Joshua 16

¹²On the north side their border began at the Jordan, went up past the northern slope of Jericho, headed west through the hill country, and came out at the wilderness of Beth-aven.

¹⁵Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.

¹⁹Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please note, our lord, that the city’s location is good, as you can see. But the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.”

²⁰“Bring me a new bowl,” he replied, “and put some salt in it.” So they brought it to him,

⁶¹These were in the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah,

¹³From there the border crossed over to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth-addar on the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.

¹⁹and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.

³³Ahithophel was the king’s counselor. Hushai the Archite was the king’s friend.

¹⁶And David’s friend Hushai the Archite went to Absalom and said to him, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”

²²The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel, and the Lord was with them.

²³They sent spies to Bethel (formerly known as Luz),

⁵He rebuilt Upper and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,

³³At that time Horam king of Gezer went to help Lachish, but Joshua struck him down along with his people, leaving no survivors.

¹³From there the border crossed over to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth-addar on the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.

¹⁵This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the Lord, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

²⁸Their holdings and settlements included Bethel and its villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages as far as Ayyah and its villages.

⁶Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west.

¹⁴Then the sons of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one portion as an inheritance? We have many people, because the Lord has blessed us abundantly.”

¹³From there the border crossed over to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth-addar on the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.

²It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz) and proceeded to the border of the Archites in Ataroth.

⁷Now the border of Manasseh went from Asher to Michmethath near Shechem, then southward to include the inhabitants of En-tappuah.

¹Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,

²⁸Their holdings and settlements included Bethel and its villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages as far as Ayyah and its villages.

²⁶At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”

⁴⁸They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

¹⁶the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

¹Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

⁸The region of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah itself, on the border of Manasseh, belonged to Ephraim.

⁹From there the border continued southward to the Brook of Kanah. There were cities belonging to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh, but the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook and ended at the Sea.

²⁸It went on to Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Greater Sidon.

¹⁷the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;

³Then it descended westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and on to Gezer, and it ended at the Sea.

⁴So Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, received their inheritance.

⁶Your western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea; this will be your boundary on the west.

⁹From there the border continued southward to the Brook of Kanah. There were cities belonging to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh, but the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook and ended at the Sea.

²⁹Ephraim also failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer; so the Canaanites continued to dwell among them in Gezer.

¹When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—

²and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

¹³However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they put the Canaanites to forced labor; but they failed to drive them out completely.

⁵²you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

⁵³You are to take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.

²¹their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.