Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22
No Keeping Score
Three strikes and you’re out. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We all have limits for how often we will allow someone to offend us. We can understand and forgive one offense. Maybe even two. But if someone offends or hurts us three times? That’s it.
So when Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother who sins against him, he thought he was being generous by offering to forgive seven times. Jesus had just been teaching his disciples about forgiveness. Peter thought his question showed the lesson was sinking in.
Jesus’ response showed Peter, and us, just how much we need to grow in our understanding of forgiveness. He turned Peter’s generous offer of seven into a fraction. “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
Jesus wasn’t giving Peter a bigger number to keep track of. Imagine getting to offense number seventy-eight and saying, “Finally! Now I don’t have to forgive you.” Jesus’ point was the opposite: stop keeping score.
That is hard. When someone hurts us repeatedly, we remember. We keep a mental record. We can recall what they said, what they did, and how many times they have done it. Eventually, we decide they have used up their supply of forgiveness.
Thankfully, that isn’t how Jesus treats us. How many times have you committed the same sin? How many times have you lost your temper, spoken selfishly, entertained the same sinful thought, or failed to love someone? Yet you have never reached the limit of Jesus’ mercy. He carried every one of those sins to the cross and paid for them completely.
Jesus doesn’t stand over you with a tally sheet. He stands before you with nail-scarred hands and says, “You are forgiven.”
Because his forgiveness has no limits, we don’t need to put limits on ours. We can put down the scorecard and forgive again.
Prayer:
Jesus, thank you for forgiving me again and again. Help me stop keeping score and freely forgive others as you have forgiven me. Amen.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20
God Meant It for Good
Joseph didn’t call evil good. His brothers had betrayed him and sold him into slavery. Joseph described their actions honestly: “You intended to harm me.”
But their evil intentions were not the only intentions at work. Joseph continued, “God intended it for good.”
Through Joseph’s suffering, God placed him in Egypt. Through Joseph’s position in Egypt, God provided food during a severe famine. Through that food, God preserved Joseph’s family, including the family line through which the Savior would eventually come.
The brothers intended harm. God accomplished salvation.
That does not excuse what the brothers did. God did not approve of their sin. But their sin could not defeat his gracious plan.
The same is true at the cross. Jesus’ enemies intended to silence him. Judas intended to betray him. Religious leaders intended to destroy him. Roman soldiers intended to execute him. Yet through their evil actions, God carried out his saving purpose. Jesus’ suffering became the means by which God rescued sinners.
We cannot always see what God is accomplishing through the wrongs committed against us. We should not minimize evil or pretend that suffering is painless. But we can trust that evil never gets the final word.
The God who turned Joseph’s suffering into the saving of many lives turned Jesus’ death into the salvation of the world. He is still able to bend what others intend for harm toward his good and gracious purposes.
Prayer:
Lord God, when I cannot understand the evil and suffering around me, help me trust your saving wisdom and your gracious purposes in Christ. Amen.
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?” Genesis 50:19
In God’s Place
Joseph had the power to make his brothers pay. He was a ruler in Egypt. His brothers had betrayed him and sold him as a slave. Because of them, Joseph had endured years of hardship, false accusations, and imprisonment. Now they stood helpless before him.
Joseph could have acted as judge, jury, and executioner. Instead, he asked, “Am I in the place of God?”
Joseph was not denying that his brothers had sinned. He was refusing to claim a position that belonged to God. Judgment and vengeance were the Lord’s responsibility, not his.
When someone hurts us, we often want to take God’s place. We replay the offense, pronounce the person guilty, and decide what punishment would be fair. We may refuse to speak to them, hope that they suffer, or look for an opportunity to hurt them back.
But God has not called us to be his executioners. He calls us to forgive.
That does not mean pretending that sin does not hurt. It does not always mean immediately restoring trust or removing appropriate consequences. It means releasing our personal claim to revenge. We place the matter into God’s hands.
We can do that because God did not treat us as our sins deserved. Jesus stepped into our place and received our punishment. God’s undeserved forgiveness frees us to surrender our desire for revenge and show mercy to those who have wronged us.
Prayer:
Merciful God, keep me from taking your place as judge. Help me entrust justice to you and forgive others as you have forgiven me. Amen.
