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JOSHUA 15
page 205
21 The land of Reuben also included
all the towns of the plain and the entire
kingdom of Sihon. Sihon was the Amorite
king who had reigned in Heshbon and was
killed by Moses along with the leaders of
Midian—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—
princes living in the region who were allied
with Sihon. 22 The Israelites had also killed
Balaam son of Beor, who used magic to tell
the future. 23 The Jordan River marked the
western boundary for the tribe of Reuben.
The towns and their surrounding villages
in this area were given as a homeland to
the clans of the tribe of Reuben.
The Land Given to the Tribe of Gad
24 Moses had assigned the following area to the
clans of the tribe of Gad.
25 Their
territory included Jazer, all the
towns of Gilead, and half of the land of
Ammon, as far as the town of Aroer just
west of* Rabbah. 26 It extended from
Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim,
and from Mahanaim to the territory of
Lo-debar.* 27 In the valley were Beth-haram,
Beth-nimrah, Succoth, Zaphon, and the rest
of the kingdom of King Sihon of Heshbon.
The western boundary ran along the Jordan
River, extended as far north as the tip of the
Sea of Galilee,* and then turned eastward.
28 The towns and their surrounding villages
in this area were given as a homeland to the
clans of the tribe of Gad.
The Land Given to the Half-Tribe
of Manasseh
29 Moses had assigned the following area to the
clans of the half-tribe of Manasseh.
30 Their territory extended from Mahanaim,
including all of Bashan, all the former
kingdom of King Og, and the sixty towns
of Jair in Bashan. 31 It also included half
of Gilead and King Og’s royal cities of
Ashtaroth and Edrei. All this was given
to the clans of the descendants of Makir,
who was Manasseh’s son.
32 These are the allotments Moses had made
while he was on the plains of Moab, across the
Jordan River, east of Jericho. 33 But Moses gave
no allotment of land to the tribe of Levi, for the
Lord, the God of Israel, had promised that he
himself would be their allotment.
The Land Divided West of the Jordan
The remaining tribes of Israel received
land in Canaan as allotted by Eleazar
the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the tribal
14
13:25 Hebrew in front of. 13:26 Hebrew Li-debir, apparently
a variant spelling of Lo-debar (compare 2 Sam 9:4; 17:27;
Amos 6:13). 13:27 Hebrew Sea of Kinnereth. 15:2 Hebrew
the Salt Sea; also in 15:5.
leaders. 2 These nine and a half tribes received
their grants of land by means of sacred lots, in
accordance with the Lord’s command through
Moses. 3 Moses had already given a grant of land
to the two and a half tribes on the east side of
the Jordan River, but he had given the Levites
no such allotment. 4 The descendants of Joseph
had become two separate tribes—Manasseh and
Ephraim. And the Levites were given no land
at all, only towns to live in with surrounding
pasturelands for their livestock and all their possessions. 5 So the land was distributed in strict
accordance with the Lord’s commands to Moses.
Caleb Requests His Land
6 A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by
Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came
to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, “Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man
of God, about you and me when we were at
Kadesh-barnea. 7 I was forty years old when
Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from
Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan.
I returned and gave an honest report, 8 but my
brothers who went with me frightened the
people from entering the Promised Land. For
my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord
my God. 9 So that day Moses solemnly promised
me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just
walking will be your grant of land and that of
your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’
10 “Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me
alive and well as he promised for all these fortyfive years since Moses made this promise—even
while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today
I am eighty-five years old. 11 I am as strong now
as I was when Moses sent me on that journey,
and I can still travel and fight as well as I could
then. 12 So give me the hill country that the Lord
promised me. You will remember that as scouts
we found the descendants of Anak living there
in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with
me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the
Lord said.”
13 So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh
and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land.
14 Hebron still belongs to the descendants of
Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because
he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God
of Israel. 15 (Previously Hebron had been called
Kiriath-arba. It had been named after Arba,
a great hero of the descendants of Anak.)
And the land had rest from war.
The Land Given to the Tribe of Judah
The allotment for the clans of the tribe of
Judah reached southward to the border
of Edom, as far south as the wilderness of Zin.
15
2 The
southern boundary began at the
south bay of the Dead Sea,* 3 ran south of