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Joshua 19

Joshua 19 completes the land allotments before YHWH, recording tribal boundaries and Joshua’s own inheritance among Israel.

Israel’s remaining tribal allotments are being recorded, with towns and borders assigned to Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. Simeon receives land within Judah’s oversized portion. The record also includes Dan’s conquest and renaming of Leshem. After the tribal distribution, Joshua receives Timnathserah and builds it. The closing verse identifies Eleazar, Joshua, and the tribal heads as those who divided the land by lot at Shiloh, before YHWH at the Tent of Meeting.

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1The second lot came out for Simeon, even for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families. Their inheritance was in the middle of the inheritance of the children of Judah.
2They had for their inheritance Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah,
3Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem,
4Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,
5Ziklag, Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susah,
7Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan; four cities with their villages;
8and all the villages that were around these cities to Baalath Beer, Ramah of the South. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families.
9Out of the part of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon; for the portion of the children of Judah was too much for them. Therefore the children of Simeon had inheritance in the middle of their inheritance.
10The third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their families. The border of their inheritance was to Sarid.
11Their border went up westward, even to Maralah, and reached to Dabbesheth. It reached to the brook that is before Jokneam.
12It turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrise to the border of Chisloth Tabor. It went out to Daberath, and went up to Japhia.
15Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages.
18Their border was to Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem,
22The border reached to Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth Shemesh. Their border ended at the Jordan: sixteen cities with their villages.
25Their border was Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,
26Allammelech, Amad, Mishal. It reached to Carmel westward, and to Shihorlibnath.
28and Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, even to great Sidon.
29The border turned to Ramah, to the fortified city of Tyre; and the border turned to Hosah. It ended at the sea by the region of Achzib;
30Ummah also, and Aphek, and Rehob: twenty-two cities with their villages.
34The border turned westward to Aznoth Tabor, and went out from there to Hukkok. It reached to Zebulun on the south, and reached to Asher on the west, and to Judah at the Jordan toward the sunrise.
35The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,
36Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,
37Kedesh, Edrei, En Hazor,
41The border of their inheritance was Zorah, Eshtaol, Irshemesh,
42Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,
43Elon, Timnah, Ekron,
44Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath,
46Me Jarkon, and Rakkon, with the border opposite Joppa.
47The border of the children of Dan went out beyond them; for the children of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and lived therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their forefather.
50According to the LORD’s commandment, they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnathserah in the hill country of Ephraim; and he built the city, and lived there.
51These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. So they finished dividing the land.
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Key verses
Joshua 19:47Dan’s conquest of Leshem interrupts the boundary lists with an account of warfare, possession, and the city’s renaming.
Joshua 19:18The names Jezreel and Shunem anchor Issachar’s inheritance in places that recur in Israel’s later history.
Joshua 19:51The closing verse places the completed distribution before YHWH, naming its leaders and its setting at Shiloh.
Where this chapter reaches

Judges shares the account of Dan’s conquest and renaming of a city, expanding the brief report about Leshem here. Numbers supplies the earlier instructions for dividing the land by lot and names Eleazar and Joshua as leaders of that work.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about Simeon receiving its inheritance within Judah’s oversized portion?

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How does the closing scene before YHWH shape your reading of the town and boundary lists?

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Questions people ask about Joshua 19

Why did Simeon receive land inside Judah in Joshua 19?

Verse 9 states that Judah’s portion was too large for them, so Simeon received its inheritance within Judah’s territory. The chapter lists Simeon’s towns and surrounding villages as a distinct tribal inheritance. It does not describe a dispute over this arrangement or explain how Judah’s initial portion became oversized.

Why did Dan attack Leshem in Joshua 19?

Verse 47 connects Dan’s movement beyond its listed territory with the conquest of Leshem. Dan’s people captured the city, killed its inhabitants, settled there, and renamed it after their forefather. The wording about their border is compressed; this chapter gives little explanation of the pressures behind that move.

What land did Joshua receive in Joshua 19?

Joshua received Timnathserah in the hill country of Ephraim, the city he requested. Verse 50 says this gift accorded with YHWH’s commandment, and Joshua built the city and lived there. His allotment is recorded after the tribal distribution, though the chapter does not state his motives for that order.

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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).