Joshua 18-19

Complete Jewish Bible

18 The entire community of the people of Isra’el assembled themselves together at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there, after the land had been subdued before them. ² There still remained among the people of Isra’el seven tribes that had not yet received their inheritance. ³ Y’hoshua said to the people of Isra’el, “How long will you delay going in to take possession of the land which Adonai the God of your ancestors has given you? ⁴ Appoint three men for each tribe; I will commission them; and they are to set out, go through the land and describe it according to their inheritance; then they are to come back to me. ⁵ They are to divide it into seven portions, with Y’hudah remaining in its territory to the south and the house of Yosef in their territory to the north. ⁶ You will describe seven portions of land and bring the descriptions here to me; then I will cast lots for you here before Adonai our God. ⁷ But the L’vi’im have no share with you, because the office of cohen to Adonai is their inheritance; and Gad and Re’uven and the half-tribe of M’nasheh have received their inheritance beyond the Yarden to the east, which Moshe the servant of Adonai gave them.”

⁸ So the men got up and went. Y’hoshua gave them this commission as they left to describe the land: “Go; walk through the land; and describe it; then come back to me, and I will cast lots for you here before Adonai in Shiloh.” ⁹ The men went and passed through the land, surveying it by cities, dividing it into seven regions and writing the results on a scroll. Then they came to Y’hoshua in the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰ Y’hoshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Adonai, and there Y’hoshua divided the land among the people of Isra’el according to their regions.

¹¹ The lot for the tribe of the descendants of Binyamin came up according to their families. The border of their territory chosen by lot was between the descendants of Y’hudah and the descendants of Yosef.

¹² On the north side, their border began at the Yarden, went up alongside Yericho on the north, continued up through the hills westward and arrived at the Beit-Aven Desert. ¹³ From there the border passed on to Luz, to the south side of Luz (that is, Beit-El); then the border went down to ‘Atrot-Adar, by the hill on the south side of Lower Beit-Horon.

¹⁴ The border was delineated as turning at the western corner and heading southward, from the hill located in front of Beit-Horon on the south; and it ended at Kiryat-Ba‘al (that is, Kiryat-Ye‘arim), a city belonging to the descendants of Y’hudah; this was the west side.

¹⁵ On the south the border extended westward from the most distant part of Kiryat-Ye‘arim, going out to the source of the Neftoach Spring. ¹⁶ Then the border went down to the farthest part of the hill located in front of the Ben-Hinnom Valley, north of the Refa’im Valley, south of the Y’vusi; and continued down to ‘Ein-Rogel, ¹⁷ where it was drawn to the north; then it went on to ‘Ein-Shemesh; continued to G’lilot, which is across from Ma‘alei-Adumim; went down to the Stone of Bohan the son of Re’uven; ¹⁸ passed alongside the ‘Aravah, heading north; and went down to the ‘Aravah. ¹⁹ Then the border passed alongside Beit-Hoglah, heading north; and the border ended at the north bay of the Dead Sea, at the south end of the Yarden; this was the south border.

²⁰ The Yarden was to be its border on the east side.

This was the inheritance of the descendants of Binyamin, defined by its surrounding borders, according to their families.

²¹ The cities of the tribe of the descendants of Binyamin according to their families were: Yericho, Beit-Hoglah, ‘Emek-K’tzitz, ²² Beit-‘Aravah, Tz’marayim, Beit-El, ²³ ‘Avim, Parah, ‘Ofrah, ²⁴ K’far-Ha‘amonah, ‘Ofni and Geva — twelve cities, together with their villages. ²⁵ Giv‘on, Ramah, Be’erot, ²⁶ Mitzpeh, K’firah, Motzah, ²⁷ Rekem, Yirpe’el, Tar’alah, ²⁸ Tzela, Elef, Y’vusi (that is, Yerushalayim), Giv‘at and Kiryat — fourteen cities, together with their villages.

This is the inheritance of the descendants of Binyamin according to their families.

19 The second lot came out for Shim‘on, for the tribe of the descendants of Shim‘on according to their families. Their inheritance was inside the inheritance of the descendants of Y’hudah. ² For their inheritance they had Be’er-Sheva, Sheva, Moladah, ³ Hatzar-Shu‘al, Balah, ‘Etzem, ⁴ El-Tolad, B’tul, Hormah, ⁵ Ziklag, Beit-Markavot, Hatzar-Susah, ⁶ Beit-L’va’ot and Sharuchen — thirteen cities, together with their villages; ⁷ ‘Ayin, Rimmon, ‘Eter and ‘Ashan — four cities, together with their villages; ⁸ and all the villages surrounding these cities, as far as Ba‘alat-Be’er, Ramah of the Negev. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Shim‘on according to their families. ⁹ The inheritance of the descendants of Shim‘on was taken out of the allotment for the descendants of Y’hudah, because the portion given to the descendants of Y’hudah was too much for them, so the descendants of Shim‘on had an inheritance inside the descendants of Y’hudah.

