Joshua 14–19

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 wife.”

^17aOthniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it; so he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife.

^18aIt came about that when she came to him, she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. So she alighted from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”

¹⁹Then she said, “Give me a blessing; since you have given me the land of the ¹Negev, give me also springs of water.” So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

²⁰This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families.

²¹Now the cities at the extremity of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the south were Kabzeel and ^aEder and Jagur,

²²and Kinah and Dimonah and Adadah,

²³and Kedesh and Hazor and Ithnan,

²⁴Ziph and Telem and Bealoth,

²⁵and Hazor-hadattah and Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor),

²⁶Amam and Shema and Moladah,

²⁷and Hazar-gaddah and Heshmon and Beth-pelet,

²⁸and Hazar-shual and ^aBeersheba and Biziothiah,

²⁹Baalah and Iim and Ezem,

³⁰and Eltolad and Chesil and Hormah,

³¹and ^aZiklag and Madmannah and Sansannah,

³²and Lebaoth and Shilhim and Ain and Rimmon; in all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.

³³In the lowland: ^aEshtaol and Zorah and Ashnah,

³⁴and Zanoah and En-gannim, Tappuah and Enam,

³⁵Jarmuth and ^aAdullam, Socoh and Azekah,

³⁶and Shaaraim and Adithaim and Gederah and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages.

³⁷Zenan and Hadashah and Migdal-gad,

³⁸and Dilean and Mizpeh and Joktheel,

^39aLachish and Bozkath and Eglon,

⁴⁰and Cabbon and Lahmas and Chitlish,

⁴¹and Gederoth, Beth-dagon and Naamah and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages.

⁴²Libnah and Ether and Ashan,

⁴³and Iphtah and Ashnah and Nezib,

⁴⁴and Keilah and Achzib and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages.

⁴⁵Ekron, with its towns and its villages;

⁴⁶from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the ¹side of Ashdod, with their villages.

⁴⁷Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; as far as ^athe ¹brook of Egypt and the Great Sea, even its ²coastline.

⁴⁸In the hill country: Shamir and Jattir and Socoh,

⁴⁹and Dannah and Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir),

⁵⁰and Anab and Eshtemoh and Anim,

⁵¹and Goshen and Holon and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages.

⁵²Arab and Dumah and Eshan,

⁵³and Janum and Beth-tappuah and Aphekah,

⁵⁴and Humtah and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior; nine cities with their villages.

⁵⁵Maon, Carmel and Ziph and Juttah,

⁵⁶and Jezreel and Jokdeam and Zanoah,

⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah and Timnah; ten cities with their villages.

⁵⁸Halhul, Beth-zur and Gedor,

⁵⁹and Maarath and Beth-anoth and Eltekon; six cities with their villages.

⁶⁰Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah; two cities with their villages.

⁶¹In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin and Secacah,

⁶²and Nibshan and the City of Salt and Engedi; six cities with their villages.

⁶³Now as for the ^aJebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not ¹drive them out; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day.

Chapter 16

Territory of Ephraim

¹Then the lot for the sons of Joseph went from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east into ^athe wilderness, going up from Jericho through the hill country to Bethel.

²It went from Bethel to Luz, and ^acontinued to the border of the Archites at Ataroth.

³It went down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of lower ^aBeth-horon even to ^bGezer, and ¹it ended at the sea.

⁴The ^asons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance.

⁵Now this was the territory of the sons of Ephraim according to their families: the border of their inheritance eastward was ^aAtaroth-addar, as far as upper Beth-horon.

⁶Then the border went westward at ^aMichmethath on the north, and the border turned about eastward to Taanath-shiloh and continued beyond it to the east of Janoah.

⁷It went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to ^aNaarah, then reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan.

⁸From ^aTappuah the border continued westward to the ¹brook of Kanah, and ²it ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim according to their families,

⁹together with the cities which were set apart for the sons of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.

^10aBut they did not ¹drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so ^bthe Canaanites live in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.

Chapter 17

Territory of Manasseh

¹Now this was the lot for the tribe of ^aManasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, ¹were allotted Gilead and…