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Joshua 18:20

in Joshua 18

On the east side the border was the Jordan. These were the borders around the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the Jordan was the border of it on the east quarter. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the borders thereof round about, according to their families.

KJV

And Jordan was the border of it on the east side. This was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the coasts thereof round about, according to their families.

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This verse in Joshua 18

Commentary

3 notes on this verse
And Jordan was the border of it on the east side,.... It had Jordan on the east, Dan on the west, Judah on the south, and Joseph or Ephraim on the north: this was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin, by the coasts thereof round about, according to their families; this is the general description of the limits of this tribe, the particular cities in it follow.

This site's exposition

The first lot came up for the clans

on Joshua 18:11-20

Benjamin draws first and gets a strip between Judah and Joseph. The southern border is Judah's northern line from 15:5-9 traced in reverse. Barnes holds that the text of this chapter and the next is in disorder and that many places named can no longer be located.

This site's exposition

On the east side the border was the Jordan

The circuit of Benjamin's border is now complete. Gill sums up the frame: the Jordan on the east, Dan on the west, Judah on the south and Joseph on the north. Dan's lot is drawn later at 19:40, so the western neighbour is named from the last portion.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

To the bay of the Salt Sea to the north. To the north of the bay. Thus the entire bay was in the portion of Yehudah.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Joshua 18:19:1, 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

12 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.

  • וְהַיַּרְדֵּ֥ןand the Jordan

    vehaiyardenH3383 →182 times

  • יִגְבֹּל־it borders

    yigbol-H1379 →

  • אֹת֖וֹ<obj.> it

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • לִפְאַת־to [the] side of

    lifat-H6285 →86 times

  • קֵ֑דְמָהeast -ward

    kedemahH6924 →87 times

  • זֹ֡אתthis

    zotH2063 →603 times

  • נַחֲלַת֩[was] [the] inheritance of

    nachalatH5159 →222 times

  • בְּנֵ֨י[the] descendants of

    beneiH1121 →4930 times

  • בִנְיָמִ֧ןBenjamin

    vinyaminH1144 →166 times

  • לִגְבֽוּלֹתֶ֛יהָto borders its

    ligvuloteihaH1367 →

  • סָבִ֖יבaround

    savivH5439 →336 times

  • לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם׃to clans their

    lemishpechotamH4940 →303 times

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

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 Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth.

Read on in Joshua 18 →