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Joshua 18:9

in Joshua 18

So the men departed and went throughout the land, mapping it city by city into seven portions. Then they returned with the document to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven portions in a book; and they came to Joshua unto the camp at Shiloh.

KJV

And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to the host at Shiloh.

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This verse in Joshua 18

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

And described it in a book - This as far as I can recollect, is the first act of surveying on record. These men and their work differed widely from those who had searched the land in the time of Moses; they went only to discover the nature of the country, and the state of its inhabitants; but these went to take an actual geographical survey of it, in order to divide it among the tribes which had not yet received their portions.

This site's exposition

Joshua commanded them to map out the land

on Joshua 18:8-10

The surveyors map the land into seven portions, which Clarke calls the first act of surveying on record. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown cite Josephus that men skilled in geometry did the work. With the lot cast as Numbers 26:55 directed, the survey removes guesswork and the lot removes favour.

This site's exposition

mapping it city by city into seven portions

Barnes explains why the survey ran city by city: Joshua needed the towns listed to match each portion to the size of a tribe. Clarke sets these men beside the spies of Numbers 13:18, who were sent to see what the land was like. This party went to measure it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

When we are in the way of our duty we are under the special protection of the Almighty. When it was surveyed, and reduced to seven lots, then Joshua would, by appeal to God, and direction from him, determine which of these lots should belong to each tribe (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And the men went and passed through the land,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

This was no light task to undertake. It required learning and intelligence which they or their instructors had, in all probability, brought with them out of Egypt. Accordingly, JOSEPHUS says that the survey was performed by men expert in geometry.

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

16 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.

  • וַיֵּלְכ֤וּand they went

    vaiyelekhuH1980 →1546 times

  • הָֽאֲנָשִׁים֙the men

    haanashimH582 →566 times

  • וַיַּעַבְר֣וּand they passed

    vaiyaavruH5674 →556 times

  • בָאָ֔רֶץin the land

    vaaretzH776 →2504 times

  • וַיִּכְתְּב֧וּהָand they described in writing it

    vaiyikhtevuhaH3789 →224 times

  • לֶֽעָרִ֛יםto the cities

    learimH5892 →1090 times

  • לְשִׁבְעָ֥הinto seven

    leshivahH7651 →394 times

  • חֲלָקִ֖יםportions

    chalakimH2506 →67 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • סֵ֑פֶרa scroll

    seferH5612 →186 times

  • וַיָּבֹ֧אוּand they came

    vaiyavouH935 →2568 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • יְהוֹשֻׁ֛עַJoshua

    yehoshua'H3091 →218 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֖הthe camp

    hamachanehH4264 →215 times

  • שִׁלֹֽה׃Shiloh

    shilohH7887 →32 times

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

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Acts 13:19

    And having vanquished seven nations in Canaan, He gave their land to His people as an inheritance.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 7:1

      When 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…

    • Psalms 78:55

      He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

    • Acts 7:45

      And our fathers who received it brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations God drove out before them. It remained until the time of David,

    • Joshua 14:1

      Now these are the portions that the Israelites inherited in the land of Canaan, as distributed by Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes of…

    • Joshua 19:51

      These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families distributed by lot to the tribes of Israel at Shiloh before the LORD at the entrance…

Where this verse is studied

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, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Joshua 18 →