Now that the land was under Israelite control, the entire Israelite assembly gathered at Shiloh and set up the Tabernacle.
But there remained seven tribes who had not yet been allotted their inheritance.
Then Joshua asked them, "How long are you going to wait before taking possession of the remaining land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given to you?
Select three men from each tribe, and I will send them out to survey the unconquered territory. They will return to me with a written report of their proposed divisions of the inheritance.
The scouts will map the land into seven sections, excluding Judah's territory in the south and Joseph's territory in the north.
Then I will cast sacred lots in the presence of the LORD our God to decide which section will be assigned to each tribe.
However, the Levites will not receive any land. Their role as priests of the LORD is their inheritance. And the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh won't receive any more land, for they have already received their inheritance, which Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave them on the east side of the Jordan River."
As the men who were mapping out the land started on their way, Joshua commanded them, "Go and survey the land. Then return to me with your written report, and I will assign the land to the tribes by casting sacred lots in the presence of the LORD here at Shiloh."
The men did as they were told and mapped the entire territory into seven sections, listing the towns in each section. Then they returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh.
There at Shiloh, Joshua cast sacred lots in the presence of the LORD to determine which tribe should have each section.
The first allotment of land went to the families of the tribe of Benjamin. It lay between the territory previously assigned to the tribes of Judah and Joseph.
The northern boundary began at the Jordan River, went north of the slope of Jericho, then west through the hill country and the wilderness of Beth-aven.
From there the boundary went south to Luz (that is, Bethel) and proceeded down to Ataroth-addar to the top of the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.
The boundary then ran south along the western edge of the hill facing Beth-horon, ending at the village of Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), one of the towns belonging to the tribe of Judah. This was the western boundary.
The southern boundary began at the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim. From there it ran westward to the spring at the waters of Nephtoah,
and down to the base of the mountain beside the valley of the son of Hinnom, at the northern end of the valley of Rephaim. From there it went down the valley of Hinnom, crossing south of the slope where the Jebusites lived, and continued down to En-rogel.
From En-rogel the boundary proceeded northeast to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth (which is across from the slopes of Adummim). Then it went down to the stone of Bohan. (Bohan was Reuben's son.)
From there it passed along the north side of the slope overlooking the Jordan Valley. The border then went down into the valley,
ran past the north slope of Beth-hoglah, and ended at the north bay of the Dead Sea, which is the southern end of the Jordan River.
The eastern boundary was the Jordan River. This was the inheritance for the families of the tribe of Benjamin.
These were the towns given to the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,
Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,
Kephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba--twelve towns with their villages.
Also Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
Mizpeh, Kephirah, Mozah,
Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,
Zela, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim--fourteen towns with their villages. This was the inheritance given to the families of the tribe of Benjamin.