Through the Bible – Day 79

_1-4Ephraim and Manasseh are the two tribes descended from Joseph, and the following is a description of the land they received. The southern border of their land started at the River Jordan east of the spring at Jericho. From there it went west through the desert up to the hill country around Bethel. From Bethel it went to Luz and then to the border of the Archites in Ataroth. It continued west down to the land that belonged to the Japhlet clan, then went on to Lower Beth-Horon, Gezer, and the Mediterranean Sea.

₅The following is a description of the land that was divided among the clans of the Ephraim tribe. Their southern border started at Ataroth-Addar and went west to Upper Beth-Horon _6-8and the Mediterranean Sea. Their northern border started on the east at Janoah, curved a little to the north, then came back south to Michmethath and Tappuah, where it followed the Kanah Gorge west to the Mediterranean Sea.

The eastern border started on the north near Janoah and went between Janoah on the south-west and Taanath-Shiloh on the north-east. Then it went south to Ataroth, Naarah, and on as far as the edge of the land that belonged to Jericho. At that point it turned east and went to the River Jordan. The clans of Ephraim received this region as their tribal land. ₉Ephraim also had some towns and villages that were inside Manasseh's tribal land.

₁₀Ephraim could not force the Canaanites out of Gezer, so there are still some Canaanites who live there among the Israelites. But now these Canaanites have to work as slaves for the Israelites.

_1-6Manasseh was Joseph's eldest son, and Machir was Manasseh's eldest son. Machir had a son named Gilead, and some of his descendants had already received the regions of Gilead and Bashan because they were good warriors. The other clans of the Manasseh tribe descended from Gilead's sons Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. The following is a description of the land they received.

Hepher's son Zelophehad did not have any sons, but he did have five daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. One day the clans that were descendants of Zelophehad's five daughters went to the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of Israel. The people of these clans said, “The LORD told Moses to give us land just as he gave land to our relatives.”

Joshua followed the LORD's instructions and gave land to these five clans, as he had given land to the five clans that had descended from Hepher's brothers. So Manasseh's land west of the River Jordan was divided into ten parts.

₇The land of the Manasseh tribe went from its northern border with the Asher tribe south to Michmethath, which is to the east of Shechem. The southern border started there, but curved even further south to include the people who lived around Tappuah Spring. ₈The town of Tappuah was on Manasseh's border with Ephraim. Although the land around Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, the town itself belonged to Ephraim.

_9-10Then the border went west to the Kanah Gorge and ran along the northern edge of the gorge to the Mediterranean Sea. The land south of the gorge belonged to Ephraim. And even though there were a few towns that belonged to Ephraim north of the gorge, the land north of the gorge belonged to Manasseh.

The western border of Manasseh was the Mediterranean Sea, and the tribe shared a border with the Asher tribe on the north-west and with the Issachar tribe on the north-east.

₁₁Manasseh was supposed to have the following towns with their surrounding villages inside the borders of Issachar's and Asher's tribal lands:

₁₄One day the Joseph tribes came to Joshua and asked, “Why didn't you give us more land? The LORD has always been kind to us, and we have too many people for this small region.”

₁₅Joshua replied, “If you have so many people that you don't have enough room in the hill country of Ephraim, then go into the forest that belonged to the Perizzites and the Rephaim. Clear out the trees and make more room for yourselves there.”

₁₆“Even if we do that,” they answered, “there still won't be enough land for us in the hill country. And we can't move down into Jezreel Valley, because the Canaanites who live in Beth-Shan and in other parts of the valley have iron chariots.”

₁₇“Your tribes do have a lot of people,” Joshua admitted. “I'll give you more land. Your tribes are powerful, ₁₈so you can have the rest of the hill country, but it's a forest, and you'll have to cut down the trees and clear the land. You can also have Jezreel Valley. Even though the Canaanites there are strong and have iron chariots, you can force them to leave the valley.”

