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Joshua 18

Joshua moves Israel’s unfinished land division forward through a survey and lots before YHWH, then records Benjamin’s inheritance.

Israel gathers at Shiloh and sets up the Tent of Meeting while seven tribes still await the division of their inheritance. Joshua challenges their delay and sends representatives to survey the land, record its cities, and divide it into seven portions. He then casts lots before YHWH at Shiloh. The account turns to Benjamin’s allotment between Judah and Joseph, tracing its borders and naming the cities assigned to its families.

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1The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land was subdued before them.
3Joshua said to the children of Israel, “How long will you neglect to go in to possess the land, which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?
4Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe. I will send them, and they shall arise, walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance; then they shall come to me.
5They shall divide it into seven portions. Judah shall live in his borders on the south, and the house of Joseph shall live in their borders on the north.
6You shall survey the land into seven parts, and bring the description here to me; and I will cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.
7However, the Levites have no portion among you; for the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance. Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance east of the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them.”
8The men arose and went. Joshua commanded those who went to survey the land, saying, “Go walk through the land, survey it, and come again to me. I will cast lots for you here before the LORD in Shiloh.”
9The men went and passed through the land, and surveyed it by cities into seven portions in a book. They came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh.
10Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD. There Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.
11The lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families. The border of their lot went out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.
12Their border on the north quarter was from the Jordan. The border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the hill country westward. It ended at the wilderness of Beth Aven.
13The border passed along from there to Luz, to the side of Luz (also called Bethel), southward. The border went down to Ataroth Addar, by the mountain that lies on the south of Beth Horon the lower.
14The border extended, and turned around on the west quarter southward, from the mountain that lies before Beth Horon southward; and ended at Kiriath Baal (also called Kiriath Jearim), a city of the children of Judah. This was the west quarter.
16The border went down to the farthest part of the mountain that lies before the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in the valley of Rephaim northward. It went down to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite southward, and went down to En Rogel.
18It passed along to the side opposite the Arabah northward, and went down to the Arabah.
19The border passed along to the side of Beth Hoglah northward; and the border ended at the north bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the south border.
21Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz,
22Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
23Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,
24Chephar Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities with their villages.
25Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
26Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah,
28Zelah, Eleph, the Jebusite (also called Jerusalem), Gibeath, and Kiriath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin according to their families.
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Key verses
Joshua 18:1Setting up the Tent of Meeting at Shiloh establishes the gathering place where the remaining inheritance will be divided.
Joshua 18:10Joshua casts lots before YHWH, placing the allocation of tribal land under God’s authority.
Joshua 18:28The closing city list includes Jerusalem and completes the record of Benjamin’s inheritance according to its families.
Where this chapter reaches

Numbers shares the instruction to distribute the land by lot, while Proverbs links the lot’s outcome with YHWH’s rule. Shiloh connects this gathering with the worship setting in 1 Samuel and with Jeremiah’s later warnings concerning that same place and its fate.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out about the relationship between God’s gift of land and Joshua’s demand for action?

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How do Benjamin’s named borders and cities shape your understanding of inheritance in this account?

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Questions people ask about Joshua 18

Why was the Tent of Meeting set up at Shiloh in Joshua 18?

The chapter records Israel gathering at Shiloh and setting up the Tent of Meeting after the land had been subdued. Shiloh then serves as the place where Joshua receives the survey and casts lots before YHWH. The text does not explain why this location was chosen.

Why did Joshua cast lots to divide the land?

The lots assign the seven surveyed portions to the tribes whose inheritance remains undivided. Joshua casts them before YHWH at Shiloh, presenting the distribution as subject to God’s authority. The chapter describes the survey and written record but does not explain the physical method used to cast lots.

Was Jerusalem part of Benjamin’s inheritance?

Yes. Verse 28 includes the Jebusite city, identified as Jerusalem, among the cities of Benjamin’s inheritance. The chapter locates Benjamin between Judah and Joseph and records its boundaries. Inclusion in this allotment establishes the territorial assignment; it does not describe Jerusalem’s capture or the removal of its inhabitants.

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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).