Book Two

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil^[a] of ^(A)the Sons of Korah.

Allotment of the Remaining Land

18 Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at ^(A)Shiloh and set up ^(B)the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.

² There remained among the people of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned. ³ So Joshua said to the people of Israel, ^(C)“How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you? ⁴ Provide three men from each tribe, and I will send them out that they may set out and go up and down the land. They shall write a description of it with a view to their inheritances, and then come to me. ⁵ They shall divide it into seven portions. ^(D)Judah shall continue in his territory on the south, ^(E)and the house of Joseph shall continue in their territory on the north. ⁶ And you shall describe the land in seven divisions and bring the description here to me. ^(F)And I will cast lots for you here before the Lord our God. ^7 (G)The Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their heritage. ^(H)And Gad and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.”

⁸ So the men arose and went, and Joshua charged those who went to write the description of the land, saying, “Go up and down in the land and write a description and return to me. And I will cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.” ⁹ So the men went and passed up and down in the land and wrote in a book a description of it by towns in seven divisions. Then they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh, ¹⁰ and Joshua ^(I)cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord. And there Joshua apportioned the land to the people of Israel, ^(J)to each his portion.

The Inheritance for Benjamin

¹¹ The lot of the tribe of the people of Benjamin according to its clans came up, and the territory allotted to it fell between the people of Judah and the people of Joseph. ^12 (K)On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan. ^(L)Then the boundary goes up to the shoulder north of Jericho, then up through the hill country westward, and it ends at the wilderness of ^(M)Beth-aven. ¹³ From there the boundary passes along southward in the direction of Luz, to the shoulder of ^(N)Luz (that is, Bethel), then the boundary goes down to ^(O)Ataroth-addar, on the mountain that lies south of Lower ^(P)Beth-horon. ¹⁴ Then the boundary goes in another direction, turning on the ^(Q)western side southward from the mountain that lies to the south, opposite Beth-horon, and it ends at Kiriath-baal (^(R)that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city belonging to the people of Judah. This forms the western side. ¹⁵ And the southern side begins at the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim. And the boundary goes from there to Ephron,^{[a] (S)}to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah. ¹⁶ Then the boundary goes down to the border of the mountain that overlooks ^(T)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is at the north end of the Valley of ^(U)Rephaim. And it then goes down the ^(V)Valley of Hinnom, south of the shoulder of the Jebusites, and downward to ^(W)En-rogel. ¹⁷ Then it bends in a northerly direction going on to En-shemesh, and from there goes to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim. Then it goes down to ^(X)the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben, ¹⁸ and passing on to the north of ^(Y)the shoulder of Beth-arabah^[b] it goes down to ^(Z)the Arabah. ¹⁹ Then the boundary passes on to the north of the shoulder of ^(AA)Beth-hoglah. And the boundary ends at the northern bay of ^(AB)the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan: this is the southern border. ²⁰ The Jordan forms its boundary on the eastern side. This is the inheritance of the people of Benjamin, according to their clans, boundary by boundary all around.

²¹ Now the cities of the tribe of the people of Benjamin according to their clans were ^(AC)Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, ²² Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, ²³ Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, ²⁴ Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, Geba—twelve cities with their villages: ²⁵ Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, ²⁶ Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, ²⁷ Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ²⁸ Zela, Haeleph, ^(AD)Jebus^[c] (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah^[d] and Kiriath-jearim^[e]—fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the people of Benjamin according to its clans.

The 144,000 of Israel Sealed

7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back ^(A)the four winds of the earth, ^(B)that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. ² Then I saw another angel ascending ^(C)from the rising of the sun, with ^(D)the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, ³ saying, ^(E)“Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God ^(F)on their foreheads.” ⁴ And ^(G)I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

A Great Multitude from Every Nation

⁹ After this I looked, and behold, ^(H)a great multitude that no one could number, ^(I)from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, ^(J)clothed in white robes, with ^(K)palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, ^(L)“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and ^(M)the four living creatures, and they ^(N)fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ^12 (O)saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, ^(P)clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of ^(Q)the great tribulation. ^(R)They have washed their robes and ^(S)made them white ^(T)in the blood of the Lamb.