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Joshua 13
New English Translation

The Lord Speaks to Joshua

13 When Joshua was very old,[a] the Lord told him, “You are very old, and a great deal of land remains to be conquered. 2 This is the land that remains: all the territory of the Philistines and all the Geshurites, 3 from the Shihor River[b] east of[c] Egypt northward to the territory of Ekron (it is regarded as Canaanite territory),[d] including the area belonging to the five Philistine lords who ruled in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as Avvite land[e] 4 to the south;[f] all the Canaanite territory,[g] from Arah[h] in the region of Sidon[i] to Aphek, as far as Amorite territory; 5 the territory of Byblos[j] and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath.[k] 6 I will drive out before the Israelites all who live in the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim,[l] all the Sidonians; you be sure to parcel it out to Israel as I instructed you.[m] 7 Now, divide up this land[n] among the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”

Tribal Lands East of the Jordan

8 The other half of Manasseh,[o] Reuben, and Gad received their allotted tribal lands on east side of the Jordan,[p] just as Moses, the Lord’s servant, had assigned them. 9 Their territory started[q] from Aroer (on the edge of the Arnon Valley), included the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plain of Medeba as far as Dibon, 10 and all the cities of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon, and ended at the Ammonite border. 11 Their territory also included[r] Gilead, Geshurite and Maacathite territory, all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah— 12 the whole kingdom of Og in Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei. (He was one of the few remaining Rephaites.)[s] Moses defeated them and took their lands.[t] 13 But the Israelites did not conquer[u] the Geshurites and Maacathites; Geshur and Maacah live among Israel to this very day. 14 However, Moses[v] did not assign land as an inheritance[w] to the Levites; their inheritance[x] is the sacrificial offerings[y] made to the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed[z] them.

15 Moses assigned land to the tribe of Reuben[aa] by its clans. 16 Their territory started at Aroer[ab] (on the edge of the Arnon Valley) and included the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plain of Medeba, 17 Heshbon and all its surrounding cities on the plain, including Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon, 18 Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, 19 Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on the hill in the valley, 20 Beth Peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth. 21 It encompassed[ac] all the cities of the plain and the whole realm of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon. Moses defeated him and the Midianite leaders Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba (they were subjects of Sihon and lived in his territory).[ad] 22 The Israelites killed Balaam son of Beor, the omen reader,[ae] along with the others.[af] 23 The border of the tribe of Reuben was the Jordan. The land allotted to the tribe of Reuben by its clans included these cities and their towns.[ag]

24 Moses assigned land to the tribe of Gad[ah] by its clans. 25 Their territory included Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half the Ammonite territory[ai] as far as Aroer near[aj] Rabbah. 26 Their territory ran[ak] from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the territory of Debir. 27 It included the valley of Beth Haram,[al] Beth Nimrah, Sukkoth, and Zaphon, and the rest of the realm of King Sihon of Heshbon, the area east of the Jordan to the end of the Sea of Kinnereth.[am] 28 The land allotted to the tribe of Gad by its clans included these cities and their towns.[an]

29 Moses assigned land to the half-tribe of Manasseh[ao] by its clans. 30 Their territory started at[ap] Mahanaim and encompassed all Bashan, the whole realm of King Og of Bashan, including all sixty cities in Havvoth Jair[aq] in Bashan. 31 Half of Gilead, Ashtaroth, and Edrei, cities in the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were assigned to the descendants of Makir son of Manasseh, to half the descendants of Makir by their clans.

32 These are the land assignments made by Moses[ar] in the rift valley plains of Moab[as] east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho.[at] 33 However, Moses did not assign land as an inheritance[au] to the Levites; their inheritance[av] is the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed[aw] them.