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1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, and he summoned the elders of Israel, its heads, its judges, and its officers, and they presented themselves before God.
2 Then Joshua told all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said.”
God’s Message
From ancient times your ancestors, including Terah, who was the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they served other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from across the River, and I caused him to walk through the whole land of Canaan. I multiplied his seed, [1] and I gave Isaac to him, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5 Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted Egypt with the plagues I sent there. Afterward I brought you out. 6 I brought your fathers out from Egypt, and you came to the sea. With chariots and charioteers the Egyptians pursued your fathers to the Red Sea. 7 They cried out to the Lord, and he set darkness between you and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea upon them so that it covered them. Your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the wilderness for many days. [2]
8 I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan, and they fought against you. But I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land after I had destroyed them before you.
9 Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel. He summoned Balaam son of Beor to curse you, 10 but I was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he blessed you time after time. In this way I rescued you from his power.
11 Then you crossed over the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho and the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites fought against you, but I gave them into your hand. 12 I sent the hornet before you, and it drove them out before you, as it drove out the two kings of the Amorites.
It was not by your sword and not by your bow!
13 So I have given you a land for which you did not labor. I gave you cities that you did not build, but you have been living in them. I gave you vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant, but you are eating from them.
Joshua’s Admonition
14 Joshua said, “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly and faithfully. Remove the gods that your fathers served in the region across the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if you see no benefit in serving the Lord, [3] then choose for yourselves today whomever you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household—we will serve the Lord!”
16 The people responded by saying, “Far be it from us [4] to forsake the Lord in order to serve other gods! 17 For the Lord our God, he is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, where we were slaves. He is the one who performed these great signs right before our eyes and protected us on the whole journey that we made and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 The Lord drove out of our presence all the peoples and the Amorites who were living in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God!”
19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. [5] He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and you serve foreign gods, then he will turn and cause disaster for you, and he will put an end to you after he has done good for you.”
21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will most certainly serve the Lord!”
22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves in order to serve him.”
The people said, “We are witnesses!”
23 Joshua said, “Now, therefore, remove the foreign gods that are among you, and turn your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God, and we will listen to his voice.”
25 That day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and he affirmed for them a statute and ordinance there at Shechem. 26 Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was at the holy place of the Lord.
27 Joshua said to all the people, “See, this stone will be a witness among us and against us, because it has heard all the words that the Lord spoke with us. So it will be a witness among you and against you, so that you do not act deceptively against your God.”
28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each one to his own inheritance.
The End of an Era
29 After these events Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred ten years. 30 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath Serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Ga’ash.
31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and who had experienced every deed that the Lord had done for Israel.
32 The bones of Joseph, which the descendants of Israel had brought up from Egypt, were buried in Shechem in the portion of the field that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of silver, [6] and they [7] became a heritage for the sons of Joseph.
33 Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him on the hill that belonged to his son Phinehas, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.
Footnotes
Joshua 24:3 Or his descendants. Retention of the literal term seed highlights the connection with the Messianic promises to Eve and to Abraham all the way down to Christ.
Joshua 24:7 The many days here was about forty years.
Joshua 24:15 Literally if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord
Joshua 24:16 Or may we be cursed. The Hebrew expression refers to something that is profane and has the tone of a curse.
Joshua 24:19 Or he is a God who demands exclusive loyalty
Joshua 24:32 Literally one hundred qesitahs. The qesitah is an archaic monetary unit of unknown weight and value.
1 After many days, [1] when the Lord had given Israel rest from all its enemies all around, when Joshua had grown old and advanced in years, 2 Joshua summoned all Israel—its elders, its heads, its judges, and its officers, and he said to them:
I have grown old and advanced in years. 3 You yourselves have seen everything that the Lord your God has done for you against all these nations. Yes, the Lord your God was fighting for you! 4 See now, I have allotted to your tribes an inheritance from these nations that remain unconquered, as well as from the nations that I have destroyed. It extends from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God himself will push them away from you and drive them out of your presence, ⎣until they perish. He will send wild animals among them until he completely destroys them and their kings from your presence⎦ [2] and you will take possession of their land, just as the Lord your God promised you. 6 You must be very resolute in carrying out all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses by not turning from it to the right or to the left, 7 by not intermingling with these nations that remain with you. Do not ever call on or swear by the names of their gods. Never serve them and never bow down to them. 8 But hold fast to the Lord your God, just as you have been doing to this day.
