53 You are to take possession of the land and settle in it because I have given you the land(A) to possess. 54 You are to receive the land as an inheritance by lot according to your clans. Increase the inheritance for a large clan and decrease it for a small one. Whatever place the lot indicates for someone will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to your ancestral tribes.

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13 So Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you are to receive by lot as an inheritance, which the Lord commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes.

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They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites. My lord was further commanded by the Lord to give our brother Zelophehad’s inheritance to his daughters.(A)

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Their inheritance was by lot(A) as the Lord commanded through Moses for the nine and a half tribes,

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When you have written a description of the seven portions of land and brought it to me, I will cast lots(A) for you here in the presence of the Lord our God.(B) But the Levites among you do not get a portion, because their inheritance is the priesthood of the Lord.(C) Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have taken their inheritance beyond the Jordan to the east, which Moses the Lord’s servant gave them.”

As the men prepared to go, Joshua commanded them[a] to write down a description of the land, saying, “Go and survey the land, write a description of it, and return to me. I will then cast lots for you here in Shiloh in the presence of the Lord.” So the men left, went through the land, and described it by towns in a document of seven sections. They returned to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh. 10 Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord where he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their divisions.

Benjamin’s Inheritance

11 The lot came up for the tribe of Benjamin’s descendants by their clans, and their allotted territory lay between Judah’s descendants and Joseph’s descendants.

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Footnotes

  1. 18:8 Lit the ones going around

51 These were the portions that the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads distributed to the Israelite tribes by lot at Shiloh in the Lord’s presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting.(A) So they finished dividing up the land.

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The lot came out for the Kohathite clans: The Levites who were the descendants of the priest Aaron received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and half the tribe of Manasseh.

Gershon’s descendants received thirteen cities by lot from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and half the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

Merari’s descendants received twelve cities for their clans from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

The Israelites gave these cities with their pasturelands around them to the Levites by lot, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

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61 To the rest of the Kohathites, ten towns from half the tribe of Manasseh were assigned by lot.(A)

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63 The Merarites were assigned by lot twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun according to their families.(A)

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65 They assigned by lot the towns named above(A) from the tribes of the descendants of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

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55 He drove out nations before them.(A)
He apportioned their inheritance by lot
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.(B)

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The Sacred Portion of the Land

45 “When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance,(A) set aside a donation to the Lord, a holy portion of the land,(B) 8⅓ miles[a] long and 6⅔ miles[b] wide. This entire region will be holy.

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Footnotes

  1. 45:1 Lit 25,000 cubits, also in vv. 3,5,6
  2. 45:1 LXX reads 20,000 cubits; MT reads 10,000 cubits

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