should strike by going into the city through the water tunnel.[b]” That is the origin of the saying, “The blind and the lame may not enter the house.”[c]

So David made the fortress his home, and he called it the City of David. He extended the city, starting at the supporting terraces[d] and working inward.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:8a Or Those ‘lame’ and ‘blind’ Jebusites hate me.
  2. 5:8b Or with scaling hooks. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  3. 5:8c The meaning of this saying is uncertain.
  4. 5:9 Hebrew the millo. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

10 But this time the man was determined to leave. So he took his two saddled donkeys and his concubine and headed in the direction of Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). 11 It was late in the day when they neared Jebus, and the man’s servant said to him, “Let’s stop at this Jebusite town and spend the night there.”

12 “No,” his master said, “we can’t stay in this foreign town where there are no Israelites. Instead, we will go on to Gibeah.

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The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it, killing all its people and setting the city on fire.

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The Land Given to Benjamin

11 The first allotment of land went to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin. It lay between the territory assigned to the tribes of Judah and Joseph.

12 The northern boundary of Benjamin’s land began at the Jordan River, went north of the slope of Jericho, then west through the hill country and the wilderness of Beth-aven. 13 From there the boundary went south to Luz (that is, Bethel) and proceeded down to Ataroth-addar on the hill that lies south of Lower Beth-horon.

14 The boundary then made a turn and swung south along the western edge of the hill facing Beth-horon, ending at the village of Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a town belonging to the tribe of Judah. This was the western boundary.

15 The southern boundary began at the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim. From that western point it ran[a] to the spring at the waters of Nephtoah,[b] 16 and down to the base of the mountain beside the valley of Ben-Hinnom, at the northern end of the valley of Rephaim. From there it went down the valley of Hinnom, crossing south of the slope where the Jebusites lived, and continued down to En-rogel. 17 From En-rogel the boundary proceeded in a northerly direction and came to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth (which is across from the slopes of Adummim). Then it went down to the Stone of Bohan. (Bohan was Reuben’s son.) 18 From there it passed along the north side of the slope overlooking the Jordan Valley.[c] The border then went down into the valley, 19 ran past the north slope of Beth-hoglah, and ended at the north bay of the Dead Sea,[d] which is the southern end of the Jordan River. This was the southern boundary.

20 The eastern boundary was the Jordan River.

These were the boundaries of the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

The Towns Given to Benjamin

21 These were the towns given to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, 22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve towns with their surrounding villages. 25 Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zela, Haeleph, the Jebusite town (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim[e]—fourteen towns with their surrounding villages.

This was the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

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Footnotes

  1. 18:15a Or From there it went to Mozah. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  2. 18:15b Or the spring at Me-nephtoah.
  3. 18:18 Hebrew overlooking the Arabah, or overlooking Beth-arabah.
  4. 18:19 Hebrew Salt Sea.
  5. 18:28 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads Kiriath.

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