1And the portion for the sons of Joseph came out—from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho to the east of the wilderness that goes up from Jericho through the high country of Beth-el. 2And it went out to Beth-el, Luz, and passed on to the boundary of the Ataroth Archite. 3And it went down westward to the boundary of the Japhletite as far as the boundary of lower Beth-Horon and as far as Gezer, and its far reaches were to the Sea. 4And the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their estates. 5And the boundary of the Ephraimites according to their clans—the boundary of their estate on the east was Ataroth Addar as far as Upper Beth-Horon. 6And the boundary went out to the Sea, to Michmethath on the north, and the boundary swung round to the east of Taanath-Shiloh, and passed through it to the east of Janoah. 7And it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarath and touched on Jericho and came out at the Jordan. 8From Tapuah the boundary goes westward to Wadi Kanah, and its far reaches are to the Sea. This is the estate of the Ephraimite tribe according to its clans. 9And the towns set apart for the Ephraimites within the estate of the Manassite—all the towns and their pasturelands. 10And they did not dispossess the Canaanites dwelling in Gezer, and the Canaanites have dwelled in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.
CHAPTER 16 NOTES
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1. And the portion for the sons of Joseph came out. As above, the Hebrew goral, “portion,” refers both to the aleatory device used to indicate the portion of territory and to the result of using the device—that is, the portion itself. In this instance, the verb “came out” refers to the toss of the oracular stone rather than to the boundary.
2. Beth-el, Luz. The received text brackets these two names together, but in Genesis 28:19 we are informed that Luz was the older name that was replaced by Beth-el.
9. the towns set apart for the Ephraimites within the estate of the Manassite. This indication suggests that not all the tribal boundaries were hard and fast, and that there were sometimes enclaves of one tribe within the territory of another tribe.
10. they became forced laborers. In keeping with the historiographical agenda of the writers, whatever Canaanite population that is not destroyed or driven out becomes subjugated to the Israelites. It is questionable whether this corresponds to historical reality.