Joshua 18; Joshua 19; Joshua 20; Joshua 21:1-12

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Joshua 18

1 Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there; the land lay subdued before them.

2 There remained among the people of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned.

3 So Joshua said to the people of Israel, "How long will you be slack to go in and take possession of the land, which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?

4 Provide three men from each tribe, and I will send them out that they may set out and go up and down the land, writing a description of it with a view to their inheritances, and then come to me.

5 They shall divide it into seven portions, Judah continuing in his territory on the south, and the house of Joseph in their territory on the north.

6 And you shall describe the land in seven divisions and bring the description here to me; and I will cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.

7 The Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of the LORD is their heritage; and Gad and Reuben and half the tribe of Manas'seh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them."

8 So the men started on their way; and Joshua charged those who went to write the description of the land, saying, "Go up and down and write a description of the land, and come again to me; and I will cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh."

9 So the men went and passed up and down in the land and set down in a book a description of it by towns in seven divisions; then they came to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh,

10 and Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD; and there Joshua apportioned the land to the people of Israel, to each his portion.

11 The lot of the tribe of Benjamin according to its families came up, and the territory allotted to it fell between the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Joseph.

12 On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan; then the boundary goes up to the shoulder north of Jericho, then up through the hill country westward; and it ends at the wilderness of Beth-a'ven.

13 From there the boundary passes along southward in the direction of Luz, to the shoulder of Luz (the same is Bethel), then the boundary goes down to At'aroth-ad'dar, upon the mountain that lies south of Lower Beth-hor'on.

14 Then the boundary goes in another direction, turning on the western side southward from the mountain that lies to the south, opposite Beth-hor'on, and it ends at Kir'iath-ba'al (that is, Kir'iath-je'arim), a city belonging to the tribe of Judah. This forms the western side.

15 And the southern side begins at the outskirts of Kir'iath-je'arim; and the boundary goes from there to Ephron, to the spring of the Waters of Nephto'ah;

16 then the boundary goes down to the border of the mountain that overlooks the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is at the north end of the valley of Reph'aim; and it then goes down the valley of Hinnom, south of the shoulder of the Jeb'usites, and downward to En-rogel;

17 then it bends in a northerly direction going on to En-she'mesh, and thence goes to Geli'loth, which is opposite the ascent of Adum'mim; then it goes down to the Stone of Bohan the son of Reuben;

18 and passing on to the north of the shoulder of Beth-arabah it goes down to the Arabah;

19 then the boundary passes on to the north of the shoulder of Beth-hoglah; and the boundary ends at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan: this is the southern border.

20 The Jordan forms its boundary on the eastern side. This is the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin, according to its families, boundary by boundary round about.

21 Now the cities of the tribe of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-ke'ziz,

22 Beth-arabah, Zemara'im, Bethel,

23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,

24 Che'phar-am'moni, Ophni, Geba--twelve cities with their villages:

25 Gibeon, Ramah, Be-er'oth,

26 Mizpeh, Chephi'rah, Mozah,

27 Rekem, Irpeel, Tar'alah,

28 Zela, Ha-eleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gib'e-ah and Kir'iath-je'arim--fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin according to its families.

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Joshua 19

1 The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of Simeon, according to its families; and its inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the tribe of Judah.

2 And it had for its inheritance Beer-sheba, Sheba, Mola'dah,

3 Hazar-shu'al, Balah, Ezem,

4 Elto'lad, Bethul, Hormah,

5 Ziklag, Beth-mar'caboth, Ha'zar-su'sah,

6 Beth-leba'oth, and Sharu'hen--thirteen cities with their villages;

7 En-rimmon, Ether, and Ashan--four cities with their villages;

8 together with all the villages round about these cities as far as Ba'alath-beer, Ramah of the Negeb. This was the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon according to its families.

9 The inheritance of the tribe of Simeon formed part of the territory of Judah; because the portion of the tribe of Judah was too large for them, the tribe of Simeon obtained an inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.

10 The third lot came up for the tribe of Zeb'ulun, according to its families. And the territory of its inheritance reached as far as Sarid;

11 then its boundary goes up westward, and on to Mar'eal, and touches Dab'besheth, then the brook which is east of Jok'ne-am;

12 from Sarid it goes in the other direction eastward toward the sunrise to the boundary of Chis'loth-ta'bor; thence it goes to Dab'erath, then up to Japhi'a;

13 from there it passes along on the east toward the sunrise to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and going on to Rimmon it bends toward Ne'ah;

14 then on the north the boundary turns about to Han'nathon, and it ends at the valley of Iph'tahel;

15 and Kattath, Nahal'al, Shimron, I'dalah, and Bethlehem--twelve cities with their villages.

16 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Zeb'ulun, according to its families--these cities with their villages.

