1 The whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land had been brought under their control.
2 But seven tribes of the children of Israel had still not been given their inheritance.
3 So Joshua asked the children of Israel, "How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?
4 Choose three men from each tribe, and I will send them out. They are to set out, travel throughout the land, and write a description of it with a view to their inheritance. Then they are to return to me.
5 They are to divide it into seven parts. Judah will remain in its territory in the south, and the house of Joseph will remain in its territory in the north.
6 Write a description of the seven parts of the land and bring it to me here, and I will cast lots for you here in the presence of the LORD our God.
7 The Levites, however, have no share among you, because the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance. And Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them."
8 As the men started out, Joshua instructed those who were going to describe the land: "Go and travel throughout the land and describe it in writing. Then come back to me, and I will cast lots for you here before the LORD at Shiloh."
9 So the men left and went through the land, describing it town by town in seven parts in a book. Then they returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh.
10 Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of the LORD, and there he distributed the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.
11 The lot for the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up, clan by clan. Their allotted territory lay between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.
12 On the north their boundary began at the Jordan, went up the slope north of Jericho, headed west through the hill country, and came out at the wilderness of Beth-aven.
13 From there it crossed south to Luz, to the slope of Luz, that is, Bethel, and descended to Ataroth-addar on the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.
14 Then the boundary turned and ran south along the western side from the hill facing Beth-horon on the south, coming out at Kiriath-baal, that is, Kiriath-jearim, a town of the children of Judah. This was the western side.
15 The southern side started at the edge of Kiriath-jearim on the west and ran to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.
16 The boundary then descended to the foot of the hill facing the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim. It ran down the Valley of Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusite city and down to En-rogel.
17 From there it curved north, went on to En-shemesh, continued to Geliloth, facing the ascent of Adummim, and descended to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
18 It continued to the northern slope facing the Arabah and went down into the Arabah.
19 It then passed to the northern slope of Beth-hoglah and came out at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, at the southern mouth of the Jordan. This was the southern boundary.
20 The Jordan was the boundary on the east. These were the boundaries all around the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, clan by clan.
21 The towns of the tribe of the children of Benjamin, clan by clan, were Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,
22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,
24 Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba: twelve towns with their villages.
25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
26 Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah,
27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,
28 Zela, Haeleph, Jebus, that is, Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kiriath: fourteen towns with their villages. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, clan by clan.