Footnotes

  1. Joshua 13:1 tn Heb “was old, coming into the days.” This expression, referring to advancing in years, also occurs in the following clause.
  2. Joshua 13:3 tn Heb “the Shihor”; the word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied to clarify the meaning.
  3. Joshua 13:3 tn Heb “in front of.”
  4. Joshua 13:3 tn Heb “it is reckoned to the Canaanites.”
  5. Joshua 13:3 tn Heb “the five lords of the Philistines, the Gazaite, the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gathite, and the Ekronite, and the Avvites.”
  6. Joshua 13:4 tn Or “from Teman.” The phrase is especially problematic if taken with what follows, as the traditional verse division suggests. For further discussion see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 146.
  7. Joshua 13:4 tn Heb “all the land of the Canaanites.”
  8. Joshua 13:4 tc The reading “Arah” assumes a slight emendation of the Hebrew vowel pointing. The MT reads, “and a cave,” or “and Mearah” (if one understands the word as a proper noun).
  9. Joshua 13:4 tn Heb “which belongs to the Sidonians.”
  10. Joshua 13:5 tn Heb “and the land of the Gebalites.”
  11. Joshua 13:5 tn Or “the entrance to Hamath.” Most modern translations take the phrase “Lebo Hamath” to be a proper name, but often provide a note with the alternative, where “Hamath” is the proper name and לְבוֹא (levoʾ) is taken to mean “entrance to.”
  12. Joshua 13:6 tn The meaning of the Hebrew name “Misrephoth Maim” is perhaps “lime-kilns by the water” (see HALOT 641 s.v. מִשְׂרָפוֹת).
  13. Joshua 13:6 tn Heb “only you, assign it by lots to Israel as an inheritance as I commanded you.”
  14. Joshua 13:7 tn Heb “now apportion this land as an inheritance.”
  15. Joshua 13:8 tn The MT reads “with him,” which is problematic, since the reference would be to the other half of the tribe of Manasseh (not the half mentioned in v. 7).
  16. Joshua 13:8 tn Heb “received their inheritance, which Moses had assigned to them beyond the Jordan to the east.”
  17. Joshua 13:9 tn The words “their territory started” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  18. Joshua 13:11 tn The words “their territory also included” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  19. Joshua 13:12 tn Heb “from the remnant of the Rephaites.”sn The Rephaites were apparently an extremely tall ethnic group. See Deut 2:10-11, 20; 3:11.
  20. Joshua 13:12 tn Or “dispossessed them.”
  21. Joshua 13:13 tn Or “dispossess.”
  22. Joshua 13:14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  23. Joshua 13:14 tn Heb “did not assign an inheritance.”
  24. Joshua 13:14 tn That is, “their source of food and life.”
  25. Joshua 13:14 tn Or “offerings made by fire.”
  26. Joshua 13:14 tn Or “promised” (Heb “spoke”).sn For the background of this observation, see Deut 18:1-2.
  27. Joshua 13:15 tn Heb “assigned to the sons of Reuben.”
  28. Joshua 13:16 tn Heb “their territory was from.”
  29. Joshua 13:21 tn The words “it encompassed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  30. Joshua 13:21 tn Heb “princes of Sihon, inhabitants of the land.”
  31. Joshua 13:22 tn Or “diviner.”
  32. Joshua 13:22 tn Heb “Balaam son of Beor, the omen-reader, the Israelites killed with the sword, along with their slain ones.”
  33. Joshua 13:23 tn Heb “This is the inheritance of the sons of Reuben by their clans, the cities and their towns.”
  34. Joshua 13:24 tn Heb “assigned to the tribe of Gad, to the sons of Gad.”
  35. Joshua 13:25 tn Heb “and half of the land of the sons of Ammon.”
  36. Joshua 13:25 tn Heb “which [is] in front of.”
  37. Joshua 13:26 tn The words “Their territory ran” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied for clarification.
  38. Joshua 13:27 tn Or “it included in the valley, Beth Haram.”
  39. Joshua 13:27 sn The Sea of Kinnereth is another name for the Sea of Galilee. See the note on the word “Kinnereth” in 11:2.
  40. Joshua 13:28 tn Heb “This is the inheritance of the sons of Gad by their clans, the cities and their towns.”
  41. Joshua 13:29 tn Heb “assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh, and it belonged to the half-tribe of Manasseh.”
  42. Joshua 13:30 tn The words “their territory started at” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied for clarification.
  43. Joshua 13:30 sn The Hebrew name Havvoth Jair means “the tent villages of Jair.”
  44. Joshua 13:32 tn Heb “These are [the lands] which Moses gave as an inheritance.”
  45. Joshua 13:32 sn This is the area of rift valley basin to the north of the Dead Sea and east of the Jordan. Some translate as the “plains of Moab” (NASB, NIV, ESV) but this can give the wrong impression of the larger part of Moab above the rift valley. See the note at Num 22:1.
  46. Joshua 13:32 tn Heb “beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho.” The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied to clarify the meaning.
  47. Joshua 13:33 tn Heb “Moses did not assign an inheritance.” The word “land” has been supplied in the translation to clarify what the inheritance consisted of.
  48. Joshua 13:33 tn That is, “their source of food and life.”
  49. Joshua 13:33 tn Or “as he promised”; Heb “as he spoke to.”sn For the background of this observation, see Deut 18:1-2.
Close VOICE

