Through My Bible Yr 03 – September 13
Joshua 18 – 19
The Other Tribes
Joshua 18
1 Then the whole community of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh, and they set up the Tent of Meeting there, since the land had been subdued by their advance. 2 Seven tribes remained among the people of Israel to whom no inheritance had yet been apportioned.
3 So Joshua said to the people of Israel, “How long are you going to keep delaying before you go and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given to you? 4 You yourselves are to appoint three men for each tribe, and I will send them out. They are to go out and walk throughout the land. They are to write a description of it as a basis for each of their inheritances, and then come back to me. 5 They are to divide it into seven shares. Judah will remain in its territory in the south, and the house of Joseph will remain in its territory north of that. 6 You are to write a description of the land in seven parts and bring it to me here. Then I will cast lots for you here before the Lord our God. 7 But the Levites have no portion in your midst because the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance, and Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance in the region to the east, on the other side of the Jordan, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave to them.”
8 So the men set out on their tour. Joshua had given a command to write a description of the land to the men who were going out, “Go, walk around throughout the land. Write a description of it and return to me. I will cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.”
9 So the men went and passed through the land, and they wrote a description of it on a scroll with the lists of cities divided into seven portions. Then they came to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. 10 Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord, and there Joshua assigned the land to the people of Israel portion by portion.
Benjamin
11 First, the lot came up for the tribe of the descendants of Benjamin according to their clans. The territory of their lot stretched out between the descendants of Judah and the descendants of Joseph.
12 Their northern border starts at the Jordan.
Then the border ascends to the slope of Jericho on the north.
Then it ascends westward through the hill country.
It ends at the Wilderness of Beth Aven.
13 The border crosses over from there to Luz, to the slope on the south side of Luz (Luz is Bethel).
Then the border descends to Ataroth Addar on the mountain that is south of Lower Beth Horon.
14 This is the border on the western side.
From the mountain that is facing the south side of Beth Horon, the border bends and curves around toward the south. It ends at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a city of the descendants of Judah.
This is the western side.
15 On the southern side, the border begins from the edge of Kiriath Jearim.
Then the border goes out toward the sea and goes out to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah.
16 Then the border descends to the edge of the mountain that faces the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is north of the Valley of Rephaim.
Then it descends through the Valley of Hinnom to the southern slope of the Jebusite city and descends to En Rogel.
17 Then it bends north and goes out to En Shemesh.
Then it goes out to Geliloth, which is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, and descends to the Stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben.
18 Then it passes northward to the slope facing the Arabah and descends into the Arabah.
19 The border then passes on to the northern slope of Beth Hoglah, and the border ends at the northern bay of the Dead Sea at the southern end of the Jordan.
This is the southern border.
20 The Jordan River is its border on the eastern side.
This is the inheritance of the descendants of Benjamin, on the basis of the borders enclosing it, according to their clans.
21 The cities belonging to the tribe of the people of Benjamin according to their clans were:
Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, 22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar Ha’ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve cities and their villages.
25 Gibeon, Ramah, Be’eroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpe’el, Taralah, 28 Zela, Ha’eleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeath, Kiriath—fourteen cities and their villages.
This is the inheritance of the descendants of Benjamin according to their clans.
Simeon
Joshua 19
1 The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the descendants of Simeon, according to their clans. Their inheritance was located within the inheritance of the descendants of Judah.
2 As their inheritance they received:
Beersheba, Sheba, Moladah, 3 Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem, 4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, 5 Ziklag, Beth Markaboth, Hazar Susah, 6 Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities and their villages. [1]
7 Also Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities and their villages.
8 All the villages that are around these cities, as far as Baalath Be’er (which is Ramah of the Negev).
This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Simeon according to their clans. 9 Part of the share of the descendants of Judah became the inheritance of the descendants of Simeon. Because the portion of the descendants of Judah was too large for them, the descendants of Simeon received an inheritance within Judah’s inheritance.
Zebulun
10 The third lot came up for the descendants of Zebulun according to their clans.
The border of their inheritance reaches as far as Sarid.