¹⁰ The third lot came up for the descendants of Z’vulun according to their families. The border of their inheritance began at Sarid. ¹¹ Then their border went up westward to Mar‘alah, extended to Dabeshet and on to the vadi fronting Yokne‘am. ¹² Also from Sarid it turned toward the sunrise to the east to the border of Kislot-Tavor, went on to Dovrat and up to Yafia. ¹³ From there it passed eastward to Gat-Hefer, on to ‘Et-Katzin, went out at Rimmon and reached to Ne‘ah. ¹⁴ Then the border turned on the north side to Hanaton, ending in the Yiftach’el Valley. ¹⁵ Also Katat, Nahalal, Shimron, Yid’alah and Beit-Lechem — twelve cities, together with their villages. ¹⁶ This is the inheritance of the descendants of Z’vulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.

¹⁷ The fourth lot came out for Yissakhar, for the descendants of Yissakhar according to their families. ¹⁸ Their territory included Yizre‘el, K’sulot, Shunem, ¹⁹ Hafarayim, Shi’on, Anacharat, ²⁰ Rabit, Kishyon, Evetz, ²¹ Remet, ‘Ein-Ganim, ‘Ein-Hadah and Beit-Patzetz. ²² Their territory extended to Tavor, Shachatzimah and Beit-Shemesh; and their territory ended at the Yarden — sixteen cities, together with their villages. ²³ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Yissakhar according to their families, the cities, with their villages.

²⁴ The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the descendants of Asher according to their families. ²⁵ Their territory included Helkat, Hali, Beten, Akhshaf, ²⁶ Alamelekh, ‘Am‘ad and Mish’al. It extended to the Karmel on the west and to Shichor-Livnat. ²⁷ The border turned eastward to Beit-Dagon, reached to Z’vulun and the Yiftach’el Valley on its north, then Beit-‘Emek and Ne‘i’el, went out to Kavul on the left, ²⁸ then ‘Evron, Rechov, Hamon, Kanah and on to greater Tzidon. ²⁹ The border turned toward Ramah and the fortified city of Tzor; next the border turned to Hosah; and it ended at the sea from Hevel to Akhziv. ³⁰ Also included were ‘Umah, Afek and Rechov — twenty cities, together with their villages. ³¹ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.

³² The sixth lot came out for the descendants of Naftali, for the descendants of Naftali according to their families. ³³ Their border went from Helef and the oak in Tza‘ananim, included Adami-Nekev and Yavne’el, went on to Lakum and ended at the Yarden. ³⁴ Westward the border turned to Aznot-Tavor and went out from there to Hukok, reaching to Z’vulun on the south, Asher on the west and Y’hudah at the Yarden toward the east. ³⁵ The fortified cities were Tzidim, Tzer, Hamat, Rakat, Kinneret, ³⁶ Adamah, Ramah, Hatzor, ³⁷ Kedesh, Edre‘i, ‘Ein-Hatzor, ³⁸ Yir’on, Migdal-El, Horem, Beit-‘Anat and Beit-Shemesh — nineteen cities, together with their villages. ³⁹ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Naftali according to their families, the cities with their villages.

⁴⁰ The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the descendants of Dan according to their families. ⁴¹ The territory of their inheritance included Tzor‘ah, Eshta’ol, ‘Ir-Shemesh, ⁴² Sha‘alabin, Ayalon, Yitlah, ⁴³ Eilon, Timnah, ‘Ekron, ⁴⁴ Elt’keh, Gib’ton, Ba‘alat, ⁴⁵ Y’hud, B’nei-Brak, Gat-Rimmon, ⁴⁶ Yarkon Springs and Rakon, with the border fronting Yafo. ⁴⁷ The territory of the descendants of Dan was too small for them, so the descendants of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, captured it, defeated it by the sword, took possession of it and lived there, calling Leshem “Dan” after Dan their ancestor. ⁴⁸ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.

⁴⁹ When they had finished distributing the land for inheritance according to its borders, the people of Isra’el gave an inheritance within their territory to Y’hoshua the son of Nun. ⁵⁰ According to Adonai’s order they gave him the city he had asked for, Timnat-Serach in the hills of Efrayim; so he built up the city and lived in it.

⁵¹ These are the inheritances which El‘azar the cohen, Y’hoshua the son of Nun and the leaders of the ancestral clans of the tribes of the people of Isra’el distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh before Adonai at the door of the tent of meeting. Thus they finished dividing up the land.