约书亚记 18:9

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

那些人就去了，走遍那地，並繪畫下來，把眾城分作七份記在冊子上，然後回到示羅營中約書亞那裡。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
他 们 就 去 了 ， 走 遍 那 地 ， 按 着 城 邑 分 做 七 分 ， 写 在 册 子 上 ， 回 到 示 罗 营 中 见 约 书 亚 。

Contextual Overview

² But there were still seven tribes of Israel that had not yet received their land. ³ So Joshua said to the Israelites: "Why do you wait so long to take your land? The Lord , the God of your ancestors, has given this land to you. ⁴ Choose three men from each tribe, and I will send them out to study the land. They will describe in writing the land their tribe wants as its share, and then they will come back to me. ⁵ They will divide the land into seven parts. The people of Judah will keep their land in the south, and the people of Joseph will keep their land in the north. ⁶ You should describe the seven parts of land in writing and bring what you have written to me. Then I will throw lots in the presence of the Lord our God. ⁷ But the Levites do not get any part of these lands, because they are priests, and their work is to serve the Lord . Gad, Reuben, and East Manasseh have received the land promised to them, which is east of the Jordan River. Moses, the servant of the Lord , gave it to them." ⁸ So the men who were chosen to map the land started out. Joshua told them, "Go and study the land and describe it in writing. Then come back to me, and I will throw lots in the presence of the Lord here in Shiloh." ⁹ So the men left and went into the land. They described in a scroll each town in the seven parts of the land. Then they came back to Joshua, who was still at the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰ There Joshua threw lots in the presence of the Lord to choose the lands that should be given to each tribe.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

described: The surveyors seem to have formed some kind of map of the country, as well as a description of it in writing. The Egyptians, from the situation of their fields, as annually overflowed by the Nile, acquired great skill in mensuration and land surveying; and some of the Israelites had, no doubt, learned these from them, without a knowledge of which they could not properly have divided the land. This is probably the first act of surveying on record.

into seven: Acts 13:19

Reciprocal: Joshua 18:4 - describe 1 Samuel 17:31 - sent for him Jeremiah 32:10 - subscribed the evidence

Cross-References

Genesis 4:9
Later, the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" Cain answered, "I don't know. Is it my job to take care of my brother?"

Genesis 24:67
Then Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent of Sarah, his mother, and she became his wife. Isaac loved her very much, and so he was comforted after his mother's death.

Genesis 31:33
So Laban looked in Jacob's tent, in Leah's tent, and in the tent where the two slave women stayed, but he did not find his idols. When he left Leah's tent, he went into Rachel's tent.

Titus 2:5
to be wise and pure, to be good workers at home, to be kind, and to yield to their husbands. Then no one will be able to criticize the teaching God gave us.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the men went and passed through the land,.... Undisturbed by the inhabitants that remained; the fear of the Israelites being still upon them, and the providence of God restraining them, so that the men passed through the whole country, and took a survey of it without any molestation:

and described it by cities, into seven parts, in a book; or map, or rather made seven maps of it, and set down the several cities in each division, with the places adjacent, hills and vales, and marked out a plain and exact chorography of the whole, by which it appears they must be men well skilled in geometry. Josephus b says, that Joshua added to them some that understood geometry; but doubtless the persons each tribe chose and sent were such whom they knew were well versed in that art, and so fit for the business; and which they had, no doubt, learned in Egypt, this being one part of the wisdom and learning of the Egyptians; who boasted of it as an invention of theirs, as Diodorus Siculus c relates; and indeed they were obliged to study it, their country being divided into several homes, and these into lesser districts, and which also were subdivided, and according thereunto were the king's taxes levied upon them; and what with the confusion frequently made by the overflowings of the Nile, they were frequently obliged to measure their land over again; and hence they became expert in this science, which is commonly believed took its rise from them, and passed into Greece, as Herodotus d, and Strabo e, and other authors relate; however, it is certain from this instance in the time of Joshua, that geometry was not the invention of Anaximander, about five hundred years before Christ, as some have asserted f:

and came [again] to Joshua to the host at Shiloh; where the camp, as well as the people in common, and the tabernacle, were; they returned, as Josephus g says, at the end of seven months; and to measure so much land, and make such divisions of it, and give the plans and maps of each division, must take up a considerable time.

b Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 21. c Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 63. d Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 109. e Geograph. l. 17. p. 541, 542. Vid. Suidam in voce γεωμετρια. f Vid. Strabo. Geograph. l. 1. p. 5. Lar. l. 2. Vit. Anaximan I. g Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 1. sect. 21.)

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 18:9. And described it in a book — This as far as I can recollect, is the first act of surveying on record. These men and their work differed widely from those who had searched the land in the time of Moses; they went only to discover the nature of the country, and the state of its inhabitants; but these went to take an actual geographical survey of it, in order to divide it among the tribes which had not yet received their portions. We may suppose that the country was exactly described in a book, that is, a map, pointing out the face of the country, accompanied with descriptions of each part.