The Boundaries of Israel’s Land

34 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Give the Israelites these instructions. When you enter Canaan, the land that will be given to you as your inheritance has these borders:

³ “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 ⁴ 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. ⁵ From Azmon it turns toward the River of Egypt so that the border ends at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁶ “The western border is the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

⁷ “The northern border extends from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor, ⁸ and from Mount Hor to the border of Hamath so that it ends at Zedad. ⁹ 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.