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Joshua 18:5

in Joshua 18

and divide the land into seven portions. Judah shall remain in their territory in the south, and the house of Joseph shall remain in their territory in the north.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they shall divide it into seven portions: Judah shall abide in his border on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their border on the north.

KJV

And they shall divide it into seven parts: Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north.

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This verse in Joshua 18

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Judah shall abide - on the south, and the house of Joseph - on the north - Joshua does not mean that the tribe of Judah occupied the south, and the tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh the north of the promised land; this was not the fact: but being now at Shiloh, a considerable way in the territory of Ephraim, and not far from that of Judah, he speaks of them in relation to the place in which he then was.

This site's exposition

How long will you put off entering

on Joshua 18:3-7

Joshua rebukes his own people for slowness rather than rebellion, the one place in the book where he does. Barnes reads the delay as reluctance to leave the camp life they were born into for the fighting that settlement would still cost. Three men from each tribe survey the land before the lot, and verse 7 leaves the Levites no portion, since "their inheritance is the priesthood of the LORD".

This site's exposition

Judah shall remain in their territory in the south

Clarke reads south and north from where Joshua stood at Shiloh, a place well inside Ephraim and near Judah's border. The seven new portions would lie around and between these two blocks of land. Matthew Henry sees the arrangement guarding the tabernacle on both sides.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

And if the several tribes had increased more, and not diminished their numbers by their sins, they might have sent forth colonies, and taken any part of the land, even as far as Euphrates, all which the Lord of the whole earth had given them a right to, which when they pleased they might take possession of.
And they shall divide it into seven parts,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

For this purpose a commission was given to twenty-one persons--three chosen from each of the seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance, to make an accurate survey of the country.

The words behind it

15 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְהִֽתְחַלְּק֥וּand they will divide among themselves

    vehitchalekuH2505 →65 times

  • אֹתָ֖הּ<obj.> it

    ʾotahH853 →10935 times

  • לְשִׁבְעָ֣ה<into> seven

    leshivahH7651 →394 times

  • חֲלָקִ֑יםportions

    chalakimH2506 →67 times

  • יְהוּדָ֞הJudah

    yehudahH3063 →819 times

  • יַעֲמֹ֤דit will remain

    yaamodH5975 →521 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • גְּבוּלוֹ֙territory its

    gevuloH1366 →240 times

  • מִנֶּ֔גֶבfrom [the] south

    minegevH5045 →112 times

  • וּבֵ֥יתand [the] house of

    uveitH1004 →2046 times

  • יוֹסֵ֛ףJoseph

    yosefH3130 →213 times

  • יַעַמְד֥וּthey will remain

    yaamduH5975 →521 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • גְּבוּלָ֖םterritory their

    gevulamH1366 →240 times

  • מִצָּפֽוֹן׃from [the] north

    mitzafonH6828 →153 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

8 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Proverbs 16:33The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.5 worksJoshua 19:1–9The second lot came out for the clans of the tribe of Simeon:2 worksJoshua 15:1–12Now the allotment for the clans of the tribe of Judah extended to the border of Edom, to the Wilderness of Zin at the extreme southern boundary:2 worksJoshua 16:1–10The allotment for the descendants of Joseph extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness that goes up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel.2 works1 Kings 11:28Now Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. So when Solomon noticed that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.2 worksAmos 5:6Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.2 works
The other 2 cross-references, with their words ▾
Genesis 13:1So Abram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all his possessions—and Lot was with him.2 worksJeremiah 13:19The cities of the Negev have been shut tight, and no one can open them. All Judah has been carried into exile, wholly taken captive.2 works

About Joshua

Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, John Martin, 1816, National Gallery of Art. Public domain.
Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, John Martin, 1816, National Gallery of Art. Public domain.
Joshua: the study guide →Read Joshua 18 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Joshua 18 →