Joshua 13–21

Remaining Land to Be Conquered

13Now Joshua ^awas old, advanced in years. And the Lord said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed. ^2bThis is the land that yet remains: ^call the territory of the Philistines and all ^dthat of the Geshurites, ^3efrom Sihor, which is east of Egypt, as far as the border of Ekron northward (which is counted as Canaanite); the ^ffive lords of the Philistines—the Gazites, the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also ^gthe Avites; ⁴from the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians ^has far as Aphek, to the border of ⁱthe Amorites; ⁵the land of ^jthe ¹Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, ^kfrom Baal Gad below Mount Hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath; ⁶all the inhabitants of the mountains from Lebanon as far as ^lthe ²Brook Misrephoth, and all the Sidonians—them ^mI will drive out from before the children of Israel; only ⁿdivide ³it by lot to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you. ⁷Now therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

The Land Divided East of the Jordan

⁸With the other half-tribe the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, ^owhich Moses had given them, ^pbeyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord had given them: ⁹from Aroer which is on the bank of the River Arnon, and the town that is in the midst of the ravine, ^qand all the plain of Medeba as far as Dibon; ^10rall the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the children of Ammon; ^11sGilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maachathites, all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salcah; ¹²all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei, who remained of ^tthe remnant of the giants; ^ufor Moses had ⁴defeated and ⁵cast out these.

¹³Nevertheless the children of Israel ^vdid not drive out the Geshurites or the Maachathites, but the Geshurites and the Maachathites dwell among the Israelites until this day.

^14wOnly to the tribe of Levi he had given ⁶no inheritance; the sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, ^xas He said to them.

The Land of Reuben

^15yAnd Moses had given to the tribe of the children of Reuben an inheritance according to their families. ¹⁶Their territory was ^zfrom Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, ^aand the city that is in the midst of the ravine, ^band all the plain by Medeba; ^17cHeshbon and all its cities that are in the plain: Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon, ^18dJahaza, Kedemoth, Mephaath, ^19eKirjathaim, ^fSibmah, Zereth Shahar on the mountain of the valley, ²⁰Beth Peor, ^gthe slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth—^21hall the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, ⁱwhom Moses had struck ^jwith the princes of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, who were princes of Sihon dwelling in the country. ²²The children of Israel also killed with the sword ^kBalaam the son of Beor, the ⁷soothsayer, among those who were killed by them. ²³And the border of the children of Reuben was the bank of the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the children of Reuben according to their families, the cities and their villages.

The Land of Gad

^24lMoses also had given an inheritance to the tribe of Gad, to the children of Gad according to their families. ^25mTheir territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, ⁿand half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, which is before ^oRabbah, ²⁶and from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Debir, ²⁷and in the valley ^pBeth Haram, Beth Nimrah, ^qSuccoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, with the Jordan as its border, as far as the edge ^rof the ⁸Sea of Chinnereth, on the other side of the Jordan eastward. ²⁸This is the inheritance of the children of Gad according to their families, the cities and their villages.

Half the Tribe of Manasseh (East)

^29sMoses also had given an inheritance to half the tribe of Manasseh; it was for half the tribe of the children of Manasseh according to their families: ³⁰Their territory was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and ^tall the towns of Jair which are in Bashan, sixty cities; ³¹half of Gilead, and ^uAshtaroth and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the ^vchildren of Machir the son of Manasseh, for half of the children of Machir according to their families.

³²These are the areas which Moses had ⁹distributed as an inheritance in the plains of Moab on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward. ^33wBut to the tribe of Levi Moses had given no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, ^xas He had said to them.

The Land Divided West of the Jordan

14These are the areas which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, ^awhich Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel distributed as an inheritance to them. ²Their inheritance was ^bby lot, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. ^3cFor Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe on the other side of the Jordan; but to the Levites he had given no inheritance among them. ⁴For ^dthe children of Joseph were two tribes: Manasseh and Ephraim. And they gave no part to the Levites in the land, except ^ecities to dwell in, with their common-lands for their livestock and their property. ^5fAs the Lord had commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did; and they divided the land.

Caleb Inherits Hebron

⁶Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the ^gKenizzite said to him: “You know ^hthe word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning ⁱyou and me in Kadesh Barnea. ⁷I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord ^jsent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. ⁸Nevertheless ^kmy brethren who went up with me made the ¹heart of the people melt, but I wholly ^lfollowed the Lord my God. ⁹So Moses swore on that day, saying, ^m‘Surely the land ⁿwhere your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ ¹⁰And now, behold, the Lord has kept me ^oalive, ^pas He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel ²wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. ^11qAs yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both ^rfor going out and for coming in. ¹²Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how ^sthe Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. ^tIt may be that the Lord will be with me, and ^uI shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.”

¹³And Joshua ^vblessed him, ^wand gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. ^14xHebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he ^ywholly followed the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁵And ^zthe name of Hebron formerly was Kirjath Arba (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim).

^aThen the land had rest from war.

The Land of Judah

15So this was the ¹lot of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families:

^aThe border of Edom at the ^bWilderness of Zin southward was the extreme southern boundary. ²And their ^csouthern border began at the shore of the Salt Sea, from the bay that faces southward. ³Then it went out to the southern side of ^dthe Ascent of Akrabbim, passed along to Zin, ascended on the south side of Kadesh Barnea, passed along to Hezron, went up to Adar, and went around to Karkaa. ⁴From there it passed ^etoward Azmon and went out to the Brook of Egypt; and the border ended at the sea. This shall be your southern border.

⁵The east border was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan.

And the ^fborder on the northern quarter began at the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan. ⁶The border went up to ^gBeth Hoglah and passed north of Beth Arabah; and the border went up ^hto the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. ⁷Then the border went up toward ⁱDebir from ^jthe Valley of Achor, and it turned northward toward Gilgal, which is before the Ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the valley. The border continued toward the waters of En Shemesh and ended at ^kEn Rogel. ⁸And the border went up ^lby the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to the southern slope of the ^mJebusite city (which is Jerusalem). The border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the Valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the Valley ⁿof ²Rephaim northward. ⁹Then the border went around from the top of the hill to ^othe fountain of the water of Nephtoah, and extended to the cities of Mount Ephron. And the border went around ^pto Baalah (which is ^qKirjath Jearim). ¹⁰Then the border ³turned westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, passed along to the side of Mount Jearim on the north (which is Chesalon), went down to Beth Shemesh, and passed on to ^rTimnah. ¹¹And the border went out to the side of ^sEkron northward. Then the border went around to Shicron, passed along to Mount Baalah, and extended to Jabneel; and the border ended at the sea.

¹²The west border was ^tthe coastline of the Great Sea. This is the boundary of the children of Judah all around according to their families.

Caleb Occupies Hebron and Debir

^13uNow to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a share among the children of ^vJudah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, namely, ^wKirjath Arba, which is Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). ¹⁴Caleb drove out ^xthe three sons…