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Chapter 15

Boundaries of Judah. The lot for the tribe of Judah by their clans fell toward the boundary of Edom, the wilderness of Zin in the Negeb, in the extreme south.(A) (B)Their southern boundary ran from the end of the Salt Sea,[a] from the tongue of land that faces the Negeb, and went southward below the pass of Akrabbim, across through Zin, up to a point south of Kadesh-barnea, across to Hezron, and up to Addar; from there, looping around Karka, it crossed to Azmon and then joined the Wadi of Egypt[b] before coming out at the sea. (This is your southern boundary.) The eastern boundary was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan.

The northern boundary climbed northward from the tongue of the sea, toward the mouth of the Jordan, (C)up to Beth-hoglah, and ran north of Beth-arabah, up to Eben-Bohan-ben-Reuben. Thence the boundary climbed to Debir, north of the Valley of Achor,(D) in the direction of the Gilgal that faces the pass of Adummim, on the south side of the wadi; from there it crossed to the waters of En-shemesh and emerged at En-rogel. Climbing again to the Valley of Ben-hinnom[c] on the southern flank of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem), the boundary rose to the top of the mountain at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim,(E) which bounds the Valley of Hinnom on the west. From the top of the mountain it ran to the fountain of waters of Nephtoah,(F) extended to the cities of Mount Ephron, and continued to Baalah, or Kiriath-jearim. 10 From Baalah the boundary curved westward to Mount Seir and passed north of the ridge of Mount Jearim (that is, Chesalon); it descended to Beth-shemesh, and ran across to Timnah. 11 It then extended along the northern flank of Ekron, continued through Shikkeron, and across to Mount Baalah, from there to include Jabneel, before it came out at the sea. 12 The western boundary was the Great Sea[d] and its coast. This was the complete boundary of the Judahites by their clans.

Conquest by Caleb. 13 (G)As the Lord had commanded, Joshua gave Caleb, son of Jephunneh,(H) a portion among the Judahites, namely, Kiriath-arba (Arba was the father of Anak), that is, Hebron. 14 (I)And Caleb dispossessed from there the three Anakim, the descendants of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. 15 From there he marched up against the inhabitants of Debir,(J) which was formerly called Kiriath-sepher. 16 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Achsah in marriage.” 17 [e]Othniel captured it, the son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz; so Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah in marriage. 18 When she came to him, she induced him to ask her father for some land. Then, as she alighted from the donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want?” 19 She answered, “Give me a present! Since you have assigned to me land in the Negeb, give me also pools of water.” So he gave her the upper and the lower pools.

Cities of Judah.[f] 20 This is the heritage of the tribe of Judahites by their clans: 21 The cities of the tribe of the Judahites in the extreme southern district toward Edom were: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, 22 Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, 23 Kedesh, Hazor, and Ithnan; 24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, 25 Hazor-hadattah, and Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor); 26 Amam, Shema, Moladah, 27 Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet, 28 Hazar-shual, Beer-sheba, and Biziothiah; 29 Baalah, Iim, Ezem, 30 Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, 31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, 32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, and Ain and Rimmon; a total of twenty-nine cities with their villages.

33 In the Shephelah: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, 34 Zanoah, Engannim, Tappuah, Enam, 35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, 36 Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim; fourteen cities and their villages. 37 Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad, 38 Dilean, Mizpeh, Joktheel, 39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, 40 Cabbon, Lahmas, Chitlish, 41 Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah; sixteen cities and their villages. 42 Libnah, Ether, Ashan, 43 Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, 44 Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities and their villages. 45 Ekron and its towns and villages; 46 from Ekron to the sea, all the towns that lie alongside Ashdod, and their villages; 47 Ashdod and its towns and villages; Gaza and its towns and villages, as far as the Wadi of Egypt and the coast of the Great Sea.

48 In the mountain regions: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, 49 Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir), 50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, 51 Goshen, Holon, and Giloh; eleven cities and their villages. 52 Arab, Dumah, Eshan, 53 Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah, 54 Humtah, Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior; nine cities and their villages. 55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, 56 Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, 57 Kain, Gibbeah, and Timnah; ten cities and their villages. 58 Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor, 59 Maarath, Beth-anoth, and Eltekon; six cities and their villages. Tekoa, Ephrathah (that is, Bethlehem), Peor, Etam, Kulom, Tatam, Zores, Karim, Gallim, Bether, and Manoko; eleven cities and their villages. 60 Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim) and Rabbah; two cities and their villages.(K)

61 In the wilderness:[g] Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah, 62 Nibshan, Ir-hamelah, and En-gedi; six cities and their villages. 63 But the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem the Judahites could not dispossess; so the Jebusites dwell in Jerusalem beside the Judahites to the present day.(L)

