Joshua 16 – The Border of Ephraim
Ephraim's land is measured, but Gezer's Canaanites remain.
Joshua 16 turns from Judah's territory in Joshua 15 to the land given the house of Joseph, tracing Ephraim's border from Jericho westward to the sea. The chapter is brief but sets up the fuller Manasseh account that follows.
The allotment for the descendants of Joseph extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness that goes up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel.
It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz) and proceeded to the border of the Archites in Ataroth.
Then it descended westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and on to Gezer, and it ended at the Sea.
So Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, received their inheritance.
This was the territory of the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: The border of their inheritance went from Ataroth-addar in the east to Upper Beth-horon
and out toward the Sea. From Michmethath on the north it turned eastward toward Taanath-shiloh and passed by it to Janoah on the east.
From Janoah it went down to Ataroth and Naarah, and then reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan.
From Tappuah the border went westward to the Brook of Kanah and ended at the Sea. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Ephraim,
along with all the cities and villages set apart for the descendants of Ephraim within the inheritance of Manasseh.
But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.