Joseph

The leaders of the clans of the family of the descendants of Gil'ad, the son of Machir, the son of M'nasheh, of the families of the descendants of Yosef, approached and addressed Moshe and the leaders, the heads of the clans of the people of Isra'el.

Moshe gave this order to the people of Isra'el, in keeping with the word of ADONAI : "The tribe of the descendants of Yosef is right in what it says.

They were married into the families of the descendants of M'nasheh the son of Yosef, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father's family.

"These are the ones who are to stand on Mount G'rizim and bless the people after you have crossed the Yarden: Shim'on, Levi, Y'hudah, Yissakhar, Yosef and Binyamin;

Of Yosef he said: "May ADONAI bless his land with the best from the sky, for the dew, and for what comes from the deep beneath,

with the best from the earth and all that fills it, and the favor of him who lived in the [burning] bush. May blessing come on the head of Yosef, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

The descendants of Yosef constituted two tribes, M'nasheh and Efrayim; and they gave no portion of the land to the L'vi'im except cities to live in, with the open land surrounding them for their livestock and crops.

The border of the territory chosen by lot for the descendants of Yosef began from the Yarden at Yericho, at the spring of Yericho on the east, went up from Yericho through the hills and desert to Beit-El,

So the descendants of Yosef, M'nasheh and Efrayim took the inheritance.

This was the territory chosen by lot for the tribe of M'nasheh, for he was the firstborn of Yosef. As for Makhir the firstborn of M'nasheh, the father of Gil'ad, because he was a warrior he got Gil'ad and Bashan.

So the lot was drawn for the other descendants of M'nasheh according to their families - for the descendants of Avi'ezer, Helek, Asri'el, Sh'khem, Hefer and Sh'mida; these were the male descendants of M'nasheh according to their families.

Then the descendants of Yosef spoke to Y'hoshua; they said, "Why have you given me only one lot and only one portion to inherit? After all, I am a great people, since ADONAI has blessed me so."

The descendants of Yosef replied, "The hills won't be enough for us; and all the Kena'ani living in the valleys have iron chariots - both those in Beit-Sh'an and its villages and those in the Yizre'el Valley."

Then Y'hoshua said to the house of Yosef, to both Efrayim and M'nasheh, "You are a great people with much power; you will not have only one lot,

They are to divide it into seven portions, with Y'hudah remaining in its territory to the south and the house of Yosef in their territory to the north.

The lot for the tribe of the descendants of Binyamin came up according to their families. The border of their territory chosen by lot was between the descendants of Y'hudah and the descendants of Yosef.

The bones of Yosef, which the people of Isra'el had brought up from Egypt, they buried in Sh'khem, in the parcel of ground which Ya'akov had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Sh'khem for a hundred pieces of silver; and they became a possession of the descendants of Yosef.

The house of Yosef likewise attacked Beit-El; and ADONAI was with them.

The house of Yosef sent spies to Beit-El (the city was formerly called Luz).

The Emori had resolved to live in the Heres Hills, in Ayalon and in Sha'alvim; but when the power of the house of Yosef grew greater, they became subject to forced labor.

For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, look - I am the first one of all the house of Yosef to come today and go down to meet my lord the king."

Now this Yarov'am was a strong, energetic man; and Shlomo, seeing how serious the young man was, made him supervisor over all the work being done by the tribe of Yosef.

Dan, Yosef, Binyamin, Naftali, Gad and Asher.

The sons of Re'uven the firstborn of Isra'el - he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Yosef the son of Isra'el, though not in such a way as for him to be regarded in the genealogy as the firstborn.

For Y'hudah became greater than his brothers, inasmuch as the ruler came from him; nevertheless, the birthright went to Yosef.