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Ephraim
16 The land determined by lot for the people of Joseph went out from the Jordan near Jericho eastward to the waters of Jericho. It went up by the desert from Jericho to the Bethel highlands. 2 It goes from Bethel to Luz and passes on to the border of the Archites at Ataroth. 3 It goes down westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and as far as Gezer. It ends at the sea. 4 The people of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their legacy.
5 This was the territory for the clans of the people of Ephraim. The border of their legacy ran from Ataroth-adar on the east as far as Upper Beth-horon. 6 The border goes to the sea. Michmethath is on the north. The border turns east of Taanath-shiloh and passes along beyond it east of Janoah. 7 It goes down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarah, touches Jericho, and goes to the Jordan. 8 From Tappuah the border goes westward by the Kanah Valley. It ends at the sea. This is the legacy for the clans of the Ephraimite tribe. 9 It included cities set apart for the people of Ephraim within the legacy of the people of Manasseh, all the cities and their surrounding areas. 10 But they didn’t remove the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So today the Canaanites, who were used for forced labor, still live within Ephraim.
Manasseh
17 Land was determined by lot for the tribe of Manasseh, who was actually Joseph’s oldest son. Gilead and Bashan belonged to Machir, who was Manasseh’s oldest son and Gilead’s father. This was because he was a warrior. 2 So an allotment took place for the rest of the clans of the people of Manasseh—for the people of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These were the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the male descendants by their clans.
3 Zelophehad was Hepher’s son, Gilead’s grandson, Machir’s great-grandson and Manasseh’s great-great-grandson. Zelophehad had no sons, only daughters, who were named Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 4 The daughters approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua, Nun’s son, and the leaders. They said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us a legacy along with our male relatives.” So in agreement with the Lord’s command, they were given a legacy along with their uncles. 5 Manasseh had ten parcels in addition to the land of Gilead and Bashan on the other side of the Jordan. 6 This was because the daughters of Manasseh received a legacy along with his sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the people of Manasseh.
7 The border of Manasseh ran from Asher to Michmethath, which is opposite Shechem. The border went south to the population of En-tappuah. 8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh. But Tappuah itself belonged to the people of Ephraim, even though it was on the border of Manasseh. 9 The border went down by the Kanah Valley. South of the ravine are those cities that belong to Ephraim, even though they are located among the cities of Manasseh. The border of Manasseh lay on the north side of the ravine and ended at the sea. 10 What lay south of the border belonged to Ephraim, and what lay north of it belonged to Manasseh. The sea was its border. The territory bordered Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.
11 Belonging to Manasseh in Issachar and in Asher were Beth-shean and its dependent cities, Ibleam and its dependent cities, the population of Dor and its dependent cities, the population of En-dor and its dependent cities, the population of Taanach and its dependent cities, and the population of Megiddo and its dependent cities. (The third one is Naphath.)[a] 12 The people of Manasseh couldn’t take over these cities, and the Canaanites were determined to live in this land. 13 When the Israelites grew strong, they subjected the Canaanites to hard labor but didn’t remove them.
Future expansion for Joseph
14 The tribe of Joseph spoke to Joshua: “Why have you only given us a single lot and a solitary parcel for a legacy? We are a numerous people whom the Lord has blessed so richly.”
15 Then Joshua said, “Yes, you are a numerous people. So go up to the forest and clear ground for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaim, because the Ephraimite highland is too small for you.”
16 The people of Joseph said, “The highland isn’t enough for us. But all the Canaanites who live in the valley region have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shean and its dependent cities and those in the Jezreel Valley.”
17 Joshua then said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and possess great strength. You will have more than a single lot. 18 The highland will belong to you. Because it is a forest, you can clear it. Its farthest limits will be yours. You will definitely remove the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and are strong.”
Remainder of the land
18 The whole community of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh and set up the meeting tent there. The conquered land lay before them. 2 Among the Israelites, seven tribes were left that had not yet received their legacy. 3 Joshua said to the Israelites, “How long will you avoid going to take over the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you? 4 Pick out three men for each tribe. I will send them out, and they will go up and travel throughout the land. They will write a description of it as the basis for determining their legacy. Then they will come back to me. 5 They will divide up the land among themselves into seven portions. Judah will stay on its territory to the south. The house of Joseph will stay on their territory to the north. 6 But you will write a report in seven parts and bring the report back here to me. Then I will cast the lot for you here, before the Lord our God. 7 However, there won’t be a portion among you for the Levites because their legacy is the priesthood of the Lord. Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received their legacy on the east side of the Jordan. Moses the Lord’s servant gave it to them.”
