The land of the Manasseh tribe west of the Jordan River
1They drew_lots to give land to the Manasseh tribe. Manasseh was the oldest son of Joseph. Makir was the oldest son of Manasseh. He was the father of Gilead. Makir got the land of Gilead and the land of Bashan because he was a man who could go to war. 2The other families in the Manasseh tribe also got land. These were the families of the descendants of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. They were: Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher and Shemida. 3Zelophehad was the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh. Zelophehad had no sons. He had only daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. 4These daughters went to the priest Eleazar and then went to Joshua and the leaders and they said: ‘The Lord told Moses to give us also land with the people of our tribe.’ Then Joshua gave them land with their father's brothers. He did as God had told Moses.
5The Manasseh tribe then got Gilead and Bashan, east of the Jordan River and also 10 other parts of land 6because the daughters of Manasseh got land with Manasseh's sons. The other people of the Manasseh tribe got Gilead. 7The border of the land of Manasseh begins next to the land of the Asher tribe and goes on to the town of Mikmethath, east of the town of Shechem and then south to the people who live in the town of En-Tappuah. 8The town of Tappuah is on the border between the land of Manasseh and the land of Ephraim. The land around the town belongs to the Manasseh tribe but the town itself belongs to the Ephraim tribe. 9The land of the Manasseh tribe goes down to the Kanah Valley. The border is north of the valley and it goes to the sea. South of the valley there are towns of Ephraim. These towns are among the towns that belong to Manasseh. 10Ephraim's land is south of the valley and Manasseh's land is north of the valley. The border of Manasseh's land goes to the sea and north of this land is the land of the Asher tribe, and east of them is the land of the Issachar tribe. 11But in the land of Issachar and Asher, there were towns of Manasseh. These towns were Beth-Shan, Ibleam, Dor, Endor, Taanach and Megiddo with their villages. These towns were on 3 hills.
12The Manasseh tribe could not defeat the people who lived in these towns and chase them away. They could not take these towns for themselves. The Canaanite people had decided to stay in these towns. 13When the Israelites became a big nation they made the Canaanites work for them, but they could not defeat the Canaanite people and chase them away and take the towns for themselves.
The Joseph tribes get more land
14The Joseph tribes asked Joshua: ‘Why did you give us only one part of the land to live on? We are many people because the Lord has blessed us very much.’
15Joshua said to them: ‘You are many people. If the hill_country of Ephraim is not enough for you, then you must go to the forest and cut down the trees on the mountains in the land of the Perizzite people and the Rephaite people.’
16The Joseph tribes then said: ‘The hill_country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanite people in the valley have war-chariots of iron, both the Canaanites living in the town of Beth-Shan and the small towns and villages in the Jezreel Valley.’
17Joshua talked to the descendants of Joseph, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and he told them: ‘You are many people, and your tribe is very strong, I will give you more than one part of land. 18You can also have the hills that are full of trees and bushes. You must cut down the bushes and you must clear the land so that you can have all the hill_country. The Canaanite people have war-chariots and their army is strong, but you will defeat them and chase them away and you will take their towns.’
