Through My Bible Yr 03 – September 12
Joshua 15:13 – 17:18
Joshua 15
An Inheritance for Caleb
13 To Caleb son of Jephunneh, Joshua gave a portion among the people of Judah, in keeping with the word of the Lord to Joshua, namely, the city of Kiriath Arba (Arba was the father of Anak). Kiriath Arba is now called Hebron. 14 Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. 15 Then he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kiriath Sepher.
16 Caleb said, “If anyone attacks Kiriath Sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Aksah to him as his wife.” 17 Othniel son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, [1] captured Kiriath Sepher, and Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him as his wife.
18 When she came to Othniel, she pressured him to ask her father for some pastureland. [2] As she dismounted from the donkey, Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”
19 She said, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the dry Negev, you should also give me springs of water.” So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
The Cities in Judah
20 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans.
21 The cities at the southern edge of the tribe of the people of Judah along the border with Edom in the Negev are:
Kabze’el, Eder, Jagur, 22 Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, 23 Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, 24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, 25 Hazor Hadattah, Kerioth Hezron (that is, Hazor), 26 Amam, Shema, Moladah, 27 Hazar Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth Pelet, 28 Hazar Shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, 29 Baalah, Iyim, Ezem, 30 Eltolad, Kesil, Hormah, 31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, 32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon—twenty-nine cities and their villages. [3]
33 In the Shephelah the cities are:
Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, 34 Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, 35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Sokoh, Azekah, 36 Sha’araim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim [4]—fourteen cities and their villages.
37 Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal Gad, 38 Dilan, Mizpah, Jokthe’el, 39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, 40 Kabbon, Lahmas, Kitlish, 41 Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Na’amah, and Makkedah—sixteen cities and their villages.
42 Libnah, Ether, Ashan, 43 Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, 44 Keilah, Akzib, and Mareshah—nine cities and their villages.
45 Ekron and its surrounding towns [5] and its villages.
46 West of Ekron, all the towns that are near Ashdod and their villages.
47 Also Ashdod with its surrounding towns and its villages.
Gaza with its surrounding towns and its villages, as far as the Stream of Egypt, with the Mediterranean Sea as the boundary.
48 In the hill country the cities were:
Shamir, Jattir, Sokoh, 49 Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (that is, Debir), 50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, 51 Goshen, Holon, and Giloh—eleven cities and their villages.
52 Arab, Rumah, Eshan, 53 Janum, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah, 54 Humtah, Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior—nine cities and their villages.
55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, 56 Jezre’el, Jokdeam, Zanoah, 57 Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah—ten cities and their villages.
58 Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor, 59 Ma’arath, Beth Anoth, and Eltekon—six cities and their villages.
⎣Tekoa, Ephrathah (that is, Bethlehem), Peor, Etam, Kolan, Tatem, Shoresh, Kerem, Gallim, Bether and Manoko—eleven cities and their villages.⎦ [6]
60 Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah—two cities and their villages.
61 In the wilderness:
Beth Arabah, Middin, Sekakah, 62 Nibshan, Ir Melah, and En Gedi—six cities and their villages.
63 But as for the Jebusites, who were the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah were not able to drive them out. The Jebusites have lived with the people of Judah in Jerusalem to this day.
Ephraim and Manasseh
Joshua 16
1 The allotment for the descendants of Joseph starts from the Jordan of Jericho and from the waters of Jericho on the east and extends up through the wilderness, ascending from Jericho through the hill country to Bethel. 2 Then it goes out from Bethel to Luz [7] and crosses over to the border of the Arkites at Ataroth. 3 It descends westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth Horon and as far as Gezer, and it ends at the sea.
4 So the descendants of Joseph—the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim—received their inheritance.
Ephraim
5 The border of the descendants of Ephraim was arranged according to their clans.
The southern border of their inheritance, starting from the east end, extends from Ataroth Addar up to Upper Beth Horon.
6 Then the border goes out to the sea. [8]
Starting at Mikmethath on the northeast, the border curves around toward the southeast, toward Ta’anath Shiloh, and it crosses over on the east of Janoah.
7 Then it descends from Janoah to Ataroth and to Na’arath. It touches Jericho and goes out to the Jordan. [9]
8 From Tappuah the border goes west to the streambed of the Kanah. It ends at the sea. [10]
This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Ephraim according to their clans. 9 It also includes the cities that were set apart for the descendants of Ephraim in the middle of the inheritance of the descendants of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.
10 But the Ephraimites did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer. So the Canaanites have lived within Ephraim to this day, but they have become a labor force of slaves.
