Joshua

The Land Allotted West of the Jordan

14 
These are the territories that the Israelites[a] inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families of the tribes of the Israelites[b] gave as an inheritance to them. Their inheritance was by lot, just as Yahweh commanded through the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. For Moses had given an inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. For the descendants[c] of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a plot of ground to the Levites in the land, only cities to live in, with their pastureland for their flocks and for their goods. Just as Yahweh commanded Moses, so the Israelites[d] did; and they allotted the land.

Caleb Receives Hebron

Then the descendants[e] of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal; and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word that Yahweh said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old[f] when Moses Yahweh’s servant sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I returned with an honest report.[g] My companions who went up with me made the hearts[h] of the people melt, but I remained true to Yahweh my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land that your foot has trodden on will be an inheritance to you and your sons forever, because you remained true to Yahweh my God.’ 10 So then, look, Yahweh has kept me alive just as he promised these forty-five years,[i] from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered[j] in the wilderness. Now look, today I am eighty-five years old.[k] 11 Today I am still strong, just as on the day that Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so now also is my strength for war and for daily activities.[l] 12 So now give me this hill country that Yahweh spoke of on that day, for you heard on that day that the Anakites were there, with great and fortified cities. Perhaps Yahweh is with me, and I will drive them out just as Yahweh promised.”[m]

13 And Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. 14 Thus Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he remained true to Yahweh the God of Israel. 15 And the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath Arba;[n] Arba was the greatest person among the Anakites. And the land rested from war.

Footnotes

  1. Joshua 14:1 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  2. Joshua 14:1 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  3. Joshua 14:4 Or “sons”
  4. Joshua 14:5 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  5. Joshua 14:6 Or “sons”
  6. Joshua 14:7 Literally “I was a son of forty years
  7. Joshua 14:7 Literally “with a word just as was with my heart”
  8. Joshua 14:8 Hebrew “heart”
  9. Joshua 14:10 Hebrew “year”
  10. Joshua 14:10 Literally “went”
  11. Joshua 14:10 Literally “I am a son of eighty-five years
  12. Joshua 14:11 Literally “for going out and for coming in
  13. Joshua 14:12 Or “said”
  14. Joshua 14:15 Or “the city of Arba”