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.
And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, to the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout mount Beth-el,
And goeth out from Beth-el to Luz, and passeth along to the borders of Archi to Ataroth,
And goeth down westward to the border of Japhleti, to the border of Beth-horon the nether, and to Gezer: and the limits of it are at the sea.
So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Ataroth-adar, to Beth-horon the upper:
And the border went out towards the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward to Taanath-shiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah;
And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and terminated at Jordan.
The border went out from Tappuah westward to the river Kanah; and the limits of it were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families.
And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.
And they did not expel the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, and serve under tribute.