Joshua 13
The Voice

This second section of the book (chapters 13–22), which details the parceling out of the land of Canaan, makes for slower reading, but it has a distinct literary purpose. It contains some of the elements we often find in ancient epics such as the catalog of the defeated kings and towns that give the scope of the conquest. The list also orients us in the larger story of the people of God, since later books of the Bible will set their action here. That means it’s valuable for us to know where the tribes settle and what their lands are like.

13 Now the years passed and Joshua grew old; and one day the Eternal came to him.

Eternal One (to Joshua): You have grown old and there is still work to do, for part of the land I have promised has yet to be conquered. 2 This still remains: all the coastal regions inhabited by the Philistines and the Geshurites 3 (from the Shihor tributary of the Nile, east of Egypt, north to the boundary of Ekron, is Canaanite territory); the five capital cities of the Philistines are Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, and the Avvites 4 remain in the south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah (which belongs to the Sidonians), as far as Aphek, and to the boundary of the Amorites, 5 and also the land of the Gebalites, and all of Lebanon east from Baal-gad, near Mount Hermon, to Lebo-hamath.[a]

6-7 For the sake of the people of Israel, I will chase out all the inhabitants of the highlands from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, but allot the land among you. Divide the land among the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh as their inheritance, as I have commanded.

The twelve tribes of Israel are spread out all across the country side. Moses has already given some of them land on the east side of the Jordan River, as we read here; but the others are awaiting their land on the west side, in the land of Canaan. Eventually every tribe will have land allotted to them because that has been God’s promise.

8 The other half-tribe of Manasseh and the tribes of Reuben and Gad received their inheritance. Moses, the Eternal’s servant, gave them land on the far side of the Jordan and toward the east, 9 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley, with the town that is in the middle of the valley, and the plains from Medeba to Dibon; 10 and all the cities of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had reigned from Heshbon, as far as the border regions of the Ammonites; 11 and the land of Gilead, and the lands of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all of Mount Hermon, and all of Bashan as far as Salecah; 12 in Bashan, this includes all the kingdom of Og who had reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (who was the last of the survivors of the giants). Moses conquered these kings and took over their lands, 13 although the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, which is why the people of Geshur and Maacath survive among the Israelites to this day.

14 The tribe of Levi was the only tribe of Israel that was not given land then as its inheritance. To offer burnt offerings to the Eternal God of Israel was their inheritance, as He told them.

15 Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the Reubenites, clan by clan. 16 Their territory comprised the plateau from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley, including the city in the middle of the valley, and the entire plain by Medeba; 17 Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the plains: Dibon, Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon, 18 Jahaz, Kedemoth, and Mephaath; 19 Kiriathaim, Sibmah, and Zereth-shahar on the mount of the valley; 20 Beth-peor, the foothills of Mount Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth. 21 The tribe of Reuben received, then, all these cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites who had reigned in Heshbon until Moses defeated him and the leaders of Midian (Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba) who were the princes of Sihon in the land. 22 Along with all of those they put to death, the Israelites also executed Balaam, the son of Beor, who practiced divination but blessed Israel by the command of the Eternal One. 23 The western border of the land allotted