Joshua 17 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Then land was given to the family group of Manasseh. Manasseh was Joseph’s first son. Manasseh’s first son was Makir, the father of Gilead. [61] Makir was a great soldier, so the areas of Gilead and Bashan were given to the Makir family.

² Land was also given to the other families in the family group of Manasseh. Those families were Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. All these men were the other sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. The families of these men got their share of the land.

³ Zelophehad was the son of Hepher. Hepher was the son of Gilead. Gilead was the son of Makir, and Makir was the son of Manasseh. Zelophehad did not have any sons, but he had five daughters. The daughters were named Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

⁴ The daughters went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and all the leaders. The daughters said, “The Lord told Moses to give us land the same as our male relatives.” So he obeyed the Lord and gave the daughters some land. So these daughters got land the same as their uncles.

⁵ So the family group of Manasseh had ten areas of land west of the Jordan River and two more areas of land, Gilead and Bashan, on the other side of the Jordan River.

⁶ And the western border started at Micmethath. The border turned to the east to Taanath Shiloh and continued east to Janoah.

⁷ Then the border went from Janoah down to Ataroth and to Naarah. The border continued until it touched Jericho and stopped at the Jordan River.

⁸ The border went from Tappuah west to Kanah Ravine and ended at the sea. This is all the land that was given to the Ephraim people. Each family in that family group got a part of this land.

⁹ The border of Manasseh continued south to Kanah Ravine. This area belonged to Manasseh’s family group, but the cities belonged to the people of Ephraim. Manasseh’s border was on the north side of the river and it continued west to the Mediterranean Sea.

¹⁰ But the Ephraimite people were not able to force the Canaanite people to leave the town of Gezer. So the Canaanite people still live among the Ephraimite people today. But the Canaanite people became slaves of the Ephraimite people.

¹¹ The people of Manasseh also had towns in the area of Issachar and Asher. Beth Shean, Ibleam and the small towns around them belonged to the people of Manasseh. People of Manasseh also lived in Dor, Endor, Taanach, Megiddo, and the small towns around those cities. They also lived in the three towns of Naphoth.

¹² The people of Manasseh were not able to defeat those cities. So the Canaanite people continued to live there.

¹³ But the people of Israel grew strong. When this happened, they forced the people of Canaan to work for them. But they did not force the Canaanite people to leave that land.

¹⁴ The family group of Joseph spoke to Joshua and said, “You gave us only one area of land. But we are many people. Why did you only give us one part of all the land that the Lord gave his people?”

¹⁵ Joshua answered them, “If you have too many people, then go up to wooded area in the hill country and clear that land and make it useable. That land now belongs to the Perizzite people and the Rephaite people. But if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, then go take that land.”

¹⁶ The people of Joseph said, “It is true that the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for us. But the Canaanite people living there have powerful weapons—they have iron chariots! [62] And those people control Jezreel Valley, Beth Shean and all the small towns in that area.”

¹⁷ Then Joshua said to the people of Joseph, to Ephraim, and to Manasseh, “But there are many, many of you. And you are very powerful. You should get more than one share of the land.

¹⁸ You will take the hill country. It is a forest, but you can cut down the trees and make it a good place to live. And you will own all of it. You will force the Canaanite people to leave that land. You will defeat them even if they are strong and have powerful weapons.”