Joshua 16 King James Version (KJV)
16 And the lot of the children of Joseph fell from Jordan by Jericho, unto the water of Jericho on the east, to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho throughout mount Bethel,
2 And goeth out from Bethel to Luz, and passeth along unto the borders of Archi to Ataroth,
3 And goeth down westward to the coast of Japhleti, unto the coast of Bethhoron the nether, and to Gezer; and the goings out thereof are at the sea.
4 So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.
5 And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Atarothaddar, unto Bethhoron the upper;
6 And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanathshiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah;
7 And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan.
8 The border went out from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families.
9 And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.
10 And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute.
Commentary
The Joseph tribes (16:1-17:18)
Ephraim and the western half of Manasseh together occupied most of the central portion of Canaan between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (16:1-4). The southern part of this territory belonged to Ephraim (5-10), the northern part to Manasseh (17:1). (The other half of Manasseh had already received its allotment east of Jordan.)
Western Manasseh was divided between six major family groups. No details are given concerning portions received by five of these groups, but the remaining portion was subdivided into five smaller portions, which were given to the five daughters of Zelophehad. This was in accordance with the special law which directed that where a man had no son, his inheritance could pass to his daughters (2-6; see Num 27:1-11). Manasseh also took towns from the smaller tribes to its north, apparently claiming it could drive out the Canaanites from these towns. It failed to remove the Canaanites, but still kept the territory for itself (7-13).
Although the Joseph tribes received the best part of Canaan, they were still not satisfied. They wanted more land, but they did not want to work for it or fight for it. Joshua told them that if they cleared the forests and drove out the Canaanites, they would find that they had plenty of land within the territory already allotted to them (14-18).