Joshua 18

The AIT Bible

Dividing the Remaining Land at Shiloh

1Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled at Shiloh, and they set up the tent of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them.

2But there remained among the sons of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not been apportioned.

3So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “How long will you be slack about going in to take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you?

4Provide for yourselves three men from each tribe, and I will send them out, that they may set out and go through the land and map it out according to their inheritances, and then come back to me.

5They shall divide it into seven portions. Judah shall stay within its territory on the south, and the house of Joseph shall stay within their territory on the north.

6You shall map out the land in seven portions and bring the description here to me, and I will cast lots for you here before Yahweh our God.

7For the Levites have no portion among you, because the priesthood of Yahweh is their inheritance. And Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave them.

8So the men set out and went, and Joshua commanded those who went to map out the land, saying, “Go and walk through the land and map it out and return to me, and here I will cast lots for you before Yahweh in Shiloh.”

9So the men went and passed through the land and wrote it down by cities in seven portions in a book, and they came to Joshua at the camp at Shiloh.

10Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Yahweh, and there Joshua apportioned the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions.

The Allotment for Benjamin

11The lot of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin came up according to their clans, and the territory of their lot came out between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.

12On the north side their border began at the Jordan; then the border went up to the slope of Jericho on the north, and went up through the hill country westward, and its limits were at the wilderness of Beth-aven.

13From there the border passed on to Luz, to the slope of Luz southward (that is, Bethel), and the border went down to Ataroth-addar, by the hill that is south of Lower Beth-horon.

14Then the border extended and turned round on the west side southward, from the hill that faces Beth-horon on the south, and its limits were at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city of the sons of Judah. This was the west side.

15The south side ran from the edge of Kiriath-jearim, and the border went out westward and went out to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.

16Then the border went down to the edge of the hill that faces the Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is in the Valley of Rephaim on the north, and it went down the Valley of Hinnom to the slope of the Jebusite on the south, and went down to En-rogel.

17Then it bent round from the north and went out to En-shemesh and went out to Geliloth, which is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, and it went down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben.

18It passed on to the slope facing the Arabah on the north, and went down into the Arabah.

19The border passed on to the slope of Beth-hoglah on the north, and the limits of the border were at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the southern border.

20And the Jordan formed its border on the east side. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin, by its borders all around, according to their clans.

The Cities of Benjamin

21Now the cities of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin according to their clans were: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, and Emek-keziz,

22Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, and Bethel,

23Avvim, Parah, and Ophrah,

24Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba — twelve cities with their villages;

25Gibeon, Ramah, and Beeroth,

26Mizpeh, Chephirah, and Mozah,

27Rekem, Irpeel, and Taralah,

28Zela, Ha-eleph, and the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath — fourteen cities with their villages. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin according to their clans.

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