Joshua 18 NCV
1. All of the Israelites gathered together at Shiloh where they set up the Meeting Tent. The land was now under their control.
2. But there were still seven tribes of Israel that had not yet received their land.
3. So Joshua said to the Israelites: “Why do you wait so long to take your land? The Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given this land to you.
4. Choose three men from each tribe, and I will send them out to study the land. They will describe in writing the land their tribe wants as its share, and then they will come back to me.
5. They will divide the land into seven parts. The people of Judah will keep their land in the south, and the people of Joseph will keep their land in the north.
6. You should describe the seven parts of land in writing and bring what you have written to me. Then I will throw lots in the presence of the Lord our God.
7. But the Levites do not get any part of these lands, because they are priests, and their work is to serve the Lord. Gad, Reuben, and East Manasseh have received the land promised to them, which is east of the Jordan River. Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave it to them.”
8. So the men who were chosen to map the land started out. Joshua told them, “Go and study the land and describe it in writing. Then come back to me, and I will throw lots in the presence of the Lord here in Shiloh.”
9. So the men left and went into the land. They described in a scroll each town in the seven parts of the land. Then they came back to Joshua, who was still at the camp at Shiloh.
10. There Joshua threw lots in the presence of the Lord to choose the lands that should be given to each tribe.Land for Benjamin
11. The first part of the land was given to the tribe of Benjamin. Each family group received some land between the land of Judah and the land of Joseph. This is the land chosen for Benjamin:
12. The northern border started at the Jordan River and went along the northern edge of Jericho, and then it went west into the mountains. That boundary continued until it was just east of Beth Aven.
13. From there it went south to Luz (also called Bethel) and then down to Ataroth Addar, which is on the hill south of Lower Beth Horon.
14. At the hill to the south of Beth Horon, the border turned and went south near the western side of the hill. It went to Kiriath Baal (also called Kiriath Jearim), a town where people of Judah lived. This was the western border.
15. The southern border started near Kiriath Jearim and went west to the waters of Nephtoah.
16. Then it went down to the bottom of the hill, which was near the Valley of Ben Hinnom, on the north side of the Valley of Rephaim. The border continued down the Hinnom Valley just south of the Jebusite city to En Rogel.
17. There it turned north and went to En Shemesh. It continued to Geliloth near the Adummim Pass. Then it went down to the great Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
18. The border continued to the northern part of Beth Arabah and went down into the Jordan Valley.
19. From there it went to the northern part of Beth Hoglah and ended at the north shore of the Dead Sea, where the Jordan River flows into the sea. This was the southern border.
20. The Jordan River was the border on the eastern side. So this was the land given to the family groups of Benjamin with the borders on all sides.
21. The family groups of Benjamin received these cities: Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz,
22. Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
23. Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,
24. Kephar Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba. There were twelve towns and all their villages.
25. The tribe of Benjamin also received Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
26. Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah,
27. Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,
28. Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath. There were fourteen towns and their villages. All these areas are the lands the family groups of Benjamin were given.