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 [people] of Israel assembled together at Shiloh & [put] up the tabernacle of the congregation there. The land was [under the control of the Israelites.] |
There remained 7 of the [Israelite] tribes [that] hadn’t received their inheritance yet. Joshua said to the children [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 each tribe] & they shall go through the land & describe it [for an] inheritance [for] them & they shall [return] to me. They shall divide [the land] into 7 parts. |
Judah shall [live within] their coast on the south & the house of Joseph shall [live within] their coasts [in] the north. You shall bring me the description of the 7 [portions] of the land, [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. [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. |
The [selected] men arose & went away. Joshua had [instructed those who] went to [survey &] describe the land, saying, Go, walk through the land & describe it & [return] to me, [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 again & the [army] at Shiloh. Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord. |
Joshua divided the land there to the [remaining people] of Israel, according to their divisions. The lot of 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 was from [the] Jordan [River] & went up to the north side of Jericho & went through the mountains westward & [its end] was [in] the Wilderness of Beth Aven. |
The border went from [there] toward the side of Luz, which is Bethel, southward. The border [went down] to Ataroth Adar, near the hill that lies on the south side of [Lower] Beth Horon. |
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 [springs] of the Waters of Nephtoah. |
The border went down to the [border] of the mountain [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] 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, Morah, 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. |