Joshua 18:5

5 They will divide it among themselves into seven portions; {Judah will maintain its border} from [the] south, and {the house of Joseph will maintain its border} from [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 And Joshua said to the {Israelites}, "{How long} [will] you be slack about going to take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has given you?

4 Provide three men {from each tribe}, 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}, and let them come to me.

5 They will divide it among themselves into seven portions; {Judah will maintain its border} from [the] south, and {the house of Joseph will maintain its border} from [the] north.

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."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "Judah will stand on its border"
• [b]. Literally "the house of Joseph will stand on its border"