₁After Israel had captured the land, they met at Shiloh and set up the sacred tent. ₂There were still seven tribes without any land, _3-7so Joshua told the people:

₈Just before the men left camp, Joshua repeated their orders: “Explore the land and write a description of it. Then come back to Shiloh, and I will find out from the LORD how to divide the land.”

₉The men left and went across the land, dividing it into seven regions. They wrote down a description of each region, town by town, and returned to Joshua at the camp at Shiloh. ₁₀Joshua found out from the LORD how to divide the land, and he told the tribes what the LORD had decided.

₁₁Benjamin was the first tribe chosen to receive land. The region for its clans lay between the Judah tribe on the south and the Joseph tribes on the north. ₁₂Benjamin's northern border started at the River Jordan and went up the ridge north of Jericho, then on west into the hill country as far as the Beth-Aven Desert. _13-14From there it went to Luz, which is now called Bethel. The border ran along the ridge south of Luz, then went to Ataroth-Orech and on as far as the mountain south of Lower Beth-Horon. At that point it turned south and became the western border. It went as far south as Kiriath-Baal, a town in Judah now called Kiriath-Jearim.

₁₅Benjamin's southern border started at the edge of Kiriath-Jearim and went east to the ruins and on to Nephtoah Spring. ₁₆From there it went to the bottom of the hill at the northern end of Rephaim Valley. The other side of this hill faces Hinnom Valley, which is on the land that slopes south from Jerusalem. The border went down through Hinnom Valley until it reached Enrogel.

₁₇At Enrogel the border curved north and went to Enshemesh and on east to Geliloth, which is across the valley from Adummim Pass. Then it went down to the Monument of Bohan, who belonged to the Reuben tribe. ₁₈The border ran along the hillside north of Beth-Arabah, then down into the Jordan valley. ₁₉Inside the valley it went south as far as the northern hillside of Beth-Hoglah. The last section of the border went from there to the northern end of the Dead Sea, at the mouth of the River Jordan. ₂₀The River Jordan itself was Benjamin's eastern border.

These were the borders of Benjamin's tribal land, where the clans of Benjamin lived.

_21-24One region of Benjamin's tribal land had twelve towns with their surrounding villages. Those towns were Jericho, Beth-Hoglah, Emek-Keziz, Beth-Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, Chephar-Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba.

_25-28In the other region there were the following fourteen towns with their surrounding villages: Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, Zelah, Haeleph, Gibeah, Kiriath-Jearim, and Jerusalem, which is also called Jebusite Town.

These regions are the tribal lands of Benjamin.

₁After the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James bought some spices to put on Jesus' body. ₂Very early on Sunday morning, just as the sun was coming up, they went to the tomb. ₃On their way, they were asking one another, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance for us?” ₄But when they looked, they saw that the stone had already been rolled away. And it was a huge stone!

₅The women went into the tomb, and on the right side they saw a young man in a white robe sitting there. They were alarmed.

₆The man said, “Don't be alarmed! You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who was nailed to a cross. God has raised him to life, and he isn't here. You can see the place where they put his body. ₇Now go and tell his disciples, and especially Peter, that he will go ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.”

₈When the women ran from the tomb, they were confused and shaking all over. They were too afraid to tell anyone what had happened.

₉Very early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen to life, he appeared to Mary Magdalene. Earlier he had forced seven demons out of her. ₁₀She left and told his friends, who were crying and mourning. ₁₁Even though they heard that Jesus was alive and that Mary had seen him, they would not believe it.

₁₂Later, Jesus appeared in another form to two disciples, as they were on their way out of the city. ₁₃But when these disciples told what had happened, the others would not believe.

₁₄Afterwards, Jesus appeared to his eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them because they were too stubborn to believe the ones who had seen him after he had been raised to life. ₁₅Then he told them:

₁₉After the Lord Jesus had said these things to the disciples, he was taken back up to heaven where he sat down at the right side of God. ₂₀Then the disciples left and preached everywhere. The Lord was with them, and the miracles they performed proved that their message was true.

_9-10The women quickly told Peter and his friends what had happened. Later, Jesus sent the disciples to the east and to the west with his sacred and everlasting message of how people can be saved for ever.