Joshua 13–21

Chapter 13

Canaan Divided among the Tribes

¹Now ^aJoshua was old and advanced in years when the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.

²“This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the ^aGeshurites;

³from the Shihor which is ¹east of Egypt, even as far as the border of Ekron to the north (it is counted as Canaanite); the ^afive lords of the Philistines: the Gazite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite, the Ekronite; and the Avvite

⁴¹to the south, all the land of the Canaanite, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, as far as ^aAphek, to the border of the ^bAmorite;

⁵and the land of the ^aGebalite, and all of Lebanon, toward the ¹east, ^bfrom Baal-gad below Mount Hermon as far as ²Lebo-hamath.

⁶“All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon as far as ^aMisrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians, I will ¹drive them out from before the sons of Israel; ^bonly allot it to Israel for an inheritance as I have commanded you.

⁷“Now therefore, apportion this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”

⁸With ¹the other half-tribe, the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance which Moses gave them ^abeyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses the servant of the Lord gave to them;

⁹from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain of Medeba, as far as Dibon;

¹⁰and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the sons of Ammon;

¹¹and ^aGilead, and the ¹territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah;

¹²all the kingdom of ^aOg in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); for Moses ^bstruck them and dispossessed them.

¹³But the sons of Israel did not dispossess the Geshurites or the Maacathites; for Geshur and Maacath live among Israel until this day.

^14aOnly to the tribe of Levi he did not give an inheritance; the offerings by fire to the Lord, the God of Israel, are ¹their inheritance, as He spoke to him.

¹⁵So Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the sons of Reuben according to their families.

¹⁶Their ¹territory was ^afrom Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, with the city which is in the middle of the valley and all the plain by Medeba;

¹⁷Heshbon, and all its cities which are on the plain: Dibon and Bamoth-baal and Beth-baal-meon,

¹⁸and ^aJahaz and Kedemoth and Mephaath,

¹⁹and ^aKiriathaim and Sibmah and Zereth-shahar on the hill of the valley,

²⁰and Beth-peor and the slopes of Pisgah and Beth-jeshimoth,

²¹even all the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses struck with the chiefs of Midian, ^aEvi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land.

²²The sons of Israel also killed ^aBalaam the son of Beor, the diviner, with the sword among the rest of their slain.

²³The border of the sons of Reuben was the ¹Jordan. This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben according to their families, the cities and their villages.

²⁴Moses also gave an inheritance to the tribe of Gad, to the sons of Gad, according to their families.

²⁵Their territory was ^aJazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the sons of Ammon, as far as Aroer which is before Rabbah;

²⁶and from Heshbon as far as Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim as far as the border of ¹Debir;

²⁷and in the valley, Beth-haram and Beth-nimrah and Succoth and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, with the Jordan ¹as a border, as far as the lower end of the Sea of ^2aChinnereth beyond the Jordan to the east.

²⁸This is the inheritance of the sons of Gad according to their families, the cities and their villages.

²⁹Moses also gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh; and it was for the half-tribe of the sons of Manasseh according to their families.

³⁰Their territory was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all ^athe ¹towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, sixty cities;

³¹also half of Gilead, with ^aAshtaroth and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh, for half of the sons of Machir according to their families.

³²These are the territories which Moses apportioned for an inheritance in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho to the east.

³³But ^ato the tribe of Levi, Moses did not give an inheritance; the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as He had ¹promised to them.

Chapter 14

Caleb’s Request

¹Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which ^aEleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the ¹households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them for an inheritance,

²by the ^alot of their inheritance, as the Lord commanded ¹through Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe.

³For ^aMoses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but ^bhe did not give an inheritance to the Levites among them.

⁴For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, ^aManasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property.

⁵Thus the sons of Israel did just ^aas the Lord had commanded Moses, and they divided the land.

⁶Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal, and ^aCaleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word which the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning ¹you and me in Kadesh-barnea.

⁷“I was forty years old when ^aMoses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart.

⁸“Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people ¹melt with fear; but ^aI followed the Lord my God fully.

⁹“So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely ^athe land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God fully.’

¹⁰“Now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today.

¹¹“^aI am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for ^bgoing out and coming in.

¹²“Now then, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that ^aAnakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I will ¹drive them out as the Lord has spoken.”

¹³So Joshua ^ablessed him and ^bgave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.

¹⁴Therefore, Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite until this day, because he followed the Lord God of Israel fully.

¹⁵Now the name of Hebron was formerly ¹Kiriath-arba; for Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. ^aThen the land had rest from war.

Chapter 15

Territory of Judah

¹Now ^athe lot for the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families ¹reached the ^bborder of Edom, southward to the ^cwilderness of Zin at the extreme south.

²Their south border was from the lower end of the Salt Sea, from the bay that turns to the south.

³Then it proceeded southward to the ascent of Akrabbim and continued to Zin, then went up by the south of Kadesh-barnea and continued to Hezron, and went up to Addar and turned about to Karka.

⁴It ^acontinued to Azmon and proceeded to the ^1bbrook of Egypt, and the ²border ended at the sea. This shall be your south border.

⁵The ^aeast border was the Salt Sea, as far as the ¹mouth of the Jordan. And the ^bborder of the north side was from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan.

⁶Then the border went up to Beth-hoglah, and continued on the north of Beth-arabah, and the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben.

⁷The border went up to Debir from ^athe valley of Achor, and turned northward toward Gilgal which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, which is on the south of the valley; and the border continued to the waters of En-shemesh and ¹it ended at En-rogel.

⁸Then the border went up the valley of Ben-hinnom to the slope of the ^aJebusite on the south (that is, Jerusalem); and the border went up to the top of the mountain which is before the valley of Hinnom to the west, which is at the end of the valley of Rephaim toward the north.

⁹From the top of the mountain the border curved to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah and proceeded to the cities of Mount Ephron, then the border curved to ^aBaalah (that is, ^bKiriath-jearim).

¹⁰The border turned about from Baalah westward to Mount Seir, and continued to the slope of Mount Jearim on the north (that is, Chesalon), and went down to Beth-shemesh and continued through ^aTimnah.

¹¹The border proceeded to the side of Ekron northward. Then the border curved to Shikkeron and continued to Mount Baalah and proceeded to Jabneel, and the ¹border ended at the sea.

¹²The west border was ^aat the Great Sea, even its ¹coastline. This is the border around the sons of Judah according to their families.

¹³Now ^ahe gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion ^bamong the sons of Judah, according to the ¹command of the Lord to Joshua, namely, ²Kiriath-arba, Arba being the father of Anak (that is, Hebron).

^14aCaleb ¹drove out from there the three ^bsons of Anak: Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the children of Anak.

¹⁵Then ^ahe went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir; now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher.

¹⁶And Caleb said, “The one who ¹attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, ²I will give him Achsah my daughter as a…