18:21 These cities belonged to the tribe 1 of Benjamin by its clans: Jericho, 2 Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz, 18:22 Beth Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, 3 18:23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, 18:24 Kephar Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba – a total of twelve cities and their towns.
18:25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, 18:26 Mizpah, Kephirah, Mozah, 18:27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, 18:28 Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city 4 (that is, Jerusalem), 5 Gibeah, and Kiriath – a total of fourteen cities and their towns. 6 This was the land assigned to the tribe of Benjamin 7 by its clans.
1 tn Heb “the sons,” here referring to the tribe.
2 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
3 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
4 tn The word “city” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
6 tn The structure of this list presents problems. In v. 28 no conjunction appears before “Haeleph” or “Kiriath” in the Hebrew text. This suggests they should be compounded with the preceding names, yielding “Zelah Haeleph” and “Gibeah Kiriath” respectively. This results in a list of only twelve cities, however, while the summary statement (v. 28) gives the number fourteen. One should note, however, that the city lists in chap. 15 do not consistently use the conjunction before the name of each city. See also Josh 19:7, where no conjunction appears before “Rimmon,” but the summary assumes that Ain and Rimmon are distinct.
7 tn Heb “This is the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin.”