Manasseh
Joshua 17
1 The second allotment went to the tribe of Manasseh, even though he was the firstborn of Joseph.
To Makir, [11] the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a warrior—to him went Gilead and Bashan.
2 The next allotment went to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh according to their clans: that is, to the sons [12] of Abiezer, to the sons of Helek, to the sons of Asriel, to the sons of Shechem, to the sons of Hepher, and to the sons of Shemida. These were the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, the males according to their clans.
3 Now Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah. 4 They approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the other leaders and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.”
So, in keeping with the word of the Lord, he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father.
5 Thus the portions of Manasseh were assigned as ten portions, in addition to the land of Gilead and Bashan, which are in the region east of the Jordan, 6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons. The land of Gilead went to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh.
7 The border of Manasseh extends from Asher to Mikmethath, which is close to Shechem. Then the border turns to the right [13] toward the inhabitants of En Tappuah. 8 The land of Tappuah belongs to Manasseh, but Tappuah, on the border of Manasseh, belongs to the descendants of Ephraim.
9 Then the border descends to the streambed of the Kanah.
South of the streambed, these cities belonging to Ephraim are located among the cities of Manasseh. The border of Manasseh is north of the streambed, and it ends at the sea. 10 The land to the south belongs to Ephraim and the land to the north belongs to Manasseh, and the sea is its border. The borders touch Asher on the northwest and Issachar on the northeast.
11 Also belonging to Manasseh but lying within the territory of Issachar and Asher are Beth Shan and its surrounding towns, [14] Ibleam and its surrounding towns, the inhabitants of Dor and its surrounding towns, the inhabitants of Endor and its surrounding towns, the inhabitants of Ta’anach and its surrounding towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its surrounding towns; also three cities of the Nephet. [15]
12 But the people of Manasseh were not able to take possession of these cities, and the Canaanites were determined to continue living in this land. 13 When the people of Israel grew strong, they made the Canaanites serve as a labor force, but they did not drive them out completely.
14 The descendants of Joseph spoke with Joshua. They said, “Why did you give us an inheritance of only one lot and one portion, even though we are a numerous people, whom the Lord has blessed right up to the present?”
15 But Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest and clear some land for yourself in the territory of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too confining for you.”
16 The descendants of Joseph said, “The hill country is not sufficient for us, and all the Canaanites living in the valleys have iron chariots, [16] both those in Beth Shan and its surrounding towns and those in the Valley of Jezre’el.”
17 But Joshua said to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh, “Because you are a numerous people and you have great strength, you will not have just one allotment, 18 but you will also have the hill country. Even though it is forest, you will clear it, and all of it will be yours, because you will drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and even though they are strong.”
Footnotes
- Joshua 15:17 It is not certain whether Othniel or Kenaz was Caleb’s brother. It seems most likely that it was Kenaz.
- Joshua 15:18 As the text is translated here, Aksah urged her husband to ask her father for the land, but he apparently did not do so, which would account for her making the request herself. See Judges 1:14-15.
- Joshua 15:32 There are more than twenty-nine cities listed. In fact, there are thirty-six. Some of the totals given in the lists do not correspond with the number of locations named. Many of the city names also have different spellings in different texts. The footnotes do not cite every variant spelling.
- Joshua 15:36 There are fourteen cities without Gederothaim, so it may be an alternate name for Gederah.
- Joshua 15:45 Literally her daughters. Here the daughters are the small towns in the territory of the main city.
- Joshua 15:59 This list of eleven cities is not present in the Hebrew text, but it is in the Greek Old Testament. It seems unlikely that a list of the cities of Judah would not include Bethlehem.
- Joshua 16:2 Or that is Luz. The translation follows the Hebrew text, but elsewhere Luz is the old name of Bethel.
- Joshua 16:6 This description includes both the southern and the western borders.
- Joshua 16:7 This seems to describe the eastern part of the northern border as well as the eastern border, but the whole description of the border is difficult.
- Joshua 16:8 This seems to describe the western half of the northern border.
- Joshua 17:1 Makir was the name of the son of Manasseh, who lived about four hundred years before the division of the land. Here Makir refers to the clan descended from Makir. Perhaps the clan was led by another man named Makir.
- Joshua 17:2 Sons may include multiple generations.
- Joshua 17:7 Or the south
- Joshua 17:11 Literally her daughters. Here the daughters are the small towns in the territory of the main city.
- Joshua 17:11 The meaning of the phrase translated three cities of the Nephet is uncertain. Nephet may refer to a height or it may be a place name. It may refer to a region around Dor.
- Joshua 17:16 The term iron chariots probably refers to chariots fitted with iron trappings.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
