Joshua 18

The whole community of Israel gathered together at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land had been brought under their control.

1And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.

NoteShiloh was a settlement in the hill country about twenty miles north of Jerusalem; it served as Israel's central sanctuary site for generations before Jerusalem. The "tent of meeting" (the King James "tabernacle of the congregation") was the portable shrine carried since the wilderness years, a curtained tent that was taken down, moved, and pitched again, here set up in one place for the first time since the crossing of the Jordan.

2But seven tribes of Israel still had not received their share of the land.

2And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.

Note"Share of the land" translates a word the King James renders "inheritance": a permanent family holding passed down to descendants, not a gift that could simply be sold off. The seven tribes still waiting were Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan.

3So Joshua said to the Israelites, "How long are you going to put off going in and taking the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?

3And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?

4Choose three men from each tribe. I will send them out to travel through the land and write down a description of it, showing the share that belongs to each tribe. Then they will come back to me.

4Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again to me.

5They are to divide the land into seven parts. Judah will stay in its own territory in the south, and the people descended from Joseph will stay in their territory in the north.

5And they shall divide it into seven parts: Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north.

Note"The people descended from Joseph" means the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, named after Joseph's two sons; Joseph himself had no tribe bearing his own name, his portion being split between them.

6So write down a description of the land in seven parts and bring it here to me. Then I will cast lots for you here in the presence of the LORD our God.

6Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.

NoteCasting lots meant drawing or shaking out marked stones or sticks to get an answer no one present controlled. It was the standard ancient way of settling a division that had to be seen as impartial, no tribe could claim Joshua had favored another.

7The Levites get no share among you, because serving the LORD as priests is their share. And Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received their land on the east side of the Jordan River, which Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave them."

7But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them.

NoteThe tribe of Levi received no block of territory. Its members lived scattered in towns among the other tribes and were supported by a portion of the offerings brought to the sanctuary; that role, rather than a stretch of land, is what "their share" means here. Gad, Reuben, and half of Manasseh had already been given land east of the Jordan, in what is now Jordan, before the river was crossed.

8The men set out to go. Joshua gave orders to those going to map the land: "Go and walk through the land, write down a description of it, and come back to me. Then I will cast lots for you here in Shiloh in the presence of the LORD."

8And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh.

9So the men went and traveled through the land. They wrote a description of it in a scroll, city by city, in seven parts. Then they came back to Joshua at the camp at Shiloh.

9And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to the host at Shiloh.

NoteThe "scroll" (King James "book") was a rolled sheet of leather or papyrus, the normal form of a written document; bound books with pages did not yet exist.

10Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of the LORD, and there he divided the land among the Israelites, giving each group its portion.

10And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.

11The lot came up for the family groups of the tribe of Benjamin. The territory their lot gave them lay between the land of Judah and the land of Joseph.

11And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.

Note"The lot came up" reflects how lots worked: objects were shaken in a container until one came out. Benjamin's was the first drawn. "Family groups" (King James "families") are clans, extended kinship groups larger than a household and smaller than a tribe.

12On the north side their border started at the Jordan River. It went up past the northern slope of Jericho, then up west through the hill country, and it ended at the wilderness of Beth-aven.

12And their border on the north side was from Jordan; and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north side, and went up through the mountains westward; and the goings out thereof were at the wilderness of Bethaven.

NoteBoundaries in this chapter are described the way a person would walk them, naming hills, springs, slopes, and towns in order rather than giving directions on a map. Many of the places named can no longer be located with certainty.

13From there the border crossed over to Luz, to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel). Then it went down to Ataroth-addar, near the hill on the south side of Lower Beth-horon.

13And the border went over from thence toward Luz, to the side of Luz, which is Bethel, southward; and the border descended to Atarothadar, near the hill that lieth on the south side of the nether Bethhoron.

NoteLuz was the older name of Bethel; the text pauses to say so because readers would know the town under only one of the two names. Beth-horon came in two settlements, an upper and a lower, on a ridge road climbing from the coastal plain into the hills.

