The Daily Audio Bible

16 The border of the territory chosen by lot for the descendants of Yosef began from the Yarden at Yericho, at the spring of Yericho on the east, went up from Yericho through the hills and desert to Beit-El, ² went out from Beit-El to Luz, passed on to the border with the Arki to ‘Atarot, ³ went down westward to the border with the Yafleti, to the border of Lower Beit-Horon, on to Gezer and ending at the sea. ⁴ So the descendants of Yosef, M’nasheh and Efrayim took the inheritance.

⁵ The border of the descendants of Efrayim according to their families was as follows: the eastern border of their inheritance began at ‘Atrot-Adar and went to Upper Beit-Horon; ⁶ then the border extended westward, with Mikhm’tat on the north; next the border turned eastward to Ta’anat-Shiloh and passed by it to the east of Yanochah; ⁷ then it went down from Yanochah to ‘Atarot, went to Na‘arah, extended to Yericho and ended at the Yarden. ⁸ From Tapuach the border went westward to Vadi Kanah and ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Efrayim according to their families, ⁹ together with the cities set aside for the descendants of Efrayim inside the territory to be inherited by the descendants of M’nasheh, all the cities with their villages. ¹⁰ They did not drive out the Kena‘ani living in Gezer, so the Kena‘ani live together with Efrayim to this day, having become slaves to do the heavy work.

17 This was the territory chosen by lot for the tribe of M’nasheh, for he was the firstborn of Yosef. As for Makhir the firstborn of M’nasheh, the father of Gil‘ad, because he was a warrior he got Gil‘ad and Bashan. ² So the lot was drawn for the other descendants of M’nasheh according to their families — for the descendants of Avi‘ezer, Helek, Asri’el, Sh’khem, Hefer and Sh’mida; these were the male descendants of M’nasheh according to their families.

³ But Tz’lof’chad the son of Hefer, the son of Gil‘ad, the son of Makhir, the son of M’nasheh, had no sons, only daughters; these are the names of his daughters: Machlah, No‘ah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirtzah. ⁴ They approached El‘azar the cohen, Y’hoshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, “Adonai ordered Moshe to give us an inheritance together with our kinsmen.” Therefore, in keeping with Adonai’s order, he gave them an inheritance together with the kinsmen of their father. ⁵ Thus ten parts fell to M’nasheh, in addition to the land of Gil‘ad and Bashan beyond the Yarden, ⁶ because the daughters of M’nasheh had an inheritance along with his descendants; but the land of Gil‘ad belonged to the rest of the descendants of M’nasheh.

⁷ The border of M’nasheh began at Asher and went to Mikhm’tat, which is across from Sh’khem; next the border went along to the right, to the people of ‘Ein-Tapuach. ⁸ The land of Tapuach belonged to M’nasheh, but Tapuach on the border of M’nasheh belonged to the descendants of Efrayim. ⁹ The border descended to Vadi Kanah, south of the vadi, by cities which belonged to Efrayim among the cities of M’nasheh; but the border with M’nasheh was on the north side of the vadi, and it ended at the sea. ¹⁰ Southward it was Efrayim’s, northward it was M’nasheh’s, and the sea was its border; while to the north they extended to Asher, and on the east to Yissakhar.

¹¹ In Asher and Yissakhar, M’nasheh had Beit-Sh’an and its villages; Yivle‘am and its villages; and the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, of ‘Ein-Dor and its villages, of Ta‘anakh and its villages, and of Megiddo and its villages — three districts in all. ¹² But the descendants of M’nasheh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities; the Kena‘ani wanted to stay in that land. ¹³ After the people of Isra’el had become strong, they made the Kena‘ani do heavy labor but didn’t completely drive them out.

¹⁴ Then the descendants of Yosef spoke to Y’hoshua; they said, “Why have you given me only one lot and only one portion to inherit? After all, I am a great people, since Adonai has blessed me so.” ¹⁵ Y’hoshua answered them, “If you are a great people, go up to the forest, and clear land for yourself there in the territory of the P’rizi and the Refa’im — since the hills of Efrayim don’t give you enough space.” ¹⁶ The descendants of Yosef replied, “The hills won’t be enough for us; and all the Kena‘ani living in the valleys have iron chariots — both those in Beit-Sh’an and its villages and those in the Yizre‘el Valley.” ¹⁷ Then Y’hoshua said to the house of Yosef, to both Efrayim and M’nasheh, “You are a great people with much power; you will not have only one lot, ¹⁸ but the hills too will be yours. Although it is a forest, you will clear it, and the resulting open land will be yours. You will drive out the Kena‘ani, even though they have iron chariots and are strong.”

18 The entire community of the people of Isra’el assembled themselves together at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there, after the land had been subdued before them. ² There still remained among the people of Isra’el seven tribes that had not yet received their inheritance. ³ Y’hoshua said to the people of Isra’el, “How long will you delay going in to take possession of the land which Adonai the God of your ancestors has given you? ⁴ Appoint three men for each tribe; I will commission them; and they are to set out, go through the land and describe it according to their inheritance; then they are to come back to me. ⁵ They are to divide it into seven portions, with Y’hudah remaining in its territory to the south and the house of Yosef in their territory to the north. ⁶ You will describe seven portions of land and bring the descriptions here to me; then I will cast lots for you here before Adonai our God. ⁷ But the L’vi’im have no share with you, because the office of cohen to Adonai is their inheritance; and Gad and Re’uven and the half-tribe of M’nasheh have received their inheritance beyond the Yarden to the east, which Moshe the servant of Adonai gave them.”

