The Daily Audio Bible

The Territory Assigned to Ephraim and West Manasseh

16 The southern boundary of the land assigned to the descendants of Joseph started from the Jordan near Jericho, at a point east of the springs of Jericho, and went into the desert. It went from Jericho up into the hill country as far as Bethel. ² From Bethel it went to Luz, passing on to Ataroth Addar, where the Archites lived. ³ It then went west to the area of the Japhletites, as far as the area of Lower Beth Horon. It went on from there to Gezer and ended at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴ The descendants of Joseph, the tribes of Ephraim and West Manasseh, received this land as their possession.

Ephraim

⁵ This was the territory of the Ephraimite families: their border ran from Ataroth Addar eastward to Upper Beth Horon, ⁶ and from there to the Mediterranean Sea. Michmethath was on their north. East of there the border bent toward Taanath Shiloh and went past it on the east to Janoah. ⁷ Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah, reaching Jericho and ending at the Jordan. ⁸ The border went west from Tappuah to the stream Kanah and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. This was the land given to the families of the tribe of Ephraim as their possession, ⁹ along with some towns and villages that were within the borders of Manasseh, but given to the Ephraimites. ^10 (A)But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived among the Ephraimites to this day, but they have been forced to work as slaves.

West Manasseh

17 A part of the land west of the Jordan was assigned to some of the families descended from Joseph's older son Manasseh. Machir, the father of Gilead, was Manasseh's oldest son and a military hero, so Gilead and Bashan, east of the Jordan, were assigned to him. ² Land west of the Jordan was assigned to the rest of the families of Manasseh: Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These were male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and they were heads of families. ³ Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, did not have any sons, but only daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ^4 (B)They went to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua son of Nun and to the leaders, and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us, as well as our male relatives, a part of the land to possess.” So, as the Lord had commanded, they were given land along with their male relatives. ⁵ This is why Manasseh received ten shares in addition to Gilead and Bashan on the east side of the Jordan, ⁶ since his female descendants as well as his male descendants were assigned land. The land of Gilead was assigned to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh.

⁷ The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, east of Shechem. The border then went south to include the people of Entappuah. ⁸ The land around Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah, on the border, belonged to the descendants of Ephraim. ⁹ The border then went down to the stream Kanah. The cities south of the stream belonged to Ephraim, even though they were in the territory of Manasseh. The border of Manasseh proceeded along the north side of the stream and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. ¹⁰ Ephraim was to the south, and Manasseh was to the north, with the Mediterranean Sea as their western border. Asher was to the northwest, and Issachar to the northeast. ¹¹ Within the territories of Issachar and Asher, Manasseh possessed Beth Shan and Ibleam, along with their surrounding towns, as well as Dor (the one on the coast),^[a] Endor, Taanach, Megiddo, and their surrounding towns. ^12 (C)The people of Manasseh, however, were not able to drive out the people living in those cities, so the Canaanites continued to live there. ¹³ Even when the Israelites became stronger, they did not drive out all the Canaanites, but they did force them to work for them.

Ephraim and West Manasseh Request More Land

¹⁴ The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one part of the land to possess as our own? There are very many of us because the Lord has blessed us.”

¹⁵ Joshua answered, “If there are so many of you and the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, then go into the forests and clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”

¹⁶ They replied, “The hill country is not big enough for us, but the Canaanites in the plains have iron chariots, both those who live in Beth Shan and its surrounding towns and those who live in Jezreel Valley.”

¹⁷ Joshua said to the tribes of Ephraim and West Manasseh, “There are indeed many of you, and you are very powerful. You shall have more than one share. ¹⁸ The hill country will be yours. Even though it is a forest, you will clear it and take possession of it from one end to the other. As for the Canaanites, you will drive them out, even though they do have iron chariots and are a strong people.”

The Division of the Rest of the Land

18 After they had conquered the land, the entire community of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of the Lord's presence. ² There were still seven tribes of the people of Israel who had not yet been assigned their share of the land. ³ So Joshua said to the people of Israel, “How long are you going to wait before you go in and take the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you? ⁴ Let me have three men from each tribe. I will send them out over the whole country to map out the territory that they would like to have as their possession. Then they are to come back to me. ⁵ The land will be divided among them in seven parts; Judah will stay in its territory in the south, and Joseph in its territory in the north. ⁶ Write down a description of these seven divisions and bring it to me. Then I will draw lots^[b] to consult the Lord our God for you. ⁷ The Levites, however, will not receive a share of the land with the rest of you, because their share is to serve as the Lord's priests. And of course, the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and East Manasseh have already received their land east of the Jordan, which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave to them.”

