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Joshua 16

Joshua 16 maps Joseph’s inheritance, details Ephraim’s boundaries, and closes with the Canaanites still living in Gezer.

Joseph’s descendants receive their allotted land, with boundaries running from the Jordan near Jericho into the hill country and westward to the sea. The account names both Manasseh and Ephraim, then traces Ephraim’s borders and notes its cities within Manasseh’s territory. Places such as Beth Horon and Gezer mark the boundaries. The closing verse records an unresolved part of the settlement: Ephraim did not drive out Gezer’s Canaanite inhabitants, who remained under forced labor.

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1The lot came out for the children of Joseph from the Jordan at Jericho, at the waters of Jericho on the east, even the wilderness, going up from Jericho through the hill country to Bethel.
2It went out from Bethel to Luz, and passed along to the border of the Archites to Ataroth;
3and it went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, to the border of Beth Horon the lower, and on to Gezer; and ended at the sea.
5This was the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families. The border of their inheritance eastward was Ataroth Addar, to Beth Horon the upper.
6The border went out westward at Michmethath on the north. The border turned about eastward to Taanath Shiloh, and passed along it on the east of Janoah.
7It went down from Janoah to Ataroth, to Naarah, reached to Jericho, and went out at the Jordan.
8From Tappuah the border went along westward to the brook of Kanah; and ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families;
10They didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell in the territory of Ephraim to this day, and have become servants to do forced labor.
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Key verses
Joshua 16:1The opening lot places Joseph’s descendants within the land distribution and begins tracing their inheritance from Jericho.
Joshua 16:3The western boundary reaches the sea through Gezer, a town whose remaining Canaanite population becomes the chapter’s closing concern.
Joshua 16:10The final verse qualifies the inheritance account: Ephraim imposed forced labor on Gezer’s Canaanites while leaving them in the territory.
Where this chapter reaches

Judges shares Joshua 16’s report that Ephraim left the Canaanites in Gezer and subjected them to forced labor. 1 Kings takes up Gezer’s later history, recording its capture by Pharaoh and its transfer to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

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After reading the whole chapter

How does the final report about Gezer change your reading of the inheritance described before it?

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What stands out to you about an inheritance described through borders and family settlements?

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Questions people ask about Joshua 16

Why didn’t Ephraim drive out the Canaanites in Joshua 16?

The chapter reports that Ephraim did not drive out Gezer’s Canaanites, but it does not explain the tribe’s motives or describe a failed battle. It says the Canaanites remained in Ephraim’s territory and became forced laborers. That arrangement left the town’s Canaanite population in place.

What land did Ephraim receive in Joshua 16?

After outlining the allotment for Joseph’s descendants, the chapter traces Ephraim’s territory through named boundary points, including Beth Horon, Jericho, and the brook of Kanah, with stretches reaching the Jordan and the sea. Ephraim also received cities and their villages within Manasseh’s inheritance. The description follows borders rather than giving an acreage.

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Joshua · 24 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).