Surveying the Remaining Land & the Inheritance of Benjamin |
Joshua 18:1-28 The Book of Joshua [in Smaller Chunks] |
The whole congregation of the children, [a.k.a. people,] of Israel assembled together at Shiloh & [put] up the tabernacle of the congregation there. The land was [under the control of the Israelites.] |
And there remained 7 of [the Israelite] tribes, [that] hadn’t received their inheritance yet. Joshua said to the children, [a.k.a. people,] of Israel, How long are you [going to wait] to possess the land, [that] the Lord God of your [forefathers has] given [to] you? |
[Take] out 3 men from among you, for each [of the remaining 7] [tribes.] And they shall rise [up,] & I will send them [out to] go through the land. [By their surveying it,] they shall divide [the land] into 7 parts, according to [population of those, who will inherit] them, [& record the] [descriptions of] the [borders of the] inheritance, & they shall [return] to me. |
Judah shall [live within] their coast [in] the South, & the house, [a.k.a. families,] of Joseph shall [stay within] their coasts [in] the North. Therefore, you shall bring the description [of] the 7 [portions] of land [here] to me, [so] that I may cast lots for you here, before the Lord our God. |
But the Levites have no [inheritance of land] among you; for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. [Deuteronomy 18:1-5 The priests, the Levites, & all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part, nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, & [it's] his inheritance. Therefore, they shall have no inheritance among their brethren. The Lord is their inheritance, [like] He [has] said to them. And this [food] shall be the priest's due, [a.k.a. what is deserved,] from the people, from [those, who] offer a sacrifice, whether [it's an] ox or sheep. And they shall give the shoulder, the 2 cheeks, & the maw to the priest. Also, you [shall] give him, the first-fruit of your: corn, [a.k.a. grain,] wine, oil, & the first of the fleece of your sheep. For the Lord your God [has] chosen him, & his sons, out of all your tribes, to stand & to minister in the Name of the Lord forever.] |
[Also,] Gad, Reuben & 1/2 of the tribe of Manasseh, have [already] received their inheritance beyond [the] Jordan [River] on the east, [that] Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave [to] them. [Numbers 32:33 And Moses gave to them, even to the children, [a.k.a. people,] of: Gad, Reuben, & to [1/2] the tribe of Manasseh, [Joseph's] son, the kingdom of Sihon, the [Amorites'] king, & the kingdom of Og, [Bashan's] king, & the land, with [its] cities in the coasts, even the cities of the country [all around it.] |
The [selected] men arose & went away. And Joshua [instructed those who] went to [survey &] describe the land, saying, Go, walk through the land & describe it & [return] here to me again, [so] I may cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh. |
The men went & passed through the land & described it in a book, by [its] cities [in 7 portions] & [returned] to Joshua & the [army] again, at Shiloh. Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord. |
Joshua divided the land there to the [remaining] children, [a.k.a. people,] of Israel, according to their divisions. The lot [for] the [people] of the tribe of Benjamin, came up according to their families & their [coastal borders fell] between the [people] of Judah & the [people] of Joseph. |
The border on the North side was from [the] Jordan [River] & went up to the North side of Jericho, & went up through the mountains westward & [its end] [was in] the Wilderness of Beth Aven. |
The border went from [there] over toward the side of Luz, which is Bethel, southward. And the border [went down] to Ataroth Adar, near the hill that [lies] on the South side of [Lower] Beth Horon. |
And the [west side of the] border was drawn [from there] & [curved by] the corner of the sea southward, from the hill that [faces] Beth Horon [on the South,] & [ends] at Kirjath Baal, which is Kirjath Jearim, a city of the [people] of Judah. |
This was [their boundary on the western side.] And [on] the South [side, the border] was from [far end of] Kirjath Jearim [a.k.a. Kiriath Jearim & went] West to the well, [a.k.a. springs,] of the Waters of Nephtoah. |
The border [went] down to the end of the mountain [border that lies in front of] the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is in the Valley of the Giants [in] the North [a.k.a. The Valley of Rephaim.] |
[The border went down] to the Valley of Hinnom to [the southern slope of the Jebusites,] & [went down] to En Rogel. From the North, [the border] was drawn & [curved &] went to En Shemesh, & went [on] toward Geliloth, which is over [across from] the [Ascent of] Adummim, & [went down] to the Stone of Bohan, [Reuben’s] son. |
[The border went] toward the [northern] side of Arabah [a.k.a. Beth-Arabah,] & down into Arabah. The border [continued] along to [the North] side of Beth Hoglah, & [came out] at the North bay of the Salt Sea [a.k.a. The Dead Sea, which is] at the [southern end of the] Jordan [River,] & this was their southern [coastal] [border.] |
[The] Jordan [River] was [its] border on the East side. This was the inheritance of the [people] of Benjamin, by [its coastal borders around their inheritance,] according to their families. |
[These] are the cities of the tribe of the [people] of Benjamin, according to their families: Jericho, Beth Hoglah & the Valley of Keziz, Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Beth El, Avim, Parah, Ophrah, Chephar Haammonai, Ophni & Gaba; 12 cities & their villages. |
Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, Zelah, Eleph, Jebusi, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath & Kirjath; 14 cities & their villages. This is the inheritance of the [people] of Benjamin, according to their families. |