Joshua 13

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

The Parts of Canaan Still Unconquered

13 ^[a]Now Joshua was old and advanced in years; and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed. ² This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all those of the Gesh′urites ³ (from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is reckoned as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ash′kelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of the Avvim, ⁴ in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mear′ah which belongs to the Sido′nians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites, ⁵ and the land of the Geb′alites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrising, from Ba′al-gad below Mount Hermon to the entrance of Hamath, ⁶ all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Mis′rephoth-ma′im, even all the Sido′nians. I will myself drive them out from before the people of Israel; only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you. ⁷ Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manas′seh.”

The Territory East of the Jordan

⁸ With the other half of the tribe of Manas′seh^[b] the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them: ⁹ from Aro′er, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland of Med′eba as far as Dibon; ¹⁰ and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the Ammonites; ¹¹ and Gilead, and the region of the Gesh′urites and Ma-ac′athites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Sal′ecah; ¹² all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ash′taroth and in Ed′re-i (he alone was left of the remnant of the Reph′aim); these Moses had defeated and driven out. ¹³ Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Gesh′urites or the Ma-ac′athites; but Geshur and Ma′acath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.

¹⁴ To the tribe of Levi alone Moses gave no inheritance; the offerings by fire to the Lord God of Israel are their inheritance, as he said to him.

The Territory of Reuben

¹⁵ And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the Reubenites according to their families. ¹⁶ So their territory was from Aro′er, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland by Med′eba; ¹⁷ with Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the tableland; Dibon, and Ba′moth-ba′al, and Beth-ba′al-me′on, ¹⁸ and Jahaz, and Ked′emoth, and Meph′a-ath, ¹⁹ and Kiriatha′im, and Sibmah, and Zer′eth-sha′har on the hill of the valley, ²⁰ and Beth-pe′or, and the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jesh′imoth, ²¹ that is, all the cities of the tableland, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses defeated with the leaders of Mid′ian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who dwelt in the land. ²² Balaam also, the son of Be′or, the soothsayer, the people of Israel killed with the sword among the rest of their slain. ²³ And the border of the people of Reuben was the Jordan as a boundary. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites, according to their families with their cities and villages.

The Territory of Gad

²⁴ And Moses gave an inheritance also to the tribe of the Gadites, according to their families. ²⁵ Their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites, to Aro′er, which is east of Rabbah, ²⁶ and from Heshbon to Ra′math-miz′peh and Bet′onim, and from Mahana′im to the territory of Debir,^{[c] 27} and in the valley Beth-ha′ram, Beth-nim′rah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, having the Jordan as a boundary, to the lower end of the Sea of Chin′nereth, eastward beyond the Jordan. ²⁸ This is the inheritance of the Gadites according to their families, with their cities and villages.

The Territory of the Half-Tribe of Manasseh (East)

²⁹ And Moses gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manas′seh; it was allotted to the half-tribe of the Manas′sites according to their families. ³⁰ Their region extended from Mahana′im, through all Bashan, the whole kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Ja′ir, which are in Bashan, sixty cities, ³¹ and half Gilead, and Ash′taroth, and Ed′re-i, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan; these were allotted to the people of Machir the son of Manas′seh for the half of the Machirites according to their families.

³² These are the inheritances which Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho. ³³ But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, as he said to them.