The entire congregation of the {Israelites} assembled [at] Shiloh, and they set up there the tent of meeting, and the land was subdued before them.

Provide three men {from each tribe}, and I will send them so that they may begin to go through the land and write [a description of] it {according to their inheritance}, and let them come to me.

They will divide it among themselves into seven portions; {Judah will maintain its border} from [the] south, and {the house of Joseph will maintain its border} from [the] north.

And the men went and passed through the land, and they {described} the cities in seven divisions in a book; and they came to Joshua to the camp [at] Shiloh,

And they had as their inheritance Beersheba, Sheba, Moladah,

The border of the descendants of Dan continued {beyond them}, because the descendants of Dan went up and fought with Lesham, and they captured and struck it with {the edge of the sword}, and they took possession of it and settled in it; and they called Leshem Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor.

They finished assigning the land according to its borders, and the {Israelites} gave an inheritance [from] among them to Joshua son of Nun.

{According to the commandment of Yahweh}, they gave him the city that he requested, Timnath Serah, in the hill country of Ephraim, and he rebuilt the city and settled in it.

These [are] the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes, distributed by allotment [to] the {Israelites}, at Shiloh {before Yahweh} [at] the entrance of the tent of meeting. And they finished dividing the land.

Anyone who kills a person by accident or unintentionally may flee there; they will be for yourselves a refuge from the avenger of blood.

The killer will flee to one of these cities, stand [at] the entrance of the gate of the city, and {state his case to the elders of that city}; and they will take him into the city and give him a place, and he will dwell among them.

And if the avenger of blood pursues after him, they will not hand over the killer into his hand, because he killed his neighbor unintentionally, and {he did not hate him previously}.

So {they set apart} Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that [is], Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau, from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in the Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh.

And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, "Yahweh commanded through the hand of Moses to give us cities to live [in], with their pasturelands for our livestock."

They gave these cities, which are [here] mentioned by name, from the tribe of the families of Judah and from the tribe of the families of Simeon;

and they were for the descendants of Aaron, from the families of the Kohathites, from the descendants of Levi, because the first lot was theirs.

And they gave to them Kiriath Arba, [Arba being] the father of Anak (that [is], Hebron), in the hill country of Judah and the pasturelands surrounding it.

But the field of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his property.

To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge [for] the killer, and its pasturelands, Libnah and its pasturelands,

For the families of the descendants of Kohath, the remaining Levites of the descendants of Kohath, they [received] the cities of their lot from the tribe of Ephraim.

They gave them Shechem, the city of refuge [for] the killer, and its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer and its pasturelands,

And Yahweh gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their ancestors, and they took possession of it and {settled in it}.

And Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

So the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned [home] and departed with the {Israelites} at Shiloh, which [is] in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead to the land of their possession, which they had acquired {according to the command of Yahweh} through the hand of Moses.

And they came to the region of the Jordan that [is] in the land of Canaan, and the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar on the Jordan, {a large and imposing altar}.

They came to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying,

And we thought, if they say to us and to our children in the future, we can say, 'Look at this replica of the altar of Yahweh, which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices; rather, it [is] a witness between us and you.'

Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the congregation, and the heads of the clans of Israel who [were] with him heard the words that the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh spoke, and {they were satisfied}.

And Phinehas the priest, son of Eleazar, and the leaders returned from the descendants of Reuben and Gad, from the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan to the {Israelites}, and {they gave them their report}.

{The report satisfied the Israelites}; they blessed God, and they did not speak of going up for battle against them to destroy the land in which the descendants of Reuben and Gad were living.

The descendants of Reuben and Gad called the altar Witness, "Because," [they said], "it [is] a witness between us that Yahweh [is] God."

for if indeed you turn back and join these remaining nations {among you}, and you intermarry with them, {marrying their women and they yours},

know for certain that Yahweh your God {will not continue to drive out} these nations from before you; they will be for you a snare and a trap, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that Yahweh your God has given to you.

And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem; he summoned the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officials, and they presented themselves before God.

And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: '{Long ago} your ancestors--Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor--lived beyond the river, and they served other gods.

They cried out to Yahweh, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea over them and covered them; your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the wilderness for many days.

And I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan; they fought you, and I gave them into your hand; you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them {before you}.

I sent before you [the] hornet and they drove out before you two kings of the Amorites; [but] not by your sword or bow.

And Joshua said to the people, "You [are] witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves to serve Yahweh." And they said, "[We are] witnesses."

They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, at Timnath-Serah, which [is] in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

The bones of Jacob, which the {Israelites} had brought out from Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in a piece of land that Jacob had bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money; it became [an] inheritance for the descendants of Joseph.

And Eleazar son of Aaron died; and they buried him in Gibeah in the hill country of Ephraim, which had been given to his son Phinehas.

And Judah went up, and Yahweh gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.

At Bezek they came upon Adoni-bezek, and they fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

And Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued after him; they caught him and cut off {his thumbs and big toes}.

Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with {their thumbs and big toes} cut off used to pick up [scraps] under my table; just as I have done, so God has repaid to me. And they brought him [to] Jerusalem, and he died there.

The descendants of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and they captured it, {put it to the sword}, and {set the city on fire}.