⁸ The men went on their way to map out the land after Joshua had given them these instructions: “Go all over the land and map it out, and come back to me. And then here in Shiloh I will consult the Lord for you by drawing lots.” ⁹ So the men went all over the land and set down in writing how they divided it into seven parts, making a list of the towns. Then they went back to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰ Joshua drew lots to consult the Lord for them, and assigned each of the remaining tribes of Israel a certain part of the land.

The Territory Assigned to Benjamin

¹¹ The territory belonging to the families of the tribe of Benjamin was the first to be assigned. Their land lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph. ¹² On the north their border began at the Jordan and then went up the slope north of Jericho and westward through the hill country as far as the desert of Bethaven. ¹³ The border then went to the slope on the south side of Luz (also called Bethel), then down to Ataroth Addar, on the mountain south of Lower Beth Horon. ¹⁴ The border then went in another direction, turning south from the western side of this mountain and going to Kiriath Baal (or Kiriath Jearim), which belongs to the tribe of Judah. This was the western border. ¹⁵ The southern border started on the edge of Kiriath Jearim and went^[c] to the Springs of Nephtoah. ¹⁶ It then went down to the foot of the mountain that overlooks Hinnom Valley, at the north end of Rephaim Valley. It then went south through Hinnom Valley, south of the Jebusite ridge, toward Enrogel. ¹⁷ It then turned north to Enshemesh and then on to Geliloth, opposite Adummim Pass. The border then went down to the Stone of Bohan (Bohan was a son of Reuben) ¹⁸ and passed north of the ridge overlooking the Jordan Valley. It then went down into the valley, ¹⁹ passing north of the ridge of Beth Hoglah, and ended at the northern inlet on the Dead Sea, where the Jordan River empties into it. This was the southern border. ²⁰ The Jordan was the eastern border. These were the borders of the land which the families of the tribe of Benjamin received as their possession.

²¹ The cities belonging to the families of the tribe of Benjamin were Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, ²² Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, ²³ Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, ²⁴ Chepharammoni, Ophni, and Geba: twelve cities, along with the towns around them. ²⁵ There were also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, ²⁶ Mizpah, Chephirah, Mozah, ²⁷ Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, ²⁸ Zela, Haeleph, Jebus (or Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath Jearim: fourteen cities, along with the towns around them. This is the land which the families of the tribe of Benjamin received as their possession.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19 Jesus went on into Jericho and was passing through. ² There was a chief tax collector there named Zacchaeus, who was rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was a little man and could not see Jesus because of the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way. ⁵ When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus, “Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today.”

⁶ Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed him with great joy. ⁷ All the people who saw it started grumbling, “This man has gone as a guest to the home of a sinner!”

⁸ Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Listen, sir! I will give half my belongings to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay back four times as much.”

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this house today, for this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham. ^10 (A)The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The Parable of the Gold Coins^(B)

¹¹ While the people were listening to this, Jesus continued and told them a parable. He was now almost at Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God was just about to appear. ¹² So he said, “There was once a man of high rank who was going to a country far away to be made king, after which he planned to come back home. ¹³ Before he left, he called his ten servants and gave them each a gold coin and told them, ‘See what you can earn with this while I am gone.’ ¹⁴ Now, his own people hated him, and so they sent messengers after him to say, ‘We don't want this man to be our king.’

¹⁵ “The man was made king and came back. At once he ordered his servants to appear before him, in order to find out how much they had earned. ¹⁶ The first one came and said, ‘Sir, I have earned ten gold coins with the one you gave me.’ ¹⁷ ‘Well done,’ he said; ‘you are a good servant! Since you were faithful in small matters, I will put you in charge of ten cities.’ ¹⁸ The second servant came and said, ‘Sir, I have earned five gold coins with the one you gave me.’ ¹⁹ To this one he said, ‘You will be in charge of five cities.’ ²⁰ Another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it hidden in a handkerchief. ²¹ I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take what is not yours and reap what you did not plant.’ ²² He said to him, ‘You bad servant! I will use your own words to condemn you! You know that I am a hard man, taking what is not mine and reaping what I have not planted. ²³ Well, then, why didn't you put my money in the bank? Then I would have received it back with interest when I returned.’ ²⁴ Then he said to those who were standing there, ‘Take the gold coin away from him and give it to the servant who has ten coins.’ ²⁵ But they said to him, ‘Sir, he already has ten coins!’ ^26 (C)‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘that to those who have something, even more will be given; but those who have nothing, even the little that they have will be taken away from them. ^27 (D)Now, as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence!’”

In Praise of Jerusalem^[a]

¹¹ The more easily you get your wealth, the sooner you will lose it. The harder it is to earn, the more you will have.