9 The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations from among you. As for you, no one has stood up against you to this day. 10 One of you would put a thousand to flight because the Lord your God himself was fighting for you, just as he promised you. 11 Therefore, for your own sakes be very careful to love the Lord your God.
12 But if you do turn away and keep close company with the remnant of these nations that remain with you, and if you intermarry with them and intermingle with them and they with you, 13 then know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive out these nations from among you, but they will become a trap and a snare for you, a whip for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from your good land that the Lord your God has given you.
14 See now, I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and with all your soul that not one promise out of all the good promises that the Lord your God promised you has failed. All of them have come true for you. Not one promise from him has failed. [3]
15 But just as every good promise that the Lord your God promised to you has come true for you, likewise the Lord will cause every promise of disaster to come true for you until he has destroyed you from this good land that the Lord your God has given you. 16 If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God that he commanded you, and you go and serve other gods, and you bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from the good land that he has given you.
Footnotes
Joshua 23:1 The many days amounted to about seven years.
Joshua 23:5 The words in the half-brackets are not in the Hebrew text, but they are in the Greek Old Testament. The words missing from the Hebrew text lie between two occurrences of your presence.
1 Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. 2 He said to them, “You have carried out everything that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in everything that I commanded you. 3 You have not forsaken your brothers for many days [1] now, right up till today, and you have carried out the commands of the Lord your God. 4 Now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, just as he promised them. So now return to your tents, to the land assigned as your possession, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave to you east of the Jordan. 5 But be very careful to follow the commandment and teaching that Moses, the servant of the Lord, decreed to you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to cling to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
6 Then Joshua blessed them and dismissed them, and they went to their tents. 7 (To the half tribe of Manasseh Moses had made a grant of land in Bashan, and to the other half of that tribe Joshua had made a grant among their brothers west of the Jordan.) So when Joshua dismissed them to their tents, he blessed them 8 and said to them, “Return to your tents with very great wealth—with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with a lot of clothing. Divide the plunder taken from your enemies with your brother Israelites.”
9 So the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh set out to return home. They left the people of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to travel to the land of Gilead, to the land assigned as their possession, which they had acquired there by the word of the Lord through Moses.
The Threat of War
10 When they came to Geliloth by the Jordan, which is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a conspicuously large altar. 11 The people of Israel heard about it and said, “See, the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh have built the altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at Geliloth of the Jordan, on the side of the river that belongs to the people of Israel.” 12 When the people of Israel heard this, the whole commuity of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.
13 Then the people of Israel sent the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar to the people of Reuben, to the people of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead. 14 Together with him they sent ten tribal leaders, a leader for each fathers’ house [2] for all the tribes of Israel. Each one was a head of his fathers’ house according to the divisions [3] of Israel.
15 They came to the people of Reuben, to the people of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them. They said, 16 “This is what the whole community of the Lord has said: Why have you committed such an unfaithful act against the God of Israel by turning from the Lord today? When you built an altar for yourselves, you rebelled against the Lord today. 17 Was the sin of Peor so trivial—something from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, and for which a plague came on the community of the Lord— 18 so that today you have to turn away from the Lord? This is what will happen if you rebel against the Lord today: Tomorrow he will be furious against the whole community of Israel! 19 But by all means, if the land you have received as your possession is unclean, cross over to the Lord’s own land where the Dwelling of the Lord has its home and take your possession among us. But do not rebel against the Lord, and do not make us rebels by your act of building an altar for yourselves apart from the altar of the Lord our God! 20 When Achan son of Zerah acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things, did it not bring anger against the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who perished because of his guilt!”
The Response of the Tribes
21 Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh responded to the heads of the divisions of Israel:
22 By God, the true God, the Lord! By God, the true God, the Lord! [4] He knows, and Israel will know too. If we acted in rebellion or if we acted in unfaithfulness against the Lord, do not spare us this day. 23 If we acted to build an altar for ourselves to turn from the Lord, or if we acted to offer up burnt offerings or grain offerings on it, or if we acted to make sacrifices of fellowship offerings on it, let the Lord himself demand an accounting from us.
