1 T hen all the people of Israel gathered together at Shiloh. They set up the tent of meeting there. The land around them had been taken in battle.

2 T here were still seven family groups among the people of Israel who had not received their share of land.

3 S o Joshua said to the people of Israel, “How long will you wait before going in to take the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?

4 C hoose three men from each of these seven family groups. I will send them to go through the land and write down what they find it to be like, to be shared by each family. Then they will return to me.

5 T hey will divide it into seven parts. Judah will stay in his land in the south. The house of Joseph will stay in their land in the north.

6 Y ou will write down how the land should be divided into seven parts, then bring it to me. I will draw names for you here before the Lord our God.

7 T he Levites have no share of land among you. Being the religious leaders for the Lord is their share. Gad and Reuben and the half-family group of Manasseh have received their land east of the Jordan. The Lord’s servant Moses gave it to them.”

8 A s the men got up to go, Joshua told them, “Go and walk through the land. Write down what you find, and return to me. Then I will draw names for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.”

9 T he men went and passed through the land. They wrote in a book the cities they found and divided them into seven parts. Then they returned to Joshua among the tents at Shiloh.

10 J oshua drew names for them in Shiloh before the Lord. There he divided the land among the people of Israel, a part for each family.

11 T he first name drawn was for the families of the people of Benjamin. The share of their land was between the people of Judah and the people of Joseph.

12 T he north side of their land was from the Jordan up to the north side of Jericho. Then it went west through the hill country, ending at the desert of Beth-aven.

13 T he side of their land went from there south to the side of Luz (that is, Bethel). Then it went down to Ataroth-addar, near the hill south of the valley land of Beth-horon.

14 T he side of their land turned west from there around the south side of the hill before Bethhoron. It ended at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city of the people of Judah. This was the west side.

15 T he south side was from the side of Kiriath-jearim west to the well of the waters of Nephtoah.

16 T hen the side of their land went down to the side of the hill in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, at the north end of the valley of Rephaim. It went down to the valley of Hinnom, south of the side of the Jebusites, and down to En-rogel.

17 T hen it went north to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth by the hill of Adummim, then down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben.

18 I t went on to the north side of Beth-arabah, and down to the Arabah.

19 T hen the side of their land went along the north side of Beth-hoglah. And it ended at the north waters of the Salt Sea at the south end of the Jordan. This was the south side.

20 T he east side of their land was the Jordan. This was the land with its sides, given to the family group of Benjamin.

21 T he cities of the people of Benjamin for their families were Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,

22 B etharabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

23 A vvim, Parah, Ophrah,

24 C hephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba, twelve cities with their towns.

25 A nd there were Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,

26 M izpeh, Chephirah, Mozah,

27 R ekem, Irpeel, Taralah,

28 Z elah, Haeleph, the Jebusite (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath, fourteen cities with their towns. This is the land that was given to the families of the people of Benjamin.