Joshua 16

World English Bible 85 include this book

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.

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13 places named in this chapter.

Where this was written

Canaan traditional Written in the land during or shortly after the settlement.

Jerusalem disputed Part of a history compiled in Jerusalem and revised in exile.

When this was written

Traditions differ. Each position is shown rather than one asserted as settled.

Traditional: 1400 BC–1350 BC Joshua
Written by Joshua and completed by elders who outlived him.
Critical: 640 BC–550 BC Deuteronomistic historians
Read as part of a history running from Deuteronomy to Kings, compiled in the late monarchy and revised in exile.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (1400 BC–550 BC).

1600 BC–1178 BC Hittite empire Anatolia
An Anatolian power rivalling Egypt, ended in the Bronze Age collapse.
1600 BC–1100 BC Mycenaean Greece Greece
Fortified citadels dominated the Aegean; their Linear B tablets are the earliest Greek writing.
1600 BC–1046 BC Shang dynasty oracle bones China
The earliest substantial Chinese writing, inscribed on bone and shell for divination.
1550 BC–1069 BC Egyptian New Kingdom Egypt
Egypt at its imperial height, ruling from Nubia to the Levant under Thutmose III, Akhenaten and Rameses II.
1200 BC–1000 BC Iron working spreads in the Levant Levant
Iron gradually displaced bronze for tools and weapons across the eastern Mediterranean.
1200 BC–400 BC Olmec civilisation Mesoamerica
The earliest major Mesoamerican civilisation, known for colossal stone heads and an early calendar.
1200 BC–1150 BC Late Bronze Age collapse Mediterranean
Within roughly two generations most eastern Mediterranean states fell; cities were destroyed, trade networks broke and literacy contracted sharply.
1200 BC–600 BC Zoroaster teaches in Persia Persia
Founder of Zoroastrianism, whose dating is disputed by as much as six centuries. His teaching on a cosmic struggle between good and evil later touched Jewish and Christian thought.

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