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Joshua 18:11

in Joshua 18

The first lot came up for the clans of the tribe of Benjamin. Their allotted territory lay between the tribes of Judah and Joseph:

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the border of their lot went out between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.

KJV

And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families: and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph.

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This verse in Joshua 18

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin came up according to their families,.... This was the first lot of the seven that came up; it was but a small lot, and therefore called "little Benjamin", Psa 68:27; but the land was very pleasant and fruitful.

This site's exposition

the lot of the tribe

on Joshua 18:11-20

Benjamin draws the first of the seven lots and gets a strip between Judah on the south and Joseph on the north, which sets Rachel's two sons beside each other and answers Deuteronomy 33:12, where the beloved of the Lord dwells between his shoulders. The southern line here is the northern line of Judah from 15:5-9 traced in the opposite direction, with the same landmarks in reverse order: the stone of Bohan, the going up to Adummim, En-rogel and the valley of the son of Hinnom. Barnes holds that the text of this chapter and the next is in disorder and that many of the places named can no longer be located, which is worth stating rather than passing over. The portion is the smallest of the seven, and it holds the Jordan fords, Jericho, and the ground Jerusalem stands on.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

And the children of Joseph - Wherein we see the wisdom of Divine Providence, this being the only place in which that prophecy, Deut. xxxiii, 12, could have been accomplished.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
See the marginal references. There are many indications found in this and the next chapter that the text is in great disorder, and many of the places are still unknown. Jos 18:14 And compassed the corner ... - Render “and turned on the west side southward.” The meaning is, that at lower Beth-horon the northern boundary-line of Benjamin curved round and ran southward - Beth-horon being its extreme westerly point. Jos 18:21 The “Valley of Keziz,” or “Emek-Keziz,” is perhaps the “Wady el Kaziz,” at no great distance east of Jerusalem.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Their northern boundary. Their northern boundary was the Jordan, since the border started from the east and went up alongside Yericho from the north. It went from there westward alongside Yericho and the border line is drawn on the northside of Yericho.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 18:12:1, via Sefaria, The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

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.

  • וַיַּ֗עַלand it came up

    vaiyaalH5927 →890 times

  • גּוֹרַ֛ל[the] lot of

    goralH1486 →78 times

  • מַטֵּ֥ה[the] tribe of

    matehH4294 →252 times

  • בְנֵֽי־[the] descendants of

    venei-H1121 →4930 times

  • בִנְיָמִ֖ןBenjamin

    vinyaminH1144 →166 times

  • לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑םto clans their

    lemishpechotamH4940 →303 times

  • וַיֵּצֵא֙and it went out

    vaiyetze'H3318 →1067 times

  • גְּב֣וּל[the] territory of

    gevulH1366 →240 times

  • גּֽוֹרָלָ֔םlot their

    goralamH1486 →78 times

  • בֵּ֚ין[was] between

    beinH996 →407 times

  • בְּנֵ֣י[the] descendants of

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יְהוּדָ֔הJudah

    yehudahH3063 →819 times

  • וּבֵ֖יןand between

    uveinH996 →407 times

  • בְּנֵ֥י[the] descendants of

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יוֹסֵֽף׃Joseph

    yosefH3130 →213 times

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

Related verses

6 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.

Deuteronomy 13:12If, regarding one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit, you hear it said2 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 worksJoshua 15:1–8Now 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 worksDeuteronomy 10:1–22At that time the LORD said to me, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the originals, come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood.2 worksJoshua 19:10The third lot came up for the clans of the tribe of Zebulun:2 worksNumbers 33:54And you are to divide the land by lot according to your clans. Give a larger inheritance to a larger clan and a smaller inheritance to a smaller one. Whatever falls to each one by lot will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to the tribes of your fathers.2 works

The walk

2 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

    Deuteronomy 13:12

    If, regarding one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit, you hear it said

    it leads to

    • Joshua 22:11–34

      Then the Israelites received the report: “Behold, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the border of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on…

    • Judges 20:1–17

      Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.

About Joshua

The Walls of Jericho Fall Down — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Walls of Jericho Fall Down — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joshua: the study guide →Read Joshua 18 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth.

Read on in Joshua 18 →