Bible Strands
Joshua 18:21
These were the cities of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua records the territorial distribution of the Promised Land, listing Jericho, Beth-hoglah, and Emek-keziz as cities allocated to the clans of the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:21). This inventory occurs during the final stages of land allotment, immediately following the description of Benjamin's eastern border along the Jordan (Joshua 18:20).
The words — The phrase לְ/מַטֵּ֛ה בְּנֵ֥י בִנְיָמִ֖ן (le./ma.Teh be.Nei vin.ya.Min) literally reads "to the tribe of the descendants of Benjamin," while the verb וְ/הָי֣וּ (ve./ha.Yu) establishes these locations as the assigned cities. The list opens with יְרִיח֥וֹ (ye.ri.Cho), Jericho, and וּ/בֵית\־ (u./veit-), Beth, marking the beginning of the territorial inventory.
The thread — The allocation of Jericho to Benjamin connects to its earlier role as the site of Israel’s first conquest (Joshua 6:1) and the border marker described in Joshua 18:12. The city reappears when Joshua sends spies to inspect the land from Shittim (Joshua 2:1), highlighting its strategic and geographical significance throughout the conquest narrative.
Why it lands — The text functions as a precise legal and geographical record, assigning specific urban centers to a tribal inheritance without embellishment. It requires the reader to recognize the fulfillment of territorial promises through documented, clan-level distribution rather than abstract promise.
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The Hebrew words
King James Version
Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin according to their families were Jericho, and Beth–hoglah, and the valley of Keziz,
Cross-references
- Joshua 18:12 On the north side their border began at the Jordan, went up past the northern slope of Jericho, headed west through the hill country, and came out at the wilderness of Beth-aven.
- Joshua 2:1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, inspect the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
- Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
- Joshua 15:6 went up to Beth-hoglah, proceeded north of Beth-arabah, and went up to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
- Joshua 18:19 The border continued to the northern slope of Beth-hoglah and came out at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, at the mouth of the Jordan. This was the southern border.
- Luke 10:30 Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
- Luke 19:1 Then Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.