Numbers 34

The borders of the land

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites this: These are the borders of Canaan, the land that will be yours to live in.

3 The south edge will start at the Zin desert and it will go along the border of Edom land. It will continue to the east, and it will reach the south end of the Salt Sea. 4 It will go south of the place called Scorpion Hill, and it will continue to Zin. Then it will go south of Kadesh-Barnea. It will go to Hazar-Addar and then across to Azmon. 5 There the border will turn and it will go along the Stream of Egypt. It will continue as far as the Mediterranean Sea.

34:3The Salt Sea is called the Dead Sea today.
34:5The ‘Stream of Egypt’ was the border of Egypt.

6 The west border of your land will be the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

7 This will be the north border: From the Mediterranean Sea draw a line to Hor mountain. 8 From Hor mountain the border will go to Lebo-Hamath. Then it will go to Zedad. 9 It will continue to Ziphron and it will finish at Hazar-Enan.

10 This will be the east border: Draw a line from Hazar-Enan to Shepham. 11 Then the border will go from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain. It will go along the east shore of Lake Galilee. 12 Then it will go along the Jordan River and it will finish at the Salt Sea.

That will be your land, with its borders.’

13 Moses said to the Israelites, ‘That is the land for the Israelites to live in. You must use lots to give part of the land to each tribe. The Lord has told you to give it to the nine and a half tribes. 14 That is because the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half of Manasseh's tribe have their land already. 15 Their land is on the east side of the Jordan River. It is on the other side of the river from Jericho city.’

Officers

16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 ‘Joshua, the son of Nun, and Eleazar the priest will decide which parts of the land will belong to each family. 18 One leader from each tribe must help them. 19 These are the names of those leaders:

  • Caleb the son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah.
  • 20 Shemuel the son of Ammihud from the tribe of Simeon.
  • 21 Elidad the son of Kislon from the tribe of Benjamin.
  • 22 Bukki the son of Jogli from the tribe of Dan.
  • 23 These will be the two leaders from the descendants of Joseph:

  • Hanniel the son of Ephod from the tribe of Manasseh.
  • 24 Kemuel the son of Shiphtan from the tribe of Ephraim.
  • 25 Then there will be Elizaphan the son of Parnach from the tribe of Zebulun.
  • 26 Paltiel the son of Azzan from the tribe of Issachar.
  • 27 Ahihud the son of Shelomi from the tribe of Asher.
  • 28 Pedahel the son of Ammihud from the tribe of Naphtali.’
  • 29 Those were the men that the Lord chose to decide about the land for the Israelite families.