Study Desk

They came to Eleazar the religious leader, Joshua the son of Nun, and the leaders, saying, "The Lord told Moses to give us a share of land among our brothers." So they gave them a share of land among their father's brothers, as the Lord had said.

The hill country will be yours. It is full of trees, but you will clear it. All of it will be yours. For you will drive out the Canaanites, even if they have iron war-wagons and much strength."

Choose 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.

The 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.

And they had all the towns around these cities as far as Baalath-beer, also known as Ramah of the Negev. This was the land given to the families of the people of Simeon.

The people of Dan needed more land. So they went up and fought with Leshem and took it with the sword. They took it for themselves and lived in it. And they gave it the name Leshem Dan after the name of Dan their father.

When they finished dividing the land and giving to each family group their share, then the people of Israel gave some land among them to Joshua the son of Nun.

As the Lord had told them, they gave him the city he asked for. They gave him Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and lived in it.

This is the land which was given by Eleazar the religious leader, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the houses of the families of the people of Israel. It was given by drawing names in Shiloh before the Lord at the door of the meeting tent. So they finished dividing the land.

He will run to one of these cities and stand at the city gate. There he will tell his story to the leaders of that city. They will take him into the city and give him a place. So he may live among them.

If the one who wants to punish him comes after him, they will not give him the one who killed the person, because he killed his neighbor without planning to, and did not hate him in the past.

So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali. They set apart Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim. And they set apart Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

On the other side of the Jordan east of Jericho, they set apart Bezer in the desert plain from the family of Reuben. They set apart Ramoth in Gilead from the family of Gad. And they set apart Golan in Bashan from the family of Manasseh.

They gave from the families of Judah and Simeon the cities given here by name.

So to the sons of Aaron the religious leader they gave Hebron and Libnah with their fields. Hebron was the city where one who killed a man could go to be safe.

And they gave them Jattir with its fields, Eshtemoa with its fields,

They gave them Shechem with its fields in the hill country of Ephraim. A man who killed another person could run to Shechem to be safe. And they gave them Gezer with its fields,

From the half-family group of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan and Be-eshterah and their fields to the sons of Gershon, one of the Levite families. A man who killed another person could run to Golan in Bashan to be safe. They were given two cities.

From the family of Gad was given Ramoth in Gilead with its fields. A man who killed another person could run to Ramoth in Gilead to be safe. And they gave them Mahanaim with its fields,

The Lord gave Israel all the land He had promised to give to their fathers. They took it for their own, and lived in it.