24 But in truth, we did this because we were concerned that in the future your children would say to our children, “What connection do you have to the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 The Lord placed a border between us and you people of Reuben and Gad, namely, the Jordan. You have no portion in the Lord.” Then your children would stop our children from fearing the Lord.
26 So we said, “Come on now, let us build an altar—but not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifice.” 27 Rather, it is to be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us concerning our right to perform the worship of the Lord before him by our burnt offerings, by our sacrifices, and by our fellowship offerings, so that your children cannot say in the future to our children, “You have no share in the Lord.”
28 So we said, “If they say that to us and to our generations in the future, then we will say, ‘Look at the replica of the altar of the Lord that our fathers made—but not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifice. Rather it is a witness between us and you.’”
29 Far be it from us to rebel [5] against the Lord and to turn today from the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for fellowship offerings apart from the altar of the Lord our God that is in front of his dwelling.
War Avoided
30 Phinehas the priest heard this, as did the tribal leaders of the community and the heads of the divisions of the tribes of Israel who were with him. They heard the words that the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the people of Manasseh spoke, and they were pleased. 31 So Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, said to the people of Reuben, to the people of Gad, and to the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is among us since you did not act unfaithfully against the Lord. Now you have saved the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”
32 So the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the leaders returned from the people of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead to the people of Israel in the land of Canaan, and they brought them a report. 33 The report pleased the people of Israel, so the people of Israel blessed God, and they did not say anything more about going to war against them to destroy the land that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were living in.
34 The people of Reuben and the people of Gad named the altar “Witness” because they said, “It is a witness between us that the Lord is the one God.”
Footnotes
Joshua 22:3 The many days amounted to about seven years.
Joshua 22:14 Each successive generation of tribal elders were the fathers of that generation. The fathers’ house was a social division that seems to have been smaller than the tribe or clan but larger than the immediate family. The term, however, seems to have been used for more than one level of the social structure of Israel because of the importance of kinship and descent in Israel’s social structure.
Joshua 22:14 Literally the thousands
Joshua 22:22 The Hebrew oath has three divine names: El, Elohim, Yahweh.
Joshua 22:29 Or may we be cursed if we rebel. The Hebrew expression refers to something that is profane or cursed.
1 Then the Lord spoke to Joshua 2 and told him to give the people of Israel the following directions:
Designate for yourselves the cities of refuge about which I spoke to you through Moses. 3 A person who takes a life may flee to one of them, if that person has killed someone by accident, without intent. These cities are to serve for you as a refuge from the avenger [1] of blood.
4 The person is to flee to one of these cities and stand at the entrance to the gate of the city and state his case before a hearing of the elders of that city. They are to receive him into the city and give him a place where he can live with them. 5 When the avenger of blood pursues him, the elders are not to hand over the person who took a life to the avenger, because that person killed his fellow man without intent, and he had not been his enemy previously. 6 The killer is to live in that city until he stands in front of the community for judgment, and then until the death of the high priest who presides in those days. At that time the one who took a life may return to his city and to his house—to the city from which he fled.
7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. 8 Also in the region on the east side of the Jordan of Jericho, they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.
9 These were the appointed cities for all the people of Israel and for the aliens residing among them, so that anyone killing a person accidentally could flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood before he stood trial in the presence of the community.
Cities for the Priests and Levites
Joshua 21
1 Then the leading fathers [2] of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leading fathers of the tribes of the people of Israel. 2 When they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, they said, “The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to live in, together with their pasturelands for our livestock.”
3 So from their own inheritance the people of Israel gave to the Levites these cities and their pasturelands according to the command of the Lord.
4 The clans of Kohath, one of the descendants of Levi, received the first lot. Those who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot thirteen cities from the tribes of Judah, from the Simeonites, and from the tribe of Benjamin. 5 The remaining Kohathites received by lot ten cities from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half tribe of Manasseh.
6 The descendants of Gershon received by lot thirteen cities from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
7 The descendants of Merari according to their clans received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
8 The people of Israel assigned cities and their pasturelands to the Levites by lot, just as the Lord had commanded through Moses.