And Judah went against the Canaanites living in Hebron (the former name of Hebron [was] Kiriath Arba). And they defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

And from there they went to the inhabitants of Debir (the former name of Debir [was] Kiriath Sepher).

The descendants of Hobab [the] Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up with the descendants of Judah from the city of palms [into] the wilderness of Judah, which [is] in [the] Negev [near] Arad. And they went and settled with the people.

And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites inhabiting Zephath; they utterly destroyed it, so he called the name of the city Hormah.

And Yahweh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they [had] chariots of iron.

They gave Hebron to Caleb just as Moses said, and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there.

And when the spies saw a man leaving the city, they said to him, "Please show us the entrance of the city, and we will deal kindly with you."

So he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with {the edge of the sword}, but they let go the man and all his family.

And it happened, when Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they never totally drove them out.

so the Asherites lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

The Amorites pressed the descendants of Dan to the hill country, and they did not allow them to come down to the plain;

the Amorites [were] determined to live in Har-heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy [on them], and they became [subjected] to forced labor.

Now I say, I will not drive them out from before you; they will {become as thorns} for you, and their gods will be a trap for you."

And they called the name of this place Bokim, and there they sacrificed to Yahweh.

They buried him within the border of his inheritance in Timnah-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

The {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and {they served} the Baals.

They abandoned Yahweh the God of their ancestors, who brought them out from the land of Egypt. They {followed} other gods from the gods of the people who [were] around them; and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the anger of Yahweh.

They abandoned Yahweh, and they served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

So {the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of plunderers; and they plundered them, and he sold them into the hand of their enemies from all sides. They were unable to withstand their enemies any longer.

{Whenever} they went out, the hand of Yahweh was against them to harm [them], just as Yahweh warned, and just as Yahweh had sworn to them. And {they were very distressed}.

Then Yahweh raised up leaders, and they delivered them from the hand of their plunderers.

But they did not listen to their leaders, but lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned away quickly from the way that their ancestors went, who had obeyed the commandment of Yahweh; they did not do [as their ancestors].

But when the leader died they relapsed and acted corruptly, more than their ancestors, following other gods, serving them, and bowing down to them. They would not give up their deeds or their stubborn ways.

in order to test Israel whether or not they would observe the way of Yahweh, to walk in it just as their ancestors did."

They were [left] for testing Israel, to know [whether] they would keep the commands of Yahweh that he commanded their ancestors through the hand of Moses.

And they took their daughters as wives for themselves, and they gave their daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.

The {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They forgot Yahweh their God, and they served the Baals and the Asheroth.

And again the {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. So Yahweh strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they did evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

He gathered to himself the {Ammonites and Amalekites}, and he went and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the city of palms.

After he left, his servants returned. When they saw [that] the doors of the upper room [were] locked, {they thought}, "Surely he [is] {relieving himself} in the cool inner room."

And they waited so long they became embarrassed because he did not open the doors of the upper room. So they took the key and opened [the doors], and there their lord was lying on the ground dead.

And Ehud escaped while they delayed. He passed by the sculptured stones and escaped to Seirah.

And he said to them, "Follow after me! Yahweh has given Moab your enemies into your hand." So they went down after him, and they captured the fords of the Jordan toward Moab; and they did not allow anyone to cross over.

And they struck Moab at that time, about ten thousand men, {all strong and able men}; no one escaped.

Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and {they went up behind him}, ten thousand men, and Deborah went up with him.

When they reported to Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor,

And the hand of the {Israelites} {pressed harder} and harder on Jabin king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

"In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the caravans had ceased, {the travelers}, {they kept to the byways}.

The warriors ceased; they failed to appear in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose; I arose [as] a mother in Israel.

At the sound of [those] dividing [the sheep] among the watering places, there they will recount the righteous deeds of Yahweh, the righteous deeds for his warriors in Israel. Then the people of Yahweh went down to the gates.

"The kings came, they fought; then the kings of Canaan fought; at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, they got no plunder in silver.

The stars fought from heaven; from their courses they fought against Sisera.

'Curse Meroz,' says the angel of Yahweh; 'curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they did not come to the help of Yahweh, to the help of Yahweh against the mighty.'

'Are they not finding and dividing the plunder? {A bedmate or two bedmates for every man}; colorful garments for Sisera, plunder of colorful garments, beautifully finished colorful garments, on the neck of the plunderer?'

They would camp against them and destroy the produce of the land {as far as} Gaza; they left no produce in Israel, or sheep, ox, or donkey.

For they, their livestock, and their tents would come up like a great number of locusts; they and their camels could not be counted; they came into the land and devoured it.

And Yahweh said to him, "But I will be with you, and you will defeat Midian {as if they are one man}."

{And they said to one another}, "Who did this thing?" So they searched and inquired, and they said, "Gideon son of Jehoash did this thing."

Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people of [the] east gathered together and crossed [the Jordan]; and they camped in the valley of Jezreel.

He sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they were also called to follow him; and he sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.

Then Jerub-Baal (that [is], Gideon) rose early, and all the army that [was] with him. They were camped beside the spring of Harod; the camp of Midian was north of the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

So they took their provisions and their trumpets into their hand, and he sent all the men of Israel, each one, to his tent; but three hundred of the men he kept; the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.