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Numbers 34

1Yahweh spoke to Moses:

2“Give the sons of Israel these instructions: When you enter Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, Canaan within its boundaries.

3Your southern side shall run from the Zin wilderness alongside Edom. Your southern boundary shall begin at the eastern end of the Salt Sea.

4The boundary shall turn south of the Ascent of Akrabbim and pass toward Zin. Its course shall reach south of Kadesh-barnea, go out to Hazar-addar, and pass toward Azmon.

5From Azmon the boundary shall turn toward the Wadi of Egypt and end at the sea.

6“For your western boundary, you shall have the Great Sea and its coast. This shall be your western boundary.

7“This shall be your northern boundary: from the Great Sea mark a line to Mount Hor.

8From Mount Hor mark a line toward the entrance to Hamath, and the boundary shall reach Zedad.

9The boundary shall go out toward Ziphron and end at Hazar-enan. This shall be your northern boundary.

10“Mark your eastern boundary from Hazar-enan to Shepham.

11The boundary shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, east of Ain. It shall go down and touch the eastern shoulder of the Sea of Chinnereth.

12The boundary shall go down to the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land, with its boundaries all around.”

13Moses commanded the sons of Israel, “This is the land you shall inherit by lot, which Yahweh commanded to give to the nine tribes and the half-tribe.

14For the tribe of the sons of Reuben by their ancestral houses, the tribe of the sons of Gad by their ancestral houses, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance.

15The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance across the Jordan opposite Jericho, on the east, toward the sunrise.”

16Yahweh spoke to Moses:

17“These are the names of the men who shall apportion the land to you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.

18Take one leader from each tribe to apportion the land.

19These are the names of the men: for the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

20for the tribe of the sons of Simeon, Shemuel son of Ammihud;

21for the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon;

22for the tribe of the sons of Dan, the leader Bukki son of Jogli;

23for the sons of Joseph, for the tribe of the sons of Manasseh, the leader Hanniel son of Ephod;

24for the tribe of the sons of Ephraim, the leader Kemuel son of Shiphtan;

25for the tribe of the sons of Zebulun, the leader Elizaphan son of Parnach;

26for the tribe of the sons of Issachar, the leader Paltiel son of Azzan;

27for the tribe of the sons of Asher, the leader Ahihud son of Shelomi;

28for the tribe of the sons of Naphtali, the leader Pedahel son of Ammihud.”

29These were the men Yahweh commanded to assign inheritances to the sons of Israel in Canaan.

Translation notes 3

34:3–12 — Boundaries and place names. The Salt Sea is the Dead Sea, the Great Sea the Mediterranean, and the Sea of Chinnereth the lake later called the Sea of Galilee. The northern Mount Hor is not assumed to be the mountain beside Edom where Aaron died. Many smaller boundary points remain disputed; no precise modern map is supplied.

34:4 — Written and read forms. The written verb is singular; the Masoretic reading instruction gives a plural agreeing with the following word for the boundary’s outlets or reaches. English “its course shall reach” expresses the geographical sense without presenting the written singular as the only reading.

34:13–29 — Tribes and representatives. The west-bank allotment belongs to nine and a half tribes because Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh have their inheritance to the east. Eleazar, Joshua, and all ten tribal representatives are named, each with his father. The list does not replace these men with the earlier census leaders.