Joshua 13–21

UNCONQUERED LANDS

13Joshua was now old, advanced in age,^o and the Lord said to him, “You have become old, advanced in age, but a great deal of the land remains to be possessed.^{p 2}This is the land that remains:

All the districts of the Philistines and the Geshurites: ³from the Shihor east of Egypt to the border of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as the Avvites ⁴in the south; all the land of the Canaanites, from Arah of the Sidonians to Aphek and as far as the border of the Amorites; ⁵the land of the Gebalites;^q and all Lebanon east from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to the entrance of Hamath^Ar—⁶all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim,^s all the Sidonians.

I will drive them out before the Israelites, only distribute the land as an inheritance for Israel, as I have commanded you. ⁷Therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

THE INHERITANCE EAST OF THE JORDAN

⁸With the other half of the tribe of Manasseh, the Reubenites and Gadites had received the inheritance Moses gave them beyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses the Lord’s servant had given them:^a

⁹From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley,^b all the Medeba plateau as far as Dibon, ¹⁰and all the cities of King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, to the border of the Ammonites; ¹¹also Gilead^c and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah—¹²the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei; he was one of the remaining Rephaim.

Moses struck them down and drove them out,^{d 13}but the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites and Maacathites.^e So Geshur and Maacath still live in Israel today.^f

¹⁴He did not, however, give any inheritance to the tribe of Levi. This was their inheritance, just as he had promised: the food offerings made to the Lord, the God of Israel.^g

REUBEN’S INHERITANCE

¹⁵To the tribe of Reuben’s descendants by their clans, Moses gave ¹⁶this as their territory:

From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plateau as far as^B Medeba, ¹⁷with Heshbon and all its cities on the plateau—Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon, ¹⁸Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,^{h 19}Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth-shahar on the hill in the valley,^{i 20}Beth-peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth—²¹all the cities of the plateau, and all the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon. Moses had killed him and the chiefs of Midian—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the princes of Sihon who lived in the land.^{j 22}Along with those the Israelites put to death, they also killed the diviner, Balaam son of Beor, with the sword.

²³The border of the Reubenites was the Jordan and its plain. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites by their clans, with the cities and their settlements.

GAD’S INHERITANCE

²⁴To the tribe of the Gadites by their clans, Moses gave ²⁵this as their territory:

Jazer and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites to Aroer, near Rabbah; ²⁶from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Debir;^{A 27}in the valley: Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon—the rest of the kingdom of King Sihon of Heshbon. Their land also included the Jordan and its territory as far as the edge of the Sea of Chinnereth^B on the east side of the Jordan.

²⁸This was the inheritance of the Gadites by their clans, with the cities and their settlements.

EAST MANASSEH’S INHERITANCE

²⁹And to half the tribe of Manasseh (that is, to half the tribe of Manasseh’s descendants by their clans) Moses gave ³⁰this as their territory:

From Mahanaim through all Bashan—all the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, including all of Jair’s Villages^Ck that are in Bashan—sixty cities. ³¹But half of Gilead, and Og’s royal cities in Bashan—Ashtaroth and Edrei—are for the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh (that is, half the descendants of Machir by their clans).

³²These were the portions Moses gave them on the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan east of Jericho. ³³But Moses did not give a portion to the tribe of Levi. The Lord, the God of Israel, was their inheritance, just as he had promised them.^l

ISRAEL’S INHERITANCE IN CANAAN

14The Israelites received these portions that the priest Eleazar,^m Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes gave them in the land of Canaan.^{n 2}Their inheritance was by lot^o as the Lord commanded through Moses for the nine and a half tribes, ³because Moses had given the inheritance to the two and a half tribes beyond the Jordan. But he gave no inheritance among them to the Levites. ⁴The descendants of Joseph became two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. No portion of the land was given to the Levites except cities to live in, along with pasturelands for their cattle and livestock. ⁵So the Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses,^a and they divided the land.

CALEB’S INHERITANCE

⁶The descendants of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord promised Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me.^{b 7}I was forty years old when Moses the Lord’s servant sent me from Kadesh-barnea to scout the land, and I brought back an honest report.^{c 8}My brothers who went with me caused the people to lose heart, but I followed the Lord my God completely.^{d 9}On that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land where you have set foot will be an inheritance for you and your descendants forever, because you have followed the Lord my God completely.’^e

¹⁰“As you see, the Lord has kept me alive these forty-five years as he promised,^f since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel was journeying in the wilderness. Here I am today, eighty-five years old. ¹¹I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks^A is now as it was then.^{g 12}Now give me this hill country the Lord promised me on that day, because you heard then that the Anakim are there,^h as well as large fortified cities.ⁱ Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord promised.”

¹³Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as an inheritance.^{j 14}Therefore, Hebron still belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite as an inheritance today^k because he followed the Lord, the God of Israel, completely. ¹⁵Hebron’s name used to be Kiriath-arba; Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.^l After this, the land had rest from war.^m

JUDAH’S INHERITANCE

15Now the allotment for the tribe of the descendants of Judah by their clansⁿ was in the southernmost region, south to the Wilderness of Zin and over to the border of Edom.

²Their southern border began at the tip of the Dead Sea on the south bay^{B 3}and went south of the Scorpions’ Ascent, proceeded to Zin, ascended to the south of Kadesh-barnea, passed Hezron, ascended to Addar, and turned to Karka. ⁴It proceeded to Azmon and to the Brook of Egypt^o and so the border ended at the Mediterranean Sea. This is your^C southern border.

⁵Now the eastern border was along the Dead Sea to the mouth of the Jordan.

The border on the north side was from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan. ⁶It ascended to Beth-hoglah, proceeded north of Beth-arabah, and ascended to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. ⁷Then the border ascended to Debir from the Valley of Achor, turning north to the Gilgal that is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, which is south of the ravine. The border proceeded to the Waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel. ⁸From there the border ascended Ben Hinnom Valley to the southern Jebusite slope (that is, Jerusalem) and ascended to the top of the hill that faces Hinnom Valley on the west, at the northern end of Rephaim Valley. ⁹From the top of the hill the border curved to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah, went to the cities of Mount Ephron, and then curved to Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim^p). ¹⁰The border turned westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, went to the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), descended to Beth-shemesh, and proceeded to Timnah.^{q 11}Then the border reached to the slope north of Ekron, curved to Shikkeron, proceeded to Mount Baalah, went to Jabneel, and ended at the Mediterranean Sea.

¹²Now the western border was the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

This was the boundary of the descendants of Judah around their clans.

CALEB AND OTHNIEL

¹³He gave Caleb son of Jephunneh the following portion among the descendants of Judah based on the Lord’s instruction to Joshua: Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron; Arba was the father of Anak). ¹⁴Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, descendants of Anak.^{a 15}From there he marched against the inhabitants of Debir, which used to be called Kiriath-sepher,^{b 16}and Caleb said, “Whoever attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher, I will give my daughter Achsah to him as a wife.” ¹⁷So Othniel^c son of Caleb’s brother, Kenaz, captured it, and Caleb gave his daughter Achsah to him as a wife.^{d 18}When she arrived, she persuaded Othniel to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?” ¹⁹She replied, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me the springs also.” So he gave her the upper and lower springs.

JUDAH’S CITIES

²⁰This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Judah by their clans.

²¹These were the outermost cities of the tribe of the descendants of Judah toward the border of Edom in the Negev: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,^{e 22}Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ²⁴Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, ²⁵Hazor-hadattah, Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor), ²⁶Amam, Shema,…