Joshua 13–21

Land Still to Be Conquered

13Now Joshua ^twas old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land ^uto possess. ^2vThis is the land that yet remains: all the ^wregions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites ³(from the ^xShihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; ^ythere are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of ^zthe Avvim, ⁴in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of ^athe Amorites, ⁵and the land of the ^bGebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from ^cBaal-gad below Mount Hermon to ^dLebo-hamath, ⁶all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to ^eMisrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I myself will drive ^fthem out from before the people of Israel. Only ^gallot the land to Israel ^hfor an inheritance, as I have commanded you. ⁷Now therefore ⁱdivide this land for 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 Manasseh¹ the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, ^jwhich Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them: ^9kfrom Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and ^lall the tableland of Medeba as far as Dibon; ^10mand all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the Ammonites; ¹¹and Gilead, and the ⁿregion of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and ⁿall Bashan to Salecah; ¹²ⁿall the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of ⁿthe remnant of the Rephaim); ^othese Moses had struck and driven out. ^13pYet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.

^14qTo the tribe of Levi alone Moses gave no inheritance. The offerings by fire to the Lord God of Israel are their inheritance, as he said to him.

¹⁵And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the people of Reuben according to their clans. ¹⁶So their territory was from Aroer, ^rwhich is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland by ^sMedeba; ¹⁷with Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the tableland; ^sDibon, and Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon, ^18tand Jahaz, and Kedemoth, and Mephaath, ¹⁹and ^uKiriathaim, and ^uSibmah, and Zereth-shahar on the hill of the valley, ²⁰and ^vBeth-peor, and ^wthe slopes of Pisgah, and ^wBeth-jeshimoth, ²¹that is, ^xall the cities of the tableland, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, ^ywhom Moses defeated with ^zthe leaders of Midian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land. ^22zBalaam also, the son of Beor, the one who practiced divination, was killed with the sword by the people of Israel among the rest of their slain. ²³And the border of the people of Reuben was the Jordan as a boundary. This was the inheritance of the people of Reuben, according to their clans with their cities and villages.

²⁴Moses gave an inheritance also to the tribe of Gad, to the people of Gad, according to their clans. ^25aTheir territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites, to Aroer, which is east of ^bRabbah, ²⁶and from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from ^cMahanaim to the territory of Debir,^{2 27}and in the valley Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, ^dSuccoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, having the Jordan as a boundary, to the lower end of the Sea of ^eChinnereth, eastward beyond the Jordan. ²⁸This is the inheritance of the people of Gad according to their clans, with their cities and villages.

²⁹And Moses gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh. It was allotted to the half-tribe of the people of Manasseh according to their clans. ³⁰Their region extended from ^fMahanaim, through all Bashan, the whole kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all ^gthe towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, sixty cities, ³¹and half Gilead, and ^hAshtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. These were allotted to the people of ⁱMachir the son of Manasseh for the half of the people of Machir according to their clans.

³²These are the inheritances that Moses distributed ^jin the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho. ^33kBut to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, ^kjust as he said to them.

The Inheritance West of the Jordan

14These are the inheritances that the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan, which ^lEleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel gave them to inherit. ²Their inheritance was ^mby lot, just as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine and one-half tribes. ³ⁿFor Moses had given an inheritance to the two and one-half tribes beyond the Jordan, ^obut to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. ⁴For ^pthe people of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion was given to the Levites in the land, but only cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for their livestock and their substance. ⁵The people of Israel did ^qas the Lord commanded Moses; they allotted the land.

Caleb’s Request and Inheritance

⁶Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the ^rKenizzite said to him, “You know ^swhat the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. ⁷I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord ^tsent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. ⁸But ^umy brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. ⁹And Moses swore on that day, saying, ^v‘Surely the land ^won which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ ¹⁰And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, ^xjust as he said, these ^yforty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day ^yeighty-five years old. ^11zI am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and ^afor going and coming. ¹²So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the ^bAnakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

¹³Then Joshua ^cblessed him, and he gave ^dHebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. ¹⁴Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, ^ebecause he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. ^15fNow the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba.¹ (Arba² was the greatest man among the Anakim.) ^gAnd the land had rest from war.

The Allotment for Judah

15The allotment for the tribe of the people of Judah according to their clans reached southward ^hto the boundary of Edom, to ⁱthe wilderness of Zin at the farthest south. ²And their south boundary ran from the end of the ^hSalt Sea, from the bay that faces southward. ³It goes out southward of ^jthe ascent of Akrabbim, passes along to Zin, and goes up south of Kadesh-barnea, along by Hezron, up to Addar, turns about to Karka, ⁴passes along to Azmon, goes out by ^kthe Brook of Egypt, and comes to its end at the sea. This shall be your south boundary. ⁵And the east boundary is the ^hSalt Sea, to the mouth of the Jordan. And the boundary on the north side runs from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan. ⁶And the boundary goes up to ^lBeth-hoglah and passes along north of ^mBeth-arabah. And the boundary goes up to ⁿthe stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. ⁷And the boundary goes up to Debir from ^othe Valley of Achor, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, which is opposite ^pthe ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the valley. And the boundary passes along to the waters of ^pEn-shemesh and ends at ^qEn-rogel. ⁸Then the boundary goes up by ^rthe Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite (^sthat is, Jerusalem). And the boundary goes up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the Valley of Hinnom, on the west, at the northern end of the Valley ^tof Rephaim. ⁹Then the boundary extends from the top of the mountain ^uto the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, and from there to the cities of Mount Ephron. Then the boundary bends around to Baalah (^vthat is, Kiriath-jearim). ¹⁰And the boundary circles west of Baalah to Mount Seir, passes along to the northern shoulder of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon), and goes down to ^wBeth-shemesh and passes along by ^xTimnah. ¹¹The boundary goes out ^yto the shoulder of the hill north of Ekron, then the boundary bends around to Shikkeron and passes along to Mount ^zBaalah and goes out to Jabneel. Then the boundary comes to an end at the sea. ¹²And the west boundary was ^athe Great Sea with its coastline. This is the boundary around the people of Judah according to their clans.

¹³According to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, he gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion among the people of Judah, ^bKiriath-arba, that is, ^bHebron (Arba was the father of Anak). ¹⁴And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak, ^cSheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the descendants of Anak. ¹⁵And he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir. ^dNow the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. ^16…