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The Book of Joshua 17

17 This is a description of the land that the Israelite leaders gave to the tribe of Manasseh, the descendants of the oldest son of Joseph. Manasseh’s oldest son was Makir, and his grandson was Gilead. Their descendants were great soldiers, so Moses gave them land that they conquered in the regions of Gilead and Bashan. 2 The Israelite leaders gave land on the west side of the Jordan River to the other clans that were descendants of Manasseh. The were the clans of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. Manasseh was a son of Joseph, and those were the names of his male descendants.

3 There was a man whose name was Zelophehad. His father was Hepher, his grandfather was Gilead, his great-grandfather was Makir, and his great-great-grandfather was Manasseh. Zelphehad had no sons. He only had daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah. 4 These women went to speak with Eleazar the high priest, to Joshua, and to the other Israelite leaders. They told them, “We want you to give us some land just as you have given to the men in our tribe. Yahweh told Moses that he should give to us some land.” So Eleazar did what Yahweh had commanded. He gave some land to the daughters of Zelophehad, just as he had done for their uncles. 5 So the tribe of Manasseh eventually had ten sections of land west of the Jordan River and two sections on the east side of the Jordan River in Gilead and Bashan. 6 That was because the Israelite leaders gave land on the west side of the Jordan River to these female descendants of Manasseh, just as they had given to his male descendants The leaders had also given land in the region of Gilead to other descendants of Manasseh.

7 The land that the leaders gave to the tribe of Manasseh was between the land where the tribe of Asher lives and the town of Mikmethath, which is near the city of Shechem. The border of this land extended south to the spring of Tappuah. 8 The land near the city of Tappuah belonged to the tribe of Manasseh. But Tappuah itself was on the border with the tribe of Ephraim, and in fact it belonged to the Ephraimites. 9 The border extended south to the brook of Kanah. All the cities south of that stream belonged to the tribe of Ephraim. The border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook of Kanah. It extended to the Mediterranean Sea. 10 The land to the south belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, and the land to the north belonged to the tribe of Manasseh. The Mediterranean Sea was Manasseh’s border. The tribe of Asher was on the north side of the boundary, while the tribe of Issachar was to the east.

11 But there were cities inside the territory of the tribes of Issachar and Asher that belonged to people from the tribe of Manasseh. So did the towns around these cities. These cities were Beth Shan, Ibleam, Dor, Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo. Those last three cities are in the hilly area around the city of Dor.

12 The men of the tribe of Manasseh were not able to force the people who lived in those cities to leave. The Canaanite people resisted them and continued to live in their land. 13 When the people of Israel became strong enough, they forced those Canaanites to work for them as slaves. But they were not able to take their land away from them.

14 Some representatives of the descendants of Joseph (that is, of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh) came to speak with Joshua. They told him, “Yahweh has blessed us by giving us many children. So you should have given us more than one small portion of land to live on.”

15 Joshua replied to them, “As you say, there is probably not enough room for you in the hill country we have assigned you. But since you do have a lot of people, you can also occupy the land where the Perizzites and the Raphaites now live. You can go up to that forest area and cut down trees to clear fields where you can plant your crops.”

16 The representatives of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh answered, “The hill country is not big enough for us. But we cannot spread out into the plain because of the Canaanites who live there. The Canaanites in Beth Shan and the surrounding towns have chariots that have iron parts.”

17 Joshua replied further to these representatives of the descendants of Joseph, that is, of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. He told them, “Your people are indeed very numerous and very powerful. So I will give you some more land. 18 The hill country will also belong to you. You will have to cut down the trees in order to clear fields where you can plant crops. But all of that land will belong to you. I also believe that you will be able to force the Canaanites to leave the plain so you can live there. You will be able to do that even though they are strong and have chariots that have iron parts.”

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