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Joshua 16
The lot for the Joseph tribes is traced from the Jordan at Jericho up through the hill country, then Ephraim's portion is mapped on its own: a line of obscure border towns — Ataroth Addar, Michmethath, Taanath Shiloh, the brook of Kanah — running west to the sea. Read it as a survey document, not a story, and watch the final verse turn. The catalog of borders ends on a quiet admission of failure that the rest of the book keeps repeating.
- 1
The lot came out for the children of Joseph from the Jordan at Jericho, at the waters of Jericho on the east, even the wilderness, going up from Jericho through the hill country to Bethel.
- 2
It went out from Bethel to Luz, and passed along to the border of the Archites to Ataroth;
- 3
and it went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, to the border of Beth Horon the lower, and on to Gezer; and ended at the sea.
- 4
The children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
- 5
This was the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families. The border of their inheritance eastward was Ataroth Addar, to Beth Horon the upper.
- 6
The border went out westward at Michmethath on the north. The border turned about eastward to Taanath Shiloh, and passed along it on the east of Janoah.
- 7
It went down from Janoah to Ataroth, to Naarah, reached to Jericho, and went out at the Jordan.
- 8
From Tappuah the border went along westward to the brook of Kanah; and ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families;
- 9
together with the cities which were set apart for the children of Ephraim in the middle of the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.
- 10
They didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell in the territory of Ephraim to this day, and have become servants to do forced labor.
- 1
Y LA suerte del los hijos de José salió desde el Jordán de Jericó hasta las aguas de Jericó hacia el oriente, al desierto que sube de Jericó al monte de Beth-el:
- 2
Y de Beth-el sale á Luz, y pasa al término de Archi en Ataroth;
- 3
Y torna á descender hacia la mar al término de Japhlet, hasta el término de Beth-oron la de abajo, y hasta Gezer; y sale á la mar.
- 4
Recibieron pues heredad los hijos de José, Manasés y Ephraim.
- 5
Y fué el término de los hijos de Ephraim por sus familias, fué el término de su herencia á la parte oriental, desde Ataroth-addar hasta Beth-oron la de arriba:
- 6
Y sale este término á la mar, y á Michmetat al norte, y da vuelta este término hacia el oriente á Tanath-silo, y de aquí pasa del oriente á Janoa:
- 7
Y de Janoa desciende á Ataroth, y á Naaratha, y toca en Jericó, y sale al Jordán.
- 8
Y de Tappua torna este término hacia la mar al arroyo de Cana, y sale á la mar. Esta es la heredad de la tribu de los hijos de Ephraim por sus familias.
- 9
Hubo también ciudades que se apartaron para los hijos de Ephraim en medio de la herencia de los hijos de Manasés, todas ciudades con sus aldeas.
- 10
Y no echaron al Cananeo que habitaba en Gezer; antes quedó el Cananeo en medio de Ephraim, hasta hoy, y fué tributario.
The unconquered city in the fine print
Verse 10 breaks the dry list: Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites of Gezer, who 'dwell in the territory of Ephraim to this day' as forced labor. The allotment is real, the conquest is partial.
This refrain returns almost word for word with Manasseh in chapter 17, signaling a pattern the author wants noticed — inherited land is not the same as cleared land.
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