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Footnotes

  1. 15:2 Salt Sea: the Dead Sea. The “tongue,” a prominent feature of the landscape, is a spit of land thrusting into the Dead Sea from its eastern shore; it is now called by its Arabic name, ’el lisân, “tongue.”
  2. 15:4 Wadi of Egypt: the natural boundary between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula.
  3. 15:8 The Valley of Ben-hinnom: the southern limit of Jerusalem. Ben-hinnom means “son of Hinnom.” The place was also called Valley of Hinnom, in Hebrew ge-hinnom, whence the word “Gehenna” is derived.
  4. 15:12 Great Sea: the Mediterranean.
  5. 15:17–19 The story of Othniel is told again in Jgs 1:13–15; cf. also Jgs 3:9–11.
  6. 15:20–62 This elaborate list of the cities of Judah was probably taken from a document made originally for administrative purposes; the cities are divided into four provincial districts, some of which have further subdivisions. For similar lists of the cities of Judah, cf. 19:2–7; 1 Chr 4:28–32; Neh 11:25–30. This list has suffered in transmission, so that the totals given in vv. 32 and 36 are not exact; many of the cities cannot be identified.
  7. 15:61 In the wilderness: in the Jordan rift near the Dead Sea.

The Rich Official. 18 (A)An official asked him this question, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”(B) 19 Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 20 You know the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother.’”(C) 21 And he replied, “All of these I have observed from my youth.” 22 [a](D)When Jesus heard this he said to him, “There is still one thing left for you: sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard this he became quite sad, for he was very rich.

On Riches and Renunciation. 24 Jesus looked at him [now sad] and said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 And he said, “What is impossible for human beings is possible for God.”(E) 28 Then Peter said, “We have given up our possessions and followed you.” 29 (F)He said to them, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 who will not receive [back] an overabundant return in this present age and eternal life in the age to come.”

The Third Prediction of the Passion.(G) 31 [b]Then he took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.[c] 32 (H)He will be handed over to the Gentiles and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon; 33 and after they have scourged him they will kill him, but on the third day he will rise.” 34 But they understood nothing of this; the word remained hidden from them and they failed to comprehend what he said.(I)

The Healing of the Blind Beggar.(J) 35 Now as he approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, 36 and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 (K)He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David,[d] have pity on me!” 39 The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me!” 40 Then Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.”(L) 42 Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”(M) 43 He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God.

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Footnotes

  1. 18:22 Detachment from material possessions results in the total dependence on God demanded of one who would inherit eternal life. Sell all that you have: the original saying (cf. Mk 10:21) has characteristically been made more demanding by Luke’s addition of “all.”
  2. 18:31–33 The details included in this third announcement of Jesus’ suffering and death suggest that the literary formulation of the announcement has been directed by the knowledge of the historical passion and death of Jesus.
  3. 18:31 Everything written by the prophets…will be fulfilled: this is a Lucan addition to the words of Jesus found in the Marcan source (Mk 10:32–34). Luke understands the events of Jesus’ last days in Jerusalem to be the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, but, as is usually the case in Luke-Acts, the author does not specify which Old Testament prophets he has in mind; cf. Lk 24:25, 27, 44; Acts 3:8; 13:27; 26:22–23.
  4. 18:38 Son of David: the blind beggar identifies Jesus with a title that is related to Jesus’ role as Messiah (see note on Lk 2:11). Through this Son of David, salvation comes to the blind man. Note the connection between salvation and house of David mentioned earlier in Zechariah’s canticle (Lk 1:69). See also note on Mt 9:27.

Psalm 86[a]

Prayer in Time of Distress

A prayer of David.

I

Incline your ear, Lord, and answer me,
    for I am poor and oppressed.
Preserve my life, for I am devoted;
    save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; be gracious to me, Lord;
    to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant;
    to you, Lord, I lift up my soul.(A)
Lord, you are good and forgiving,
    most merciful to all who call on you.(B)
Lord, hear my prayer;
    listen to my cry for help.(C)
On the day of my distress I call to you,
    for you will answer me.

II

None among the gods can equal you, O Lord;
    nor can their deeds compare to yours.(D)
All the nations you have made shall come
    to bow before you, Lord,
    and give honor to your name.(E)
10 For you are great and do wondrous deeds;
    and you alone are God.

III

11 Teach me, Lord, your way
    that I may walk in your truth,(F)
    single-hearted and revering your name.
12 I will praise you with all my heart,
    glorify your name forever, Lord my God.
13 Your mercy to me is great;
    you have rescued me from the depths of Sheol.(G)
14 O God, the arrogant have risen against me;
    a ruthless band has sought my life;
    to you they pay no heed.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
    slow to anger, abounding in mercy and truth.(H)
16 Turn to me, be gracious to me;
    give your strength to your servant;
    save the son of your handmaid.(I)
17 Give me a sign of your favor:
    make my enemies see, to their confusion,
    that you, Lord, help and comfort me.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 86 An individual lament. The psalmist, “poor and oppressed” (Ps 86:1), “devoted” (Ps 86:2), “your servant” (Ps 86:2, 4, 16), “rescued…from the depths of Sheol” (Ps 86:13), attacked by the ruthless (Ps 86:14), desires only God’s protection (Ps 86:1–7, 11–17).

The light of the just gives joy,
    but the lamp[a] of the wicked goes out.(A)
10 The stupid sow discord by their insolence,
    but wisdom is with those who take counsel.

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Footnotes

  1. 13:9 Light…lamp: symbols of life and prosperity; cf. 4:18–19.