11 Their border ascends toward the west to Maralah and touches Dabbesheth.
Then it touches the streambed that is next to Jokneam.
12 Then it turns from Sarid eastward toward the rising of the sun on the border of Kisloth Tabor. Then it goes out to Daberath and ascends to Japhia.
13 From there it passes on the east, along the side that is toward the sunrise, to Gath Hepher, to Eth Kazin, and goes out to Rimmon, which is marked off to Neah. [2]
14 Then the border curves around it on the north to Hannathon, and it ends at the Valley of Iphtah El, 15 Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—twelve cities and their villages. [3]
16 This is the inheritance of the descendants of Zebulun according to their clans—these cities and their villages.
Issachar
17 The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the descendants of Issachar according to their clans.
18 Their territory extended to Jezre’el, Kesulloth, Shunem, 19 Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, 20 Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, 21 Remeth, En Gannim, En Haddah, and Beth Pazzez.
22 The border touches Tabor, Shahazimah, and Beth Shemesh, and their border ends at the Jordan—sixteen cities and their villages.
23 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Issachar according to their clans—the cities and their villages.
Asher
24 The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the descendants of Asher according to their clans.
25 Their border enclosed Helkath, Hali, Beten, Akshaph, 26 Allammelek, Amad, and Mishal, and it touches on Carmel on the west, and on Shihor Libnath.
27 Then it turns on the east to Beth Dagon and touches the territory of Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah El to the north, also Beth Emek, and Neiel.
Then it goes out to Kabul in the north, 28 to Ebron, [4] Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Great Sidon.
29 Then the border turns toward Ramah, to the fortified city of Tyre.
Then the border turns toward Hosah, and it ends at the sea.
It extends from Hebel [5] to Akzib, 30 Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob—twenty-two [6] cities and their villages.
31 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Asher according to their clans—these cities and their villages.
Naphtali
32 The sixth lot came out for the descendants of Naphtali, for the descendants of Naphtali according to their clans.
33 Their border extends from Heleph, from the oak in Za’annim, past Adami Nekeb, and Jabne’el to Lakkum. It ends at the Jordan.
34 Then the border turns west to Aznoth Tabor and goes out from there to Hukkok. It touches Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and Judah [7] at the Jordan on the east.
35 The fortified cities are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Kinneret, 36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, 37 Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor, 38 Yiron, Migdal El, Horem, Beth Anath, and Beth Shemesh—nineteen cities and their villages. [8]
39 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Naphtali according to their clans—the cities and their villages.
Dan
40 The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the descendants of Dan according to their clans.
41 The territory of their inheritance includes Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh, 42 Sha’alabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45 Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon, 46 Me Yarkon, and Rakkon, with the border close to Joppa.
47 But the territory of the descendants of Dan slipped away from them. So the descendants of Dan went up and fought against Leshem. They captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword. They took possession of it and lived in it, and they named Leshem “Dan” after Dan, their forefather.
48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Dan according to their clans—these cities and their villages.
An Inheritance for Joshua
49 When they had finished distributing the land as an inheritance by assigning borders, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them. 50 According to the command of the Lord, they gave him the city that he had requested, Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He built up the city and lived in it.
51 These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leading fathers of the tribes of Israel assigned by lot at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. So they finished distributing the land.
Footnotes
- Joshua 19:6 There are fourteen cities in the list, if Beersheba and Sheba are counted as two cities.
- Joshua 19:13 Or turns toward Neah or is toward the neah. The meaning and identification of neah are uncertain.
- Joshua 19:15 It is uncertain how to get the count of twelve cities here.
- Joshua 19:28 Variant Abdon
- Joshua 19:29 It is uncertain if Hebel is a place name.
- Joshua 19:30 It is uncertain how the number twenty-two is to be calculated. There may be as many as twenty-five cities in the list, but some of them are uncertain.
- Joshua 19:34 Geographically, this cannot refer to the tribe of Judah. Perhaps it is a city.
- Joshua 19:38 It is uncertain how to get the count nineteen. The immediate list as translated has sixteen.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
