CHAPTER 18

1 And the whole multitude of the children of Israel assembled in Silo, and placed there the tabernacle of convention, after the land was subdued before them.

2 And there had remained of the children of Israel, to whom they had not divided their inheritance, seven tribes.

3 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long do you delay to go in to possess the land which Jehovah the God of your fathers has given you?

4 Each tribe of you give up three men whom I will send; and they shall rise and walk through the land, and shall describe it according to its inheritance; afterwards they shall return to me.

5 And they shall divide it into seven portions; Judah will stand in his confines on the south, and the families of Joseph will stand in their confines on the north.

6 And do you describe the land in seven portions, and bring it hither to me: then I will cast the lot here before Jehovah our God.

7 For there is no part to the Levites in the midst of you, because the priesthood of Jehovah is their inheritance; and Gad, and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave to them.

8 And those men rose up, and went away; and Joshua commanded those who went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it; afterwards you will return to me, and I will cast the lot for you here in Silo.

9 The men therefore went away, and passed through the land, and described it by cities in seven parts, in a book: and they returned to Joshua, to the camp in Silo.

10 And Joshua cast a lot for them in Silo before the Lord; and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their portions.

11 And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin by their families came up, and the boundary of their lot fell out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.

12 And their boundary was on the side of the north by the Jordan; and their boundary went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up to the mountain at the sea; and their outgoings are at the desert of Beth-aven.

13 And thence the boundary passes through into Luz to the side of southern Luz, (the same is Bethel,) and the boundary descends into Ateroth-Adar near the mountain which is on the south of lower Beth-horon itself.

14 And the boundary is marked out, and goes round to the side of the sea at the south, from the mountain which is over against Beth-horon on the south; and its outgoings are at Ciriath-Baal, (the same is Ciriath-Jearim,) a city of the sons of Judah, that is, the side of the sea.

15 And the side on the south is from the extremity of Ciriath-Jearim; accordingly the boundary goeth out to the sea, goeth out, I say, to the fountain of the waters of Nephthoah.

16 And the boundary descends to the extremity of the mountain which is over against the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and which is in the valley of the Rephaim on the north, and it descends to the valley of Hinnom to the side of the Jebusite on the south, and thence descends to En-rogel.

17 And it makes a circuit from the north, and goes out to En-semes, and proceeds outwards to Gehloth, which is over against the acclivity of Adummim; and descends to Eben of Bohan, the son of Reuben.

18 Thence it passes through to the side which is over against the plain on the north, and descends into Arabah.

19 Thence the boundary passes through to the side of Beth-hogla on the north; and the outgoings of its boundary are at the limit of the salt sea on the north, at the extremity of the Jordan on the south; that is the south boundary.

20 And the Jordan bounds it on the east side. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by his boundaries round about by his families.

21 And these were the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin by their families, Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and the valley of Cesis.

22 And Beth-araba, and Semarain, and Bethel,

23 And Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,

24 And Haamonai, and Ophni, and Gaba; twelve cities and their villages.

25 Gibon, and Raamah, and Beeroth,

26 And Mispeh, and Chephirah, and Mosah,

27 And Recem, and Irpeel, and Tharalah.

28 And Sela Eleph, and Jebusi, (the same is Jerusalem,) Gibath, Ciriath, fourteen cities and their villages; this is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin by their families.