8 When the men had prepared to go, Joshua gave orders to those going to write a description of the land. “Go and travel around the land, write about it, and return to me. I will cast the lot for you before the Lord here in Shiloh.” 9 So the men went and passed through the land and wrote about it in a document, city by city, in seven sections. They came back to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. 10 Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord. There Joshua divided up the shares of the land for the Israelites.
Border of Benjamin
11 The lot for the clans of the Benjaminite tribe appeared first. The border of their allotment went out between the people of Judah and the people of Joseph. 12 Their border on the north side ran from the Jordan. The border went up to the slope of Jericho on the north. It went up westward in the highlands and ended at the wasteland of Beth-aven. 13 The border passed on from there to Luz, to the slope of Luz on the south (that is, Bethel). The border went down to Ataroth-adar on the mountain that is south of Lower Beth-horon. 14 The border turned and came around southward on the west side, running from the mountain that is opposite Beth-horon on the south. It ended at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city of the people of Judah. This was its west side.
15 The south side ran from the limits of Kiriath-jearim. The border went out westward. It then proceeded to the waters of Nephtoah Spring. 16 The border went down to the foot of the mountain that is opposite the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in the north part of the Rephaim Valley. It went down through the Hinnom Valley to the slope of the Jebusite city on the south. It then went down to En-rogel. 17 It turned northward. Then it went to En-shemesh and then to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim. It went down to the Stone of Bohan (Reuben’s son). 18 It passed on to the slope of Beth-arabah[b] on the north and went down into the desert plain. 19 The border passed on to the slope of Beth-hoglah on the north. The border ended at the north bay of the Dead Sea, at the southern mouth of the Jordan. This was the southern border. 20 The Jordan bordered it on the east side. This is the legacy of the Benjaminite clans according to its borders.
Cities of Benjamin
21 The cities of the clans of the Benjaminite tribe are Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, 22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba. In total: twelve cities and their surrounding areas.
25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26 Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28 Zela, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeath, and Kiriath. In total: fourteen cities and their surrounding areas. This is the legacy of the Benjaminite clans.
A rich tax collector
19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through town. 2 A man there named Zacchaeus, a ruler among tax collectors, was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but, being a short man, he couldn’t because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.” 6 So Zacchaeus came down at once, happy to welcome Jesus.
7 Everyone who saw this grumbled, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 The Human One[a] came to seek and save the lost.”
Faithful service
11 As they listened to this, Jesus told them another parable because he was near Jerusalem and they thought God’s kingdom would appear right away. 12 He said, “A certain man who was born into royalty went to a distant land to receive his kingdom and then return. 13 He called together ten servants and gave each of them money worth four months’ wages.[b] He said, ‘Do business with this until I return.’ 14 His citizens hated him, so they sent a representative after him who said, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ 15 After receiving his kingdom, he returned and called the servants to whom he had given the money to find out how much they had earned. 16 The first servant came forward and said, ‘Your money has earned a return of one thousand percent.’ 17 The king replied, ‘Excellent! You are a good servant. Because you have been faithful in a small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’
18 “The second servant came and said, ‘Master, your money has made a return of five hundred percent.’ 19 To this one, the king said, ‘You will have authority over five cities.’
20 “Another servant came and said, ‘Master, here is your money. I wrapped it up in a scarf for safekeeping. 21 I was afraid of you because you are a stern man. You withdraw what you haven’t deposited and you harvest what you haven’t planted.’ 22 The king replied, ‘I will judge you by the words of your own mouth, you worthless servant! You knew, did you, that I’m a stern man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit, and harvesting what I didn’t plant? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank? Then when I arrived, at least I could have gotten it back with interest.’
24 “He said to his attendants, ‘Take his money and give it to the one who has ten times as much.’ 25 ‘But Master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten times as much!’ 26 He replied, ‘I say to you that everyone who has will be given more, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 27 As for my enemies who don’t want me as their king, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”
Psalm 87
A psalm of the Korahites. A song.
87 God’s foundation is set on the holy mountains.
2 The Lord loves Zion’s gates
more than all of Jacob’s houses combined.
3 Glorious things are said about you,
the city of God! Selah
4 I count Rahab and Babel among those who know me;
also Philistia and Tyre, along with Cush—
each of these was born there.
5 And of Zion it is said:
“Each person was born in it,
but the one who will establish it is the Most High.”
6 The Lord makes a record as he registers the peoples:
“Each one was born there.” Selah
7 And while they dance, people sing:
“The source of my life comes from you.”
11 Riches gotten quickly[a] will dwindle,
but those who acquire them gradually become wealthy.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible