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Judah’s Tribal Lands

14 The following is a record of the territory assigned to the Israelites in the land of Canaan by Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the Israelite tribal leaders.[a] The land assignments to the nine-and-a-half tribes were made by drawing lots, as the Lord had instructed Moses.[b] Now Moses had assigned land[c] to the two-and-a-half tribes east of the Jordan, but he assigned no land[d] to the Levites.[e] The descendants of Joseph were considered as two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites were allotted no territory, though they were assigned cities in which to live, along with the grazing areas for their cattle and possessions.[f] The Israelites followed the Lord’s instructions to Moses and divided up the land.[g]

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 14:1 tn Heb “These are [the lands] which the sons of Israel received as an inheritance in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes assigned as an inheritance to the sons of Israel.”
  2. Joshua 14:2 tn Heb “By lot was their inheritance, as the Lord had commanded by Moses, to the nine tribes and the half-tribe.”
  3. Joshua 14:3 tn Or “assigned an inheritance.”
  4. Joshua 14:3 tn Or “no inheritance.”
  5. Joshua 14:3 tn The Hebrew text adds, “in their midst.”
  6. Joshua 14:4 tn Heb “and they did not assign a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities [in which] to live and their pastures for their cattle and property.”
  7. Joshua 14:5 tn Heb “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did, and they divided up the land.”

Summary of Allocations

14 This is what the Israelis inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Nun’s son Joshua, and the heads of the families of the Israelis allotted to them as an inheritance by lot, just as the Lord commanded through Moses for the nine tribes and the half-tribe, since Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe across the Jordan River. However, he did not give an inheritance to the descendants of Levi who lived among them, since the descendants of Joseph constituted two tribes—Manasseh and Ephraim. They did not allot a portion to the descendants of Levi in the land, since they were given[a] cities to live in, along with pastures for their livestock and property. So the Israelis did just as the Lord had commanded Moses—they divided the land.

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 14:4 The Heb. lacks they were given