Joshua 18:5

5 Part ye the land to you into seven parts (Divide ye up the land among you into seven parts); Judah be in his terms at the south coast, and the house of Joseph at the north;

Joshua 18:5 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 18:5

And they shall divide it into seven parts
According to the number of the seven tribes not yet settled; and this they were to describe and divide was all the land subdued, or not subdued, only the following excepted:

Judah shall abide in their coast on the south;
on the south of the land of Canaan, where their lot fell, so that needed not to be measured and described; and this tribe was to retain what they were possessed of, unless it should appear they had too much, and others wanted, and they willing to part with some of it to their brethren, as they afterwards did to the tribes of Simeon and Dan:

and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coast on the north;
on the north of the tribe of Judah; not of the land of Canaan, for some other tribes lay more northerly.

Joshua 18:5 In-Context

3 To the which Joshua said, How long fade ye, or wallow through sloth, and enter not to wield the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given to you?

4 Choose ye (out) of each lineage three men, (so) that I send them, and they go, and compass the land; and that they describe the land by the number of each multitude (and they set the borders of the land, suitable for the number of each multitude), and (then) bring to me that, that ye have described.

5 Part ye the land to you into seven parts (Divide ye up the land among you into seven parts); Judah be in his terms at the south coast, and the house of Joseph at the north;

6 describe ye the middle land betwixt them into seven parts; and then ye shall come to me, that I send lot to you here before your Lord God; (describe ye in writing, or survey, the borders for seven divisions of the land in the middle between them; and then come ye back to me, and I shall cast, or throw, lots for you here before the Lord your God;)

7 for the part of Levites is not among you, but the priesthood of the Lord, this is the heritage of them. For Gad, and Reuben, and the half lineage of Manasseh, have taken now their possession(s) beyond (the) Jordan, at the east coast, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave to them. (and the Levites shall have no portion among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. And Gad, and Reuben, and half of the tribe of Manasseh have now taken their possessions on the eastern side of the Jordan River, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave them.)