Chapter 16

1The portion that fell by lot to the Josephites ran from the Jordan at Jericho—from the waters of Jericho east of the wilderness. From Jericho it ascended through the hill country to Bethel. 2From Bethel it ran to Luz and passed on to the territory of the Archites at Ataroth, 3descended westward to the territory of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and Gezer, and ran on to the Sea. 4Thus the Josephites—that is, Manasseh and Ephraim—received their portion. 5The territory of the Ephraimites, by their clans, was as follows: The boundary of their portion ran from Atroth-addar on the east to Upper Beth-horon, 6and the boundary ran on to the Sea. And on the north, the boundary proceeded from Michmethath to the east of Taanath-shiloh and passed beyond it up to the east of Janoah; 7from Janoah it descended to Ataroth and Naarath, touched on Jericho, and ran on to the Jordan. 8Westward, the boundary proceeded from Tappuah to the Wadi Kanah and ran on to the Sea. This was the portion of the tribe of the Ephraimites, by their clans, 9together with the towns marked offa for the Ephraimites within the territory of the Manassites—all those towns with their villages. 10However, they failed to dispossess the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; so the Canaanites remained in the midst of Ephraim, as is still the case. But they had to perform forced labor.