⁵³ Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.^{(A) 54} Distribute the land by lot,^(B) according to your clans.^(C) To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one.^(D) Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes.^(E)

¹³ Moses commanded the Israelites: “Assign this land by lot^(A) as an inheritance.^(B) The Lord has ordered that it be given to the nine and a half tribes,

² They said, “When the Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot,^(A) he ordered you to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad^(B) to his daughters.

² Their inheritances were assigned by lot^(A) to the nine and a half tribes,^(B) as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁶ After you have written descriptions of the seven parts of the land, bring them here to me and I will cast lots^(A) for you in the presence of the Lord our God. ⁷ The Levites, however, do not get a portion among you, because the priestly service of the Lord is their inheritance.^(B) And Gad, Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan. Moses the servant of the Lord gave it to them.^(C)”

⁸ As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua instructed them, “Go and make a survey of the land and write a description of it.^(D) Then return to me, and I will cast lots for you here at Shiloh^(E) in the presence of the Lord.” ⁹ So the men left and went through the land. They wrote its description on a scroll, town by town, in seven parts, and returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰ Joshua then cast lots^(F) for them in Shiloh in the presence^(G) of the Lord, and there he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their tribal divisions.^(H)

Allotment for Benjamin

¹¹ The first lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin according to its clans. Their allotted territory lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph:

⁵¹ These are the territories that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel assigned by lot at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. And so they finished dividing^(A) the land.^(B)

⁴ The first lot came out for the Kohathites,^(A) according to their clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.^{(B) 5} The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan and half of Manasseh.^(C)

⁶ The descendants of Gershon^(D) were allotted thirteen towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar,^(E) Asher,^(F) Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷ The descendants of Merari,^(G) according to their clans, received twelve^(H) towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.^(I)

⁸ So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these towns and their pasturelands, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

⁶¹ The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of half the tribe of Manasseh.

⁶³ The descendants of Merari, clan by clan, were allotted twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.