Joshua Chapter 17

¹ Manasseh, Joseph’s firstborn, received an allotment. Gilead and Bashan went to Machir, Manasseh’s firstborn and father of Gilead, because he was a soldier. ² Allotment came to the rest of Manasseh’s male descendants by clans: the sons of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. ³ However, Zelophehad son of Hepher (son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh) only had daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ⁴ They approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and the elders, “The LORD told Moses to give us an inheritance among our relatives.” So he gave them an inheritance among their uncles. ⁵ Ten sections fell to Manasseh besides Gilead and Bashan beyond the Jordan, ⁶ because Manasseh’s daughters received an inheritance with his sons. Gilead belonged to the rest of Manasseh’s sons.  

Josh 17:1-6

⁷ Manasseh’s territory reached from Asher to Michmethath, east of Shechem. Then the boundary went south to En-tappuah. ⁸ The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to Ephraim. ⁹ Then the boundary went down to Brook Kanah. The towns there, south of the stream, among the towns in Manasseh, belonged to Ephraim. Then Manasseh’s boundary went on the north side of the stream and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. ¹¹ Also in Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean/Beth-shan, Ibleam, Dor, En-dor, Taanach, and Megiddo, each with their surrounding settlements. (The third was Naphath.) ¹² Yet Manasseh’s descendants couldn’t conquer those towns, so the Canaanites kept living there. ¹³ When Israel grew stronger, they put them to forced labor, but didn’t completely drive them out.

Josh 17:7-13

¹⁴ The tribe of Joseph asked Joshua, “Why have you given us only one territory though we’re numerous because the LORD has blessed us?”

¹⁵ “If the hill country of Ephraim is not big enough, go up into the wooded land and clear ground in the territory of the Perizzites and Rephaim.”

¹⁶ “The hill country’s still not big enough. The Canaanites that still live in the lowlands have iron chariots, those in Beth-shean/Beth-shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”

¹⁷ Then Joshua told the House of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh,

“You’re numerous and strong. You won’t just have one lot ¹⁸ but the hill country too. Though it’s wooded land, clear it and take possession of it to its full extent. You’ll drive out the Canaanites too though they’re strong and have iron chariots.”          

Josh 17:14-18