⁸ So the men got up and went. Y’hoshua gave them this commission as they left to describe the land: “Go; walk through the land; and describe it; then come back to me, and I will cast lots for you here before Adonai in Shiloh.” ⁹ The men went and passed through the land, surveying it by cities, dividing it into seven regions and writing the results on a scroll. Then they came to Y’hoshua in the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰ Y’hoshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Adonai, and there Y’hoshua divided the land among the people of Isra’el according to their regions.

¹¹ The lot for the tribe of the descendants of Binyamin came up according to their families. The border of their territory chosen by lot was between the descendants of Y’hudah and the descendants of Yosef.

¹² On the north side, their border began at the Yarden, went up alongside Yericho on the north, continued up through the hills westward and arrived at the Beit-Aven Desert. ¹³ From there the border passed on to Luz, to the south side of Luz (that is, Beit-El); then the border went down to ‘Atrot-Adar, by the hill on the south side of Lower Beit-Horon.

¹⁴ The border was delineated as turning at the western corner and heading southward, from the hill located in front of Beit-Horon on the south; and it ended at Kiryat-Ba‘al (that is, Kiryat-Ye‘arim), a city belonging to the descendants of Y’hudah; this was the west side.

¹⁵ On the south the border extended westward from the most distant part of Kiryat-Ye‘arim, going out to the source of the Neftoach Spring. ¹⁶ Then the border went down to the farthest part of the hill located in front of the Ben-Hinnom Valley, north of the Refa’im Valley, south of the Y’vusi; and continued down to ‘Ein-Rogel, ¹⁷ where it was drawn to the north; then it went on to ‘Ein-Shemesh; continued to G’lilot, which is across from Ma‘alei-Adumim; went down to the Stone of Bohan the son of Re’uven; ¹⁸ passed alongside the ‘Aravah, heading north; and went down to the ‘Aravah. ¹⁹ Then the border passed alongside Beit-Hoglah, heading north; and the border ended at the north bay of the Dead Sea, at the south end of the Yarden; this was the south border.

²⁰ The Yarden was to be its border on the east side.

This was the inheritance of the descendants of Binyamin, defined by its surrounding borders, according to their families.

²¹ The cities of the tribe of the descendants of Binyamin according to their families were: Yericho, Beit-Hoglah, ‘Emek-K’tzitz, ²² Beit-‘Aravah, Tz’marayim, Beit-El, ²³ ‘Avim, Parah, ‘Ofrah, ²⁴ K’far-Ha‘amonah, ‘Ofni and Geva — twelve cities, together with their villages. ²⁵ Giv‘on, Ramah, Be’erot, ²⁶ Mitzpeh, K’firah, Motzah, ²⁷ Rekem, Yirpe’el, Tar’alah, ²⁸ Tzela, Elef, Y’vusi (that is, Yerushalayim), Giv‘at and Kiryat — fourteen cities, together with their villages.

This is the inheritance of the descendants of Binyamin according to their families.

19 Yeshua entered Yericho and was passing through, ² when a man named Zakkai appeared who was a chief tax-collector and a wealthy man. ³ He was trying to see who Yeshua was; but, being short, he couldn’t, because of the crowd. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed a fig tree in order to see him, for Yeshua was about to pass that way. ⁵ When he came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zakkai! Hurry! Come down, because I have to stay at your house today!” ⁶ He climbed down as fast as he could and welcomed Yeshua joyfully. ⁷ Everyone who saw it began muttering, “He has gone to be the house-guest of a sinner.” ⁸ But Zakkai stood there and said to the Lord, “Here, Lord, I am giving half of all I own to the poor; and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much.” ⁹ Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, inasmuch as this man too is a son of Avraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.”

¹¹ While they were listening to this, Yeshua went on to tell a parable, because he was near Yerushalayim, and the people supposed that the Kingdom of God was about to appear at any moment. ¹² Therefore he said, “A nobleman went to a country far away to have himself crowned king and then return. ¹³ Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten manim [a maneh is about three months’ wages] and said to them, ‘Do business with this while I’m away.’ ¹⁴ But his countrymen hated him, and they sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us.’

¹⁵ “However, he returned, having been made king, and sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, to find out what each one had earned in his business dealings. ¹⁶ The first one came in and said, ‘Sir, your maneh has earned ten more manim.’ ¹⁷ ‘Excellent!’ he said to him. ‘You are a good servant. Because you have been trustworthy in a small matter, I am putting you in charge of ten towns.’ ¹⁸ The second one came and said, ‘Sir, your maneh has earned five more manim; ¹⁹ and to this one he said, ‘You be in charge of five towns.’

²⁰ “Then another one came and said, ‘Sir, here is your maneh. I kept it hidden in a piece of cloth, ²¹ because I was afraid of you — you take out what you didn’t put in, and you harvest what you didn’t plant.’ ²² To him the master said, ‘You wicked servant! I will judge you by your own words! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, taking out what I didn’t put in and harvesting what I didn’t plant? ²³ Then why didn’t you put my money in the bank? Then, when I returned, I would have gotten it back with interest!’ ²⁴ To those standing by, he said, ‘Take the maneh from him and give it to the one with ten manim.’ ²⁵ They said to him, ‘Sir, he already has ten manim!’ ²⁶ But the master answered, ‘I tell you, everyone who has something will be given more; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away. ²⁷ However, as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and execute them in my presence!’”