Joshua 19

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

The inheritance of Simeon

¹ The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their clans; and their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the children of Judah. ² They had in their inheritance Beersheba, Sheba, Moladah, ³ Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem, ⁴ Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, ⁵ Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah, ⁶ Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen: thirteen cities with their villages; ⁷ Ain, Rimmon, Ether and Ashan: four cities with their villages; ⁸ and all the villages that were around these cities as far as Baalath-beer, Ramah of the Negev. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their clans. ⁹ The inheritance of the children of Simeon was taken from the portion of the children of Judah, for the share of the children of Judah was too large for them; so the children of Simeon received their inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.

The inheritances of the other tribes

¹⁰ The third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their clans. The border of their inheritance reached as far as Sarid. ¹¹ Their border went up westward to Maralah, touched Dabbesheth, and touched the brook that is before Jokneam. ¹² From Sarid it turned eastward, toward the sunrise, to the border of Chisloth-tabor; then it went out to Daberath and went up to Japhia. ¹³ From there it passed along eastward, toward the sunrise, to Gath-hepher and to Eth-kazin, and went out to Rimmon, bending around toward Neah. ¹⁴ Then the border turned around it on the north to Hannathon, and it ended at the valley of Iphtah-el; ¹⁵ and it included Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages. ¹⁶ This is the inheritance of the children of Zebulun according to their clans, these cities with their villages.

¹⁷ The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the children of Issachar according to their clans. ¹⁸ Their territory included Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem, ¹⁹ Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, ²⁰ Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, ²¹ Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah and Beth-pazzez. ²² The border touched Tabor, Shahazimah and Beth-shemesh, and their border ended at the Jordan: sixteen cities with their villages. ²³ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Issachar according to their clans, the cities with their villages.

²⁴ The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according to their clans. ²⁵ Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph, ²⁶ Allammelech, Amad and Mishal; and it touched Carmel on the west and Shihor-libnath. ²⁷ Then it turned toward the sunrise to Beth-dagon, touched Zebulun and the valley of Iphtah-el northward, Beth-emek and Neiel, and went out to Cabul on the north, ²⁸ and Ebron, Rehob, Hammon and Kanah, as far as Great Sidon. ²⁹ Then the border turned to Ramah and to the fortified city of Tyre; then the border turned to Hosah, and it ended at the sea by the region of Achzib; ³⁰ also Ummah, Aphek and Rehob: twenty-two cities with their villages. ³¹ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Asher according to their clans, these cities with their villages.

³² The sixth lot came out for the children of Naphtali, for the children of Naphtali according to their clans. ³³ Their border ran from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, Adami-nekeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum; and it ended at the Jordan. ³⁴ Then the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor and went out from there to Hukkok; it touched Zebulun on the south, touched Asher on the west, and Judah at the Jordan toward the sunrise. ³⁵ The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, ³⁶ Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, ³⁷ Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor, ³⁸ Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh: nineteen cities with their villages. ³⁹ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Naphtali according to their clans, the cities with their villages.

⁴⁰ The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their clans. ⁴¹ The territory of their inheritance was Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh, ⁴² Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, ⁴³ Elon, Timnah, Ekron, ⁴⁴ Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, ⁴⁵ Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon, ⁴⁶ Me-jarkon and Rakkon, with the territory opposite Joppa. ⁴⁷ But the territory of the children of Dan was lost to them; so the children of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, took it and struck it with the edge of the sword, possessed it and lived in it; and they called Leshem Dan, after the name of Dan their father. ⁴⁸ This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their clans, these cities with their villages.

Joshua's inheritance

⁴⁹ When they had finished dividing the land as an inheritance by its borders, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun in their midst. ⁵⁰ At the command of Yahweh they gave him the city which he asked for, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim; and he built the city and lived in it. ⁵¹ These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel distributed by lot at Shiloh before Yahweh, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

Notes

• 19:7 Verses 2-6 name fourteen places, while the total says thirteen: Sheba may be a repetition of the end of Beersheba, or a separate town (perhaps the Shema of 15:26); the parallel list in 1 Chronicles 4:28 does not have it. Here the four cities count Ain and Rimmon separately, as 1 Chronicles 4:32 also does, though they may be a single town, the En-rimmon of Nehemiah 11:29 (compare 15:32).
• 19:9 Simeon received no territory of its own, only towns inside Judah's land, many of which also appear in Judah's list (15:26-32). This fits Jacob's word about Simeon and Levi, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel" (Genesis 49:7): Levi received cities among all the tribes (chapter 21), and Simeon lived within Judah, whose kings later held its towns (1 Samuel 27:6; 1 Chronicles 4:31).
• 19:15 This Bethlehem is a town of Zebulun in Galilee, usually identified with a village about 11 kilometers northwest of Nazareth. It is not Bethlehem of Judah, the town Micah calls "Bethlehem Ephrathah" (Micah 5:2) and Matthew "Bethlehem of Judea" (Matthew 2:1). The total of twelve cities is hard to match with the names, perhaps because the border description mixes towns with landmarks; several totals in this chapter are like that.
• 19:39 Zebulun and Naphtali, with Issachar and Asher, settled the hills and valleys of Galilee. The prophet Jonah came from Gath-hepher in Zebulun (verse 13; 2 Kings 14:25), usually placed a few kilometers northeast of Nazareth, which is worth remembering beside the words "no prophet has arisen out of Galilee" (John 7:52). Isaiah promised that the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, humbled first, would see a great light (Isaiah 9:1-2), and Matthew says this was fulfilled when Yeshua made His home in Capernaum, "in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali" (Matthew 4:13-16).
• 19:47 "Was lost to them" is literally "went out from them," usually understood to mean that Dan could not hold its land. The Amorites pressed Dan back into the hills (Judges 1:34), and part of the tribe moved far north, took Leshem, also called Laish, and renamed it Dan (Judges 18:27-29). From then on Dan marked the northern edge of the land, as in "from Dan to Beersheba" (Judges 20:1).
• 19:50 Joshua took his own inheritance last, after every tribe had received its share. Timnath-serah may mean "the remaining portion"; in Judges 2:9 it is called Timnath-heres, "portion of the sun," with the letters of the second word reversed. Joshua was buried there (24:30).

Joshua 18 · Joshua 20

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