17 The fourth lot came out for Is'sachar, for the tribe of Is'sachar, according to its families.

18 Its territory included Jezreel, Chesul'loth, Shunem,

19 Haph'ara-im, Shion, Ana'harath,

20 Rabbith, Kish'ion, Ebez,

21 Remeth, En-gan'nim, En-had'dah, Beth-paz'zez;

22 the boundary also touches Tabor, Shahazu'mah, and Beth-she'mesh, and its boundary ends at the Jordan--sixteen cities with their villages.

23 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Is'sachar, according to its families--the cities with their villages.

24 The fifth lot came out for the tribe of Asher according to its families.

25 Its territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Ach'shaph,

26 Allam'melech, Amad, and Mishal; on the west it touches Carmel and Shihor-lib'nath,

27 then it turns eastward, it goes to Beth-dagon, and touches Zeb'ulun and the valley of Iph'tahel northward to Beth-emek and Nei'el; then it continues in the north to Cabul,

28 Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, Kanah, as far as Sidon the Great;

29 then the boundary turns to Ramah, reaching to the fortified city of Tyre; then the boundary turns to Hosah, and it ends at the sea; Mahalab, Achzib,

30 Ummah, Aphek and Rehob--twenty-two cities with their villages.

31 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Asher according to its families--these cities with their villages.

32 The sixth lot came out for the tribe of Naph'tali, for the tribe of Naph'tali, according to its families.

33 And its boundary ran from Heleph, from the oak in Za-anan'nim, and Ad'ami-nekeb, and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum; and it ended at the Jordan;

34 then the boundary turns westward to Az'noth-tabor, and goes from there to Hukkok, touching Zeb'ulun at the south, and Asher on the west, and Judah on the east at the Jordan.

35 The fortified cities are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chin'nereth,

36 Ad'amah, Ramah, Hazor,

37 Kedesh, Ed're-i, En-ha'zor,

38 Yiron, Mig'dal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-she'mesh--nineteen cities with their villages.

39 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Naph'tali according to its families--the cities with their villages.

40 The seventh lot came out for the tribe of Dan, according to its families.

41 And the territory of its inheritance included Zorah, Esh'ta-ol, Ir-she'mesh,

42 Sha-alab'bin, Ai'jalon, Ithlah,

43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron,

44 El'tekeh, Gib'bethon, Ba'alath,

45 Jehud, Bene-be'rak, Gath-rim'mon,

46 and Me-jar'kon and Rakkon with the territory over against Joppa.

47 When the territory of the Danites was lost to them, the Danites went up and fought against Leshem, and after capturing it and putting it to the sword they took possession of it and settled in it, calling Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor.

48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Dan, according to their families--these cities with their villages.

49 When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the people of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun.

50 By command of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked, Tim'nath-se'rah in the hill country of E'phraim; and he rebuilt the city, and settled in it.

51 These are the inheritances which Elea'zar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel distributed by lot at Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

Joshua 20

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua,

2 "Say to the people of Israel, 'Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,

3 that the manslayer who kills any person without intent or unwittingly may flee there; they shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.

4 He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and explain his case to the elders of that city; then they shall take him into the city, and give him a place, and he shall remain with them.

5 And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the slayer into his hand; because he killed his neighbor unwittingly, having had no enmity against him in times past.

6 And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time: then the slayer may go again to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.'"

7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naph'tali, and Shechem in the hill country of E'phraim, and Kir'iath-ar'ba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

8 And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manas'seh.

9 These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel, and for the stranger sojourning among them, that any one who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.

Joshua 21:1-12

1 Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came to Elea'zar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel;

2 and they said to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, "The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities to dwell in, along with their pasture lands for our cattle."

3 So by command of the LORD the people of Israel gave to the Levites the following cities and pasture lands out of their inheritance.

4 The lot came out for the families of the Ko'hathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, thirteen cities.

5 And the rest of the Ko'hathites received by lot from the families of the tribe of E'phraim, from the tribe of Dan and the half-tribe of Manas'seh, ten cities.

6 The Gersonites received by lot from the families of the tribe of Is'sachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naph'tali, and from the half-tribe of Manas'seh in Bashan, thirteen cities.

7 The Merar'ites according to their families received from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zeb'ulun, twelve cities.

8 These cities and their pasture lands the people of Israel gave by lot to the Levites, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

9 Out of the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Simeon they gave the following cities mentioned by name,

10 which went to the descendants of Aaron, one of the families of the Ko'hathites who belonged to the Levites; since the lot fell to them first.

11 They gave them Kir'iath-ar'ba (Arba being the father of Anak), that is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, along with the pasture lands round about it.

12 But the fields of the city and its villages had been given to Caleb the son of Jephun'neh as his possession.