14From there the border turned and curved around on the west side toward the south, starting from the hill that faces Beth-horon on the south. It ended at Kirjath-baal (that is, Kirjath-jearim), a city belonging to Judah. This was the western side.

14And the border was drawn thence, and compassed the corner of the sea southward, from the hill that lieth before Bethhoron southward; and the goings out thereof were at Kirjathbaal, which is Kirjathjearim, a city of the children of Judah: this was the west quarter.

NoteTwo names again for one place: Kirjath-baal, "town of Baal," was also called Kirjath-jearim, "town of woods." The first name preserves the town's older association with the Canaanite god Baal.

15The southern side began at the edge of Kirjath-jearim. The border went out westward and came to the spring at the waters of Nephtoah.

15And the south quarter was from the end of Kirjathjearim, and the border went out on the west, and went out to the well of waters of Nephtoah:

16The border came down to the foot of the hill that faces the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, at the north end of the Valley of the Giants. Then it went down the Valley of Hinnom, past the southern slope where the Jebusites lived, and down to En-rogel.

16And the border came down to the end of the mountain that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the giants on the north, and descended to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of Jebusi on the south, and descended to Enrogel,

NoteThe Valley of the Son of Hinnom (in Hebrew Ge-Hinnom) was the ravine running along the southern and western edge of Jerusalem. The "Valley of the Giants" is the Valley of Rephaim, a broad plain southwest of the city; the Rephaim were remembered as an unusually tall people who had lived in the land earlier. The Jebusites were the Canaanite people who still held Jerusalem itself at this point.

17It curved north and went out to En-shemesh, then on to Geliloth, which faces the pass at Adummim, and down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.

17And was drawn from the north, and went forth to Enshemesh, and went forth toward Geliloth, which is over against the going up of Adummim, and descended to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben,

NoteThe "pass at Adummim" was the steep ascent on the road from Jericho up to Jerusalem. The Stone of Bohan was a standing stone used as a boundary marker; such stones served as fixed legal landmarks between territories.

18It went on past the slope facing the Arabah on the north, and it went down into the Arabah, the low valley plain along the Jordan.

18And passed along toward the side over against Arabah northward, and went down unto Arabah:

19The border went on past the northern slope of Beth-hoglah and ended at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, at the southern end of the Jordan River. This was the southern border.

19And the border passed along to the side of Bethhoglah northward: and the outgoings of the border were at the north bay of the salt sea at the south end of Jordan: this was the south coast.

NoteThe Salt Sea is the Dead Sea, so salty that nothing lives in it, and the lowest body of water on earth. The Jordan River empties into its northern end.

20The Jordan River was the border on the east side. This was the land given to the family groups of the tribe of Benjamin, marked out by these borders all the way around.

20And Jordan was the border of it on the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the coasts thereof round about, according to their families.

21These were the cities belonging to the family groups of the tribe of Benjamin: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, the valley of Keziz,

21Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Bethhoglah, and the valley of Keziz,

NoteThe "villages around them" translates a Hebrew phrase literally meaning a city's "daughters": the smaller unwalled settlements in the surrounding countryside that depended on a walled town for protection and trade.

22Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

22And Betharabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel,

23Avim, Parah, Ophrah,

23And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,

24Chephar-haammonai, Ophni, and Gaba. That is twelve cities, along with the villages around them.

24And Chepharhaammonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities with their villages:

25Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,

25Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth,

26Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah,

26And Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah,

27Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,

27And Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah,

28Zelah, Eleph, Jebusi (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeath, and Kirjath. That is fourteen cities, along with the villages around them. This was the land given to the family groups of the tribe of Benjamin.

28And Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kirjath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.

NoteJebusi (also called Jebus) is Jerusalem, named for the Jebusites who still occupied it; it is listed in Benjamin's allotment even though Israel had not yet taken it. "Kirjath" here is generally understood as Kirjath-jearim, the town named earlier in verse 14.