Cities for the Priests
9 The tribe of the descendants of Judah and the tribe of the descendants of Simeon gave the cities, named below, 10 to the descendants of Aaron, who were from the Kohathite clan of the people of Levi, because the first lot was theirs.
11 They gave them Kiriath Arba in the hill country of Judah and its pasturelands which surround it. (Kiriath Arba is Hebron.) (Arba was the father of the Anakites.) 12 But the outlying countryside of the city and its villages they had given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.
13 In this way they gave the descendants of Aaron the priest these cities: Hebron, the city of refuge for one who takes a life, together with its pasturelands, Libnah and its pasturelands, 14 Jattir and its pasturelands, Eshtemoa and its pasturelands, 15 Holon and its pasturelands, Debir and its pasturelands, 16 Ain and its pasturelands, Juttah and its pasturelands, Beth Shemesh and its pasturelands—nine cities from these two tribes.
17 From the tribe of Benjamin, they gave Gibeon and its pasturelands, Geba and its pasturelands, 18 Anathoth and its pasturelands, and Almon and its pasturelands—four cities.
19 All the cities for the descendants of Aaron the priest totaled thirteen cities and their pasturelands.
Cities for Kohathite Levites
20 For the rest of the clans of the Levites descended from Kohath, the cities of their allotment came from the tribe of Ephraim.
21 They gave them Shechem, the city of refuge for one who takes a life, and its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim; Gezer and its pasturelands; 22 Kibzaim and its pasturelands; and Beth Horon and its pasturelands—four cities.
23 From the tribe of Dan they gave Eltekeh and its pasturelands, Gibbethon and its pasturelands, 24 Aijalon and its pasturelands, Gath Rimmon and its pasturelands—four cities.
25 From the half tribe of Manasseh, they gave Ta’anach and its pasturelands, and Gath Rimmon and its pasturelands—two cities.
26 The total was ten cities and their pasturelands for the remaining clans of the descendants of Kohath.
Cities for the Gershonite Levities
27 To the descendants of Gershon, one of the clans of the Levites, these cities were given.
From the half tribe of Manasseh: the city of refuge for someone who had killed a man, namely, Golan in Bashan and its pasturelands, also Be’eshterah and its pastureland—two cities.
28 From the tribe of Issachar: Kishion and its pasturelands, Daberath and its pasturelands, 29 Jarmuth and its pasturelands, En Gannim and its pasturelands—four cities.
30 From the tribe of Asher: Mishal and its pasturelands, Abdon and its pasturelands, 31 Helkath and its pasturelands, and Rehob and its pasturelands—four cities.
32 From the tribe of Naphtali: the city of refuge for someone who had killed a man, namely, Kedesh in Galilee and its pasturelands, Hammoth Dor and its pasturelands, and Kartan and its pasturelands—three cities.
33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their clans totaled thirteen cities and their pasturelands.
Cities for the Merarite Levites
34 To the clans of the sons of Merari, the rest of the Levites, these cities were given.
From the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam and its pasturelands, Kartah and its pasturelands, 35 Dimnah and its pasturelands, Nahalal and its pasturelands—four cities.
36 From the tribe of Reuben: Bezer and its pasturelands, Jahzah and its pasturelands, 37 Kedemoth and its pasturelands, and Mepha’ath and its pasturelands—four cities.
38 From the tribe of Gad: the city of refuge for one who takes a life, namely, Ramoth in Gilead and its pasturelands, Mahanaim and its pasturelands, 39 Heshbon and its pasturelands, Jazer and its pasturelands. All the cities totaled four.
40 All the cities for the descendants of Merari according to their clans, the rest of the clans of the Levites—their allotment was twelve cities.
41 So all the cities of the Levites within the possession of the descendants of Israel totaled forty-eight cities and their pasturelands. 42 These cities consisted of each city and its pasturelands that surround it. It was that way for all these cities.
43 So the Lord gave to Israel all of the land that he had sworn to give to their fathers. They took possession of it and lived in it. 44 The Lord gave them rest all around, in fulfillment of everything that he had sworn to their fathers. Not one person out of all their enemies had withstood them. The Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one promise out of all the good promises that the Lord had promised to the house of Israel failed. [3] They all came true!
Footnotes
Joshua 20:3 The Hebrew word translated avenger is goel. Goel is also translated redeemer or kinsman redeemer. One function of the goel was to seek justice for a relative who had been killed. In that situation the goel is called an avenger. Another duty of the goel was recovering lost property. In that situation he is called a redeemer.
Joshua 21:1 Fathers is a common title for the ruling elders among the Israelites.
1 Then the whole community of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh, and they set up the Tent of Meeting there, since the land had been subdued by their advance. 2 Seven tribes remained among the people of Israel to whom no inheritance had yet been apportioned.
3 So Joshua said to the people of Israel, “How long are you going to keep delaying before you go and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given to you? 4 You yourselves are to appoint three men for each tribe, and I will send them out. They are to go out and walk throughout the land. They are to write a description of it as a basis for each of their inheritances, and then come back to me. 5 They are to divide it into seven shares. Judah will remain in its territory in the south, and the house of Joseph will remain in its territory north of that. 6 You are to write a description of the land in seven parts and bring it to me here. Then I will cast lots for you here before the Lord our God. 7 But the Levites have no portion in your midst because the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance, and Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance in the region to the east, on the other side of the Jordan, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave to them.”
8 So the men set out on their tour. Joshua had given a command to write a description of the land to the men who were going out, “Go, walk around throughout the land. Write a description of it and return to me. I will cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.”
9 So the men went and passed through the land, and they wrote a description of it on a scroll with the lists of cities divided into seven portions. Then they came to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. 10 Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord, and there Joshua assigned the land to the people of Israel portion by portion.
Benjamin
11 First, the lot came up for the tribe of the descendants of Benjamin according to their clans. The territory of their lot stretched out between the descendants of Judah and the descendants of Joseph.
12 Their northern border starts at the Jordan.
Then the border ascends to the slope of Jericho on the north.
Then it ascends westward through the hill country.
It ends at the Wilderness of Beth Aven.
13 The border crosses over from there to Luz, to the slope on the south side of Luz (Luz is Bethel).
Then the border descends to Ataroth Addar on the mountain that is south of Lower Beth Horon.
14 This is the border on the western side.
From the mountain that is facing the south side of Beth Horon, the border bends and curves around toward the south. It ends at Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim), a city of the descendants of Judah.
This is the western side.
15 On the southern side, the border begins from the edge of Kiriath Jearim.
Then the border goes out toward the sea and goes out to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah.
16 Then the border descends to the edge of the mountain that faces the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is north of the Valley of Rephaim.
Then it descends through the Valley of Hinnom to the southern slope of the Jebusite city and descends to En Rogel.
17 Then it bends north and goes out to En Shemesh.
Then it goes out to Geliloth, which is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, and descends to the Stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben.
18 Then it passes northward to the slope facing the Arabah and descends into the Arabah.
19 The border then passes on to the northern slope of Beth Hoglah, and the border ends at the northern bay of the Dead Sea at the southern end of the Jordan.
This is the southern border.
20 The Jordan River is its border on the eastern side.
This is the inheritance of the descendants of Benjamin, on the basis of the borders enclosing it, according to their clans.
21 The cities belonging to the tribe of the people of Benjamin according to their clans were:
Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, 22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 24 Kephar Ha’ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve cities and their villages.
25 Gibeon, Ramah, Be’eroth, 26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 27 Rekem, Irpe’el, Taralah, 28 Zela, Ha’eleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeath, Kiriath—fourteen cities and their villages.
This is the inheritance of the descendants of Benjamin according to their clans.
Simeon
Joshua 19
1 The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the descendants of Simeon, according to their clans. Their inheritance was located within the inheritance of the descendants of Judah.
2 As their inheritance they received:
Beersheba, Sheba, Moladah, 3 Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem, 4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah, 5 Ziklag, Beth Markaboth, Hazar Susah, 6 Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities and their villages. [1]
7 Also Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities and their villages.
8 All the villages that are around these cities, as far as Baalath Be’er (which is Ramah of the Negev).
This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Simeon according to their clans. 9 Part of the share of the descendants of Judah became the inheritance of the descendants of Simeon. Because the portion of the descendants of Judah was too large for them, the descendants of Simeon received an inheritance within Judah’s inheritance.
Zebulun
10 The third lot came up for the descendants of Zebulun according to their clans.
The border of their inheritance reaches as far as Sarid.
11 Their border ascends toward the west to Maralah and touches Dabbesheth.
Then it touches the streambed that is next to Jokneam.
12 Then it turns from Sarid eastward toward the rising of the sun on the border of Kisloth Tabor. Then it goes out to Daberath and ascends to Japhia.
13 From there it passes on the east, along the side that is toward the sunrise, to Gath Hepher, to Eth Kazin, and goes out to Rimmon, which is marked off to Neah. [2]
14 Then the border curves around it on the north to Hannathon, and it ends at the Valley of Iphtah El, 15 Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—twelve cities and their villages. [3]
16 This is the inheritance of the descendants of Zebulun according to their clans—these cities and their villages.
Issachar
17 The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the descendants of Issachar according to their clans.
18 Their territory extended to Jezre’el, Kesulloth, Shunem, 19 Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath, 20 Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez, 21 Remeth, En Gannim, En Haddah, and Beth Pazzez.
22 The border touches Tabor, Shahazimah, and Beth Shemesh, and their border ends at the Jordan—sixteen cities and their villages.
23 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Issachar according to their clans—the cities and their villages.
Asher
24 The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the descendants of Asher according to their clans.
25 Their border enclosed Helkath, Hali, Beten, Akshaph, 26 Allammelek, Amad, and Mishal, and it touches on Carmel on the west, and on Shihor Libnath.
27 Then it turns on the east to Beth Dagon and touches the territory of Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah El to the north, also Beth Emek, and Neiel.
Then it goes out to Kabul in the north, 28 to Ebron, [4] Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Great Sidon.
29 Then the border turns toward Ramah, to the fortified city of Tyre.
Then the border turns toward Hosah, and it ends at the sea.
It extends from Hebel [5] to Akzib, 30 Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob—twenty-two [6] cities and their villages.
31 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Asher according to their clans—these cities and their villages.
Naphtali
32 The sixth lot came out for the descendants of Naphtali, for the descendants of Naphtali according to their clans.
33 Their border extends from Heleph, from the oak in Za’annim, past Adami Nekeb, and Jabne’el to Lakkum. It ends at the Jordan.
34 Then the border turns west to Aznoth Tabor and goes out from there to Hukkok. It touches Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and Judah [7] at the Jordan on the east.
35 The fortified cities are Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Kinneret, 36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, 37 Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor, 38 Yiron, Migdal El, Horem, Beth Anath, and Beth Shemesh—nineteen cities and their villages. [8]
39 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Naphtali according to their clans—the cities and their villages.
Dan
40 The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the descendants of Dan according to their clans.
41 The territory of their inheritance includes Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh, 42 Sha’alabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45 Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon, 46 Me Yarkon, and Rakkon, with the border close to Joppa.
47 But the territory of the descendants of Dan slipped away from them. So the descendants of Dan went up and fought against Leshem. They captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword. They took possession of it and lived in it, and they named Leshem “Dan” after Dan, their forefather.
48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Dan according to their clans—these cities and their villages.
An Inheritance for Joshua
49 When they had finished distributing the land as an inheritance by assigning borders, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them. 50 According to the command of the Lord, they gave him the city that he had requested, Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He built up the city and lived in it.
51 These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leading fathers of the tribes of Israel assigned by lot at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. So they finished distributing the land.
Footnotes
Joshua 19:6 There are fourteen cities in the list, if Beersheba and Sheba are counted as two cities.
Joshua 19:13 Or turns toward Neah or is toward the neah. The meaning and identification of neah are uncertain.
Joshua 19:15 It is uncertain how to get the count of twelve cities here.
Joshua 19:28 Variant Abdon
Joshua 19:29 It is uncertain if Hebel is a place name.
Joshua 19:30 It is uncertain how the number twenty-two is to be calculated. There may be as many as twenty-five cities in the list, but some of them are uncertain.
Joshua 19:34 Geographically, this cannot refer to the tribe of Judah. Perhaps it is a city.
Joshua 19:38 It is uncertain how to get the count nineteen. The immediate list as translated has sixteen.
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