Joshua 16

¹ The lot came out for the children of Joseph from the Jordan at Jericho, at the waters of Jericho on the east, even the wilderness, going up from Jericho through the hill country to Bethel.

² It went out from Bethel to Luz, and passed along to the border of the Archites to Ataroth;

³ and it went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, to the border of Beth Horon the lower, and on to Gezer; and ended at the sea.

⁴ The children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.

⁵ This was the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families. The border of their inheritance eastward was Ataroth Addar, to Beth Horon the upper.

⁶ The border went out westward at Michmethath on the north. The border turned about eastward to Taanath Shiloh, and passed along it on the east of Janoah.

⁷ It went down from Janoah to Ataroth, to Naarah, reached to Jericho, and went out at the Jordan.

⁸ From Tappuah the border went along westward to the brook of Kanah; and ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim according to their families;

⁹ together with the cities which were set apart for the children of Ephraim in the middle of the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.

¹⁰ They didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell in the territory of Ephraim to this day, and have become servants to do forced labor.

Around Joshua 16

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

Joshua 16 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

After Judah comes Joseph, the most numerous of the sons, and his lot is given to his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh together. The chapter starts at the Jordan near Jericho and walks west through the hill country to Bethel, Luz, and on to the sea.

Then it narrows to Ephraim alone. The border lines are listed with their towns, including some towns set apart for Ephraim inside the territory of Manasseh. The reader gets a list of names that were once familiar places to the families who lived there.

The last verse shows the other side of the story: “They didn’t drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer”; Those Canaanites kept living in Ephraim’s land, and the text says they became servants who did forced labor.

Background

Ephraim and Manasseh are the sons of Joseph, adopted by their grandfather Jacob in Genesis 48. The hill country they received was central to Israel’s life, and later the northern kingdom was often called Ephraim. Shiloh, which comes into the next chapters, lay in this territory. The note about Gezer shows a pattern repeated in Judges 1: Israel did not fully take what was promised. See also the summary in Judges 2 of what followed.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 27 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes