18 The whole community of the Israelite people assembled at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land was now under their control; 2but there remained seven tribes of the Israelites which had not yet received their portions. 3So Joshua said to the Israelites, “How long will you be slack about going and taking possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has assigned to you? 4Appoint three men of each tribe; I will send them out to go through the country and write down a description of it for purposes of apportionment, and then come back to me. 5They shall divide it into seven parts—Judah shall remain by its territory in the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain by its territory in the north.—6When you have written down the description of the land in seven parts, bring it here to me. Then I will cast lots for you here before the LORD our God. 7For the Levites have no share among you, since the priesthood of the LORD is their portion; and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received the portions which were assigned to them by Moses the servant of the LORD, on the eastern side of the Jordan.”
8The men set out on their journeys. Joshua ordered the men who were leaving to write down a description of the land—“Go, traverse the country and write down a description of it. Then return to me, and I will cast lots for you here at Shiloh before the LORD.”
9So the men went and traversed the land; they described it in a document, town by town, in seven parts, and they returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. 10Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh before the LORD, and there Joshua apportioned the land among the Israelites according to their divisions.
11The lot of the tribe of the Benjaminites, by their clans, came out first. The territory which fell to their lot lay between the Judites and the Josephites. 12The boundary on their northern rim began at the Jordan; the boundary ascended to the northern flank of Jericho, ascended westward into the hill country and ran on to the Wilderness of Beth-aven. 13From there the boundary passed on southward to Luz, to the flank of Luz— that is, Bethel; then the boundary descended to Atroth-addar [and] to the hill south of Lower Beth-horon. 14The boundary now turned and curved onto the western rim; and the boundary ran southward from the hill on the south side of Beth-horon till it ended at Kiriath-baal—that is, Kiriath-jearim—a town of the Judites. That was the western rim. 15The southern rim: From the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim, the boundary passed westwarda and ran on to the fountain of the Waters of Nephtoah. 16Then the boundary descended to the foot of the hill by the Valley of Benhinnom at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim; then it ran down the Valley of Hinnom along the southern flank of the Jebusites to Enrogel. 17Curving northward, it ran on to En-shemesh and ran on to Geliloth, facing the Ascent of Adummim, and descended to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. 18It continued northward to the edge of the Arabah and descended into the Arabah. 19The boundary passed on to the northern flank of Beth-hoglah, and the boundary ended at the northern tongue of the Dead Sea, at the southern end of the Jordan. That was the southern boundary. 20On their eastern rim, finally, the Jordan was their boundary. That was the portion of the Benjaminites, by their clans, according to its boundaries on all sides.
21And the towns of the tribe of the Benjaminites, by its clans, were: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz, 22Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24Chephar-ammonah, Ophni, and Geba—12 towns, with their villages. 25Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 26Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, 27Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 28Zela, Eleph, and Jebusb— that is, Jerusalem—Gibeath [and] Kiriath:c 14 towns, with their villages. That was the portion of the Benjaminites, by their clans.
19 The second lot fell to Simeon. The portion of the tribe of the Simeonites, by their clans, lay inside the portion of the Judites. 2Their portion comprised: Beer-sheba—or Sheba—Moladah, 3Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, 4Eltolad, Bethul,a Hormah, 5Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazarsusah, 6b-Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen-b—13 towns, with their villages. 7Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan: 4 towns, with their villages—8together with all the villages in the vicinity of those towns, down to Baalath-beer [and] Ramath-negeb. That was the portion of the tribe of the Simeonites, by their clans. 9The portion of the Simeonites was part of the territory of the Judites; since the share of the Judites was larger than they needed, the Simeonites received a portion inside their portion.
10The third lot emerged for the Zebulunites, by their clans. The boundary of their portion: Starting at Sarid, 11their boundaryc ascended westward to Maralah, touching Dabbesheth and touching the wadi alongside Jokneam. 12And it also ran from Sarid along the eastern side, where the sun rises, past the territory of Chisloth-tabor and on to Daberath and ascended to Japhia. 13From there it ran [back] to the east, toward the sunrise, to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and on to Rimmon, where it curved to Neah. 14Then it turned—that is, the boundary on the north—to Hannathon. Its extreme limitsd were the Valley of Iphtah-el, 15Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem: 12 towns, with their villages. 16That was the portion of the Zebulunites by their clans—those towns, with their villages.
17The fourth lot fell to Issachar, the Issacharites by their clans. 18Their territory comprised: Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem, 19Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, 20Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, 21Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez. 22The boundary touched Tabor, Shahazimah, and Bethshemesh; and their boundary ran to the Jordan: 16 towns, with their villages. 23That was the portion of the tribe of the Issacharites, by their clans—the towns with their villages.
24The fifth lot fell to the tribe of the Asherites, by their clans. 25Their boundaryc ran along Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, 26Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal; and it touched Carmel on the west, and Shihorlibnath. 27It also rane along the east side to Beth-dagon, and touched Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah-el to the north, [as also] Beth-emek and Neiel; f-then it ran to Cabul on the north,-f 28Ebron,g Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, up to Great Sidon. 29The boundary turned to Ramah and on to the fortified city of Tyre; then the boundary turned to Hosah f-and it ran on westward to Mehebel,-f Achzib, 30Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob: 22 towns, with their villages. 31That was the portion of the tribe of the Asherites, by their clans—those towns, with their villages.
32The sixth lot fell to the Naphtalites, the Naphtalites by their clans. 33hTheir boundary ran from Heleph, Elon-bezaanannim, Adami-nekeb, and Jabneel to Lakkum, and it ended at the Jordan. 34The boundary then turned westward to Aznoth-tabor and ran from there to Hukok. It touched Zebulun on the south, and it touched Asher on the west, and Judah at the Jordan on the east. 35Its fortified towns were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, 36Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, 37Kedesh, Edrei, Enhazor, 38Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh: 19 towns, with their villages. 39That was the portion of the tribe of the Naphtalites, by their clans—the towns, with their villages.
40The seventh lot fell to the tribe of the Danites, by their clans. 41Their allotted territory comprised: Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, 42Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, 46Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, at the border near Joppa. 47But the territory of the Danites slipped from their grasp. So the Danites migrated and made war on Leshem.i They captured it and put it to the sword; they took possession of it and settled in it. And they changed the name of Leshem to Dan, after their ancestor Dan. 48That was the portion of the tribe of the Danites, by their clans—those towns, with their villages.
49When they had finished allotting the land by its boundaries, the Israelites gave a portion in their midst to Joshua son of Nun. 50At the command of the LORD they gave him the town that he asked for, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim; he fortified the town and settled in it.
51These are the portions assigned by lot to the tribes of Israel by the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral houses, before the LORD at Shiloh, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
20 When they had finished dividing the land, 1the LORD said to Joshua: 2“Speak to the Israelites: Designate the cities of refuge—about which I commanded you through Moses—3to which a manslayer who kills a
