'Cast Lots' in the Bible

When you have written a description of the seven portions of land and brought it to me, I will cast lots for you here in the presence of the Lord our God.

As the men prepared to go, Joshua commanded them to write down a description of the land, saying, “Go and survey the land, write a description of it, and return to me. I will then cast lots for you here in Shiloh in the presence of the Lord.”

Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord where he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their divisions.

They also cast lots the same way as their relatives the sons of Aaron did in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the families of the priests and Levites—the family heads and their younger brothers alike.

They cast lots for their duties, young and old alike, teacher as well as pupil.

They cast lots for each gate according to their ancestral houses, young and old alike.

The lot for the east gate fell to Shelemiah. They also cast lots for his son Zechariah, an insightful counselor, and his lot came out for the north gate.

We have cast lots among the priests, Levites, and people for the donation of wood by our ancestral houses at the appointed times each year. They are to bring the wood to our God’s house to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law.

Now the leaders of the people stayed in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots for one out of ten to come and live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine-tenths remained in their towns.

They divided my garments among themselves,and they cast lots for my clothing.

They cast lots for My people;they bartered a boy for a prostituteand sold a girl for wine to drink.

On the day you stood aloof,on the day strangers captured his wealth,while foreigners entered his gateand cast lots for Jerusalem,you were just like one of them.

“Come on!” the sailors said to each other. “Let’s cast lots. Then we’ll know who is to blame for this trouble we’re in.” So they cast lots, and the lot singled out Jonah.

Yet she became an exile;she went into captivity.Her children were also dashed to piecesat the head of every street.They cast lots for her dignitaries,and all her nobles were bound in chains.

[Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.”] And they divided His clothes and cast lots.

So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.” They did this to fulfill the Scripture that says: They divided My clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for My clothing. And this is what the soldiers did.

Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias. So he was numbered with the 11 apostles.