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The Land of Canaan Is Divided

34 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the Israelites[a] and say to them, ‘When you come into the land of Canaan, this is the land that was allotted to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan according to its boundaries. Your southern edge will be from the desert of Zin toward the side of Edom, and your southern border will be from the end of the Salt Sea[b] to the east; your boundary will turn from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim[c] and will pass over to Zin, and its limits will be from the south of Kadesh Barnea; it will continue to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon. The boundary will turn from Azmon to the valley of Egypt, and its limits will be to the sea.

“‘Your western boundary will be the Great Sea;[d] this will be your western boundary. Your northern border will be from the Great Sea;[e] you will make a boundary from the Great Sea[f] to Mount Hor. From Mount Hor you will make a boundary to reach Hamath; the limits of the territory will be at Zedad. The boundary will go out to Ziphron, and its limits will be at Hazar Enan. This will be your boundary to the north.

10 “‘You will mark out your eastern boundary from Hazar Enan to Shepham; 11 the boundary will go down from Shepham to Riblah from the east side of Ain, and the boundary will go down and border on the eastern side of the Sea of Kinnereth. 12 The boundary will go down to the Jordan, and its limits will be at the Salt Sea.[g] This will be your land according to its boundaries all around.’”

13 So Moses commanded the Israelites,[h] saying, “This is the land that you will obtain as an inheritance for yourself by lot, which Yahweh commanded to give to the nine and a half tribes. 14 For the tribe of the children of the Reubenites,[i] the children of the Gadites,[j] and the half-tribe of Manasseh took their inheritance according to the house of their families.[k] 15 The two and a half tribes have taken their inheritance from beyond the Jordan across Jericho, east toward the sunrise.”

16 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “These are the names of the men who divide up the land for your inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun. 18 You will take one leader from every tribe to divide up the land for inheritance. 19 These are the names of the men: of the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; 20 of the tribe of the descendants of Simeon, Samuel son of Ammihud; 21 of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon; 22 of the tribe of the descendants[l] of Dan, the leader Bukki son of Jogli; 23 of the descendants[m] of Joseph, the tribe of the descendants[n] of Manasseh, the leader Hanniel son of Ephod. 24 Of the tribe of the descendants[o] of Ephraim, the leader Kemuel son of Shiphtan; 25 of the tribe of the descendants[p] of Zebulum, the leader Elizaphan son of Parnach; 26 of the tribe of the descendants[q] of Issachar, the leader Paltiel son of Azzan; 27 of the tribe of the descendants[r] of Asher, the leader Ahihud son of Shelomi; 28 of the tribe of the descendants[s] of Naphtali, the leader Pedahel son of Ammihud.” 29 These are those whom Yahweh commanded to allot to the Israelites[t] the land of Canaan.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 34:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  2. Numbers 34:3 That is, the Dead Sea
  3. Numbers 34:4 Or “Scorpions”
  4. Numbers 34:6 That is, the Mediterranean
  5. Numbers 34:7 That is, the Mediterranean
  6. Numbers 34:7 That is, the Mediterranean
  7. Numbers 34:12 That is, the Dead Sea
  8. Numbers 34:13 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  9. Numbers 34:14 Hebrew “Reubenite”
  10. Numbers 34:14 Hebrew “Gadite”
  11. Numbers 34:14 Or “their fathers”
  12. Numbers 34:22 Or “sons”
  13. Numbers 34:23 Or “sons”
  14. Numbers 34:23 Or “sons”
  15. Numbers 34:24 Or “sons”
  16. Numbers 34:25 Or “sons”
  17. Numbers 34:26 Or “sons”
  18. Numbers 34:27 Or “sons”
  19. Numbers 34:28 Or “sons”
  20. Numbers 34:29 Literally “sons/children of Israel”

The Boundaries of Israel’s Land

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Give the Israelites these instructions. When you enter Canaan, the land that will be given to you as your inheritance has these borders:

“The southern side includes part of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. In the east the southern border starts from the end of the Dead Sea and turns south of the Akrabbim Pass. It then goes past Zin and ends at Kadesh Barnea. From there it goes to Hazar Addar and on to Azmon. From Azmon it turns toward the River of Egypt so that the border ends at the Mediterranean Sea.

“The western border is the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

“The northern border extends from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor, and from Mount Hor to the border of Hamath so that it ends at Zedad. From there the border goes to Ziphron and ends at Hazar Enan.

10 “The eastern border extends from Hazar Enan to Shepham. 11 From Shepham the border goes down to Riblah, east of Ain, and continues along the eastern slope of the Sea of Galilee. 12 Then the border goes along the Jordan River so that it ends at the Dead Sea.

“This will be your land and the borders around it.”

13 Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you will divide by drawing lots. The Lord has commanded that this land will be given to the nine-and-a-half tribes. 14 The households from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh have already received their land. 15 Those two-and-a-half tribes received land east of the Jordan River across from Jericho.”

Men Are Appointed to Divide the Land

16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “These are the names of the men who will divide the land for you: the priest Eleazar and Joshua, son of Nun. 18 You must also take one leader from each tribe to divide the land. 19 These are their names:

Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;

20 Shemuel, son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Simeon;

21 Elidad, son of Kislon, from the tribe of Benjamin;

22 Bukki, son of Jogli, the leader of the tribe of Dan;

23 Hanniel, son of Ephod, the leader of the tribe of Manasseh;

24 Kemuel, son of Shiphtan, the leader of the tribe of Ephraim;

(Manasseh and Ephraim are Joseph’s descendants.) [a]

25 Elizaphan, son of Parnach, the leader of the tribe of Zebulun;

26 Paltiel, son of Azzan, the leader of the tribe of Issachar;

27 Ahihud, son of Shelomi, the leader of the tribe of Asher;

28 Pedahel, son of Ammihud, the leader of the tribe of Naphtali.”

29 These are the men the Lord commanded to divide Canaan for the Israelites.

Footnotes

  1. 34:24 This sentence has been moved from verse 23 in order to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English.