The Last of the Land Is Divided

¹ The entire congregation of the ⌞Israelites⌟¹ assembled at Shiloh, and they set up there the tent of meeting, and the land was subdued before them.²

1. Literally “sons/children of Israel”
2. Or “in their presence”

² And seven tribes remained among the ⌞Israelites⌟¹ who had not been apportioned their inheritance.

1. Literally “sons/children of Israel”

³ And Joshua said to the ⌞Israelites⌟,¹ “⌞How long⌟² will you be slack about going to take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,³ has given you?

1. Literally “sons/children of Israel”
2. Literally “Until when”
3. Or “fathers”

⁴ Provide three men ⌞from each tribe⌟,¹ and I will send them so that they may begin to go through the land and write a description of it ⌞according to their inheritance⌟,² and let them come to me.

1. Literally “according to each tribe”
2. Literally “according to the mouth of their inheritance”

⁵ They will divide it among themselves into seven portions; ⌞Judah will maintain its border⌟¹ from the south, and ⌞the house of Joseph will maintain its border⌟² from the north.

1. Literally “Judah will stand on its border”
2. Literally “the house of Joseph will stand on its border”

⁶ Describe the land in seven divisions, and bring it to me here; I will cast lots for you here before Yahweh our God.

⁷ The Levites among you have no portion, for their inheritance is the priesthood of Yahweh; Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh received their inheritance beyond the Jordan to the east, which Moses Yahweh’s servant gave to them.”

⁸ And ⌞the men went immediately⌟,¹ and Joshua commanded the ones going to describe the land, saying, “Go and walk about through the land, write a description, and return to me, and here I will cast a lot for you before² Yahweh at Shiloh.”

1. Literally “the men got up and went”
2. Or “in the presence of”

⁹ And the men went and passed through the land, and they ⌞described⌟¹ the cities in seven divisions in a book; and they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh,

1. Literally “wrote it”

¹⁰ and Joshua cast a lot for them at Shiloh before¹ Yahweh, and there he divided the land for the ⌞Israelites⌟,² ⌞to each a portion⌟.³

1. Or “in the presence of”
2. Literally “sons/children of Israel”
3. Literally “according to their allotment”

The Allotment of Benjamin

¹¹ And the allotment of the tribe of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the border of their allotment fell¹ between the descendants² of Judah and the descendants³ of Joseph.

1. Literally “went out”
2. Or “sons”
3. Or “sons”

¹² Their northern border began at the Jordan and went up to the slope of Jericho on the north and continued into the hill country to the west; ⌞it ends⌟¹ at the wilderness of Beth Aven.

1. Literally “the goings out of it were”

¹³ The border passes on from there to Luz, to the slope of Luz to the south (that is, Bethel); then the border goes down to Ataroth Addar to the mountain that is south of Lower Beth-Horon.

¹⁴ Then the border changes direction and turns to the western side southward, from the mountain that ⌞is opposite⌟¹ Beth-Horon to the south. ⌞It ends⌟² at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a town belonging to the descendants³ of Judah. This is the western side.

1. Literally “against the face of”
2. Literally “the goings out of it were”
3. Or “sons”

¹⁵ The southern side begins on the outskirts of Kiriath Jearim, and the border continues to the west to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah;

¹⁶ the border goes down to the foot¹ of the mountain, which is opposite the Valley of Ben Hinnom,² which is in the valley of Rephaim to the north; then it does down the valley of Hinnom to the slope of the Jebusites³ to the south, and then it goes down to En Rogel.

1. Or “to the edge”
2. Or “valley of the son of-Hinnom”
3. Hebrew “Jebusite”

¹⁷ It changes direction from the north, and it continues to En Shemesh; it goes out to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, and it goes down to the stone of Bohan, son of Reuben.

¹⁸ It passes on to the slope opposite the Arabah¹ to the north, and it goes down to the Arabah.²

1. A dry region that runs south of the Sea of Galilee along the Jordan Valley
2. A dry region that runs south of the Sea of Galilee along the Jordan Valley

¹⁹ The border passes on to the slope of Beth-hoglah to the north and ⌞ends⌟¹ at the north bay of the Salt Sea² at the south end of the Jordan. This is the southern border.

1. Literally “the goings out of it were”
2. That is, the Dead Sea

²⁰ The Jordan forms its border on the eastern side. This is the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin, its borders that surrounds them, according to their families.

²¹ Now the towns of the tribes of the descendants¹ of Benjamin, according to their families, were Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek Keziz,

1. Or “sons”

²² Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

²³ Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,

²⁴ Kephar Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities and their villages.

²⁵ Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,

²⁶ Mizpeh, Kephirah, Mozah,

²⁷ Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,

²⁸ Zela, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath; fourteen cities and their villages. This is the inheritance of the descendants¹ of Benjamin according to their families.

1. Or “sons”