Old Testament · History

Joshua chapter 18

The entire Israelite gathered at and set up the there. The land had been brought under their control,but there were still seven tribes among the Israelites who hadn’t received their .So Joshua said to the Israelites, “How long are you going to put off going in and of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, gave you?”“Pick three men from each tribe. I’ll send them out to survey the land, mapping it according to their allotments, and then come back to me.”“They’ll divide it into seven sections. Judah will stay in their territory in the south, and the will stay in their territory in the north.”“You’ll write up a description of the land in seven sections and bring it to me here. Then I’ll for you here in the presence of Yahweh our God.”“The don’t get a land section among you, because serving Yahweh as priests is their allotment. And Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their allotment on the east side of the Jordan, which Moses, Yahweh’s servant, gave them.”The men got up and set out. As they were leaving, Joshua ordered those going to survey the land, “Go, walk through the land and write up a description of it. Then come back to me, and I’ll cast lots for you here at Shiloh in the presence of Yahweh.”So the men went, passed through the land, and wrote up a description of it—city by city, in seven sections—in a . Then they came back to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of Yahweh, and there Joshua divided the land among the Israelites according to their .The lot came up for the tribe of , clan by clan. Their allotted territory fell between the tribes of Judah and Joseph.Their northern border started at the Jordan, went up along the ridge north of Jericho, headed west into the hill country, and came out at the wilderness of .From there the border crossed over toward —that is, along the south side of Luz (which is Bethel)—then went down to Ataroth-addar, near the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.Then the border turned and curved along the western side going south, from the hill facing Beth-horon to the south, and it ended at (which is Kiriath-jearim), a town belonging to the tribe of Judah. This was the western side.The southern side started at the edge of Kiriath-jearim, and the border went out westward to the spring at the .The border went down to the foot of the hill that faces the , which is at the north end of the . It went down the Hinnom Valley along the south side of the ridge and on down to En-rogel.Then it curved north to and on to Geliloth, which faces the Pass of Adummim, then went down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.It crossed over to the ridge facing the to the north and went down into the Arabah.The border then went on to the north side of Beth-hoglah and ended at the northern bay of the , at the southern end of the Jordan. This was the southern border.The Jordan formed the border on the eastern side. This was the allotment for the descendants of Benjamin, clan by clan, with its borders on every side.The cities belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, were: , Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, ,Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,Kephar-ammoni, Ophni, and —twelve cities and their surrounding villages., Ramah, Beeroth,, Kephirah, Mozah,Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,Zela, Haeleph, , , and Kiriath-jearim—fourteen cities and their surrounding villages. This was the allotment for the descendants of Benjamin, clan by clan.