Joshua 18:5-16

⁵They will divide the remaining land into seven parts. The tribe of Judah will keep its land in the south, and the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh will keep their land in the north.

⁶But in their report, the men from the seven tribes should describe the seven parts of the remaining land that they wish to receive, and bring the report to me. While Yahweh is watching, I will ◄cast lots/throw marked stones► to decide which land should be allotted to each tribe.

⁷But the tribe of Levi will not be allotted any land, because their reward is that they will be Yahweh's priests. The tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already been allotted their land on the east side of the Jordan River, just as Moses, the man who served God well, decided, so they will not get any more land.”

⁸When the men who were chosen got ready to leave, Joshua told them, “Go and explore the land. Then write a report of what you have seen, and bring it back to me. Then while Yahweh is watching, I will ◄cast lots/throw marked stones► here at Shiloh, to determine what area each tribe will receive.”

⁹So the men left and walked through the area. Then they described in a scroll each town that was in the seven parts into which they had divided the land. Then they returned to Joshua, who was still at Shiloh.

¹⁰After Joshua read their report, while Yahweh was watching, he ◄cast lots/threw marked stones► to choose which land would be allotted to each of the seven Israeli tribes.

¹¹The first tribe that was allotted land was the tribe of Benjamin. Each clan in that tribe was allotted some of the land that was between the area that was allotted to the tribe of Judah and the area that was allotted to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

¹²The northern border started at the Jordan River and extended west along the northern side of Jericho, into the hilly area. From there the border extended west to the desert near Beth-Aven town.

¹³From there it extended southwest to Luz (which is now named Bethel). From there it extended southwest to Ataroth-Addar town, which is on the hill south of Lower Beth-Horon city.

¹⁴At the hill south of Beth-Horon, the border turned and extended south to Kiriath-Baal town, which is also named Kiriath-Jearim. That is a town where people of the tribe of Judah live. That was the western border of the land allotted to the tribe of Benjamin.

¹⁵The southern border of their land started near Kiriath-Jearim and extended west to Nephtoah Springs.

¹⁶From there it extended south to the bottom of the hill, near Ben-Hinnom Valley, on the north side of Repha Valley. The border extended south along the Hinnom Valley, south of the city where the Jebus people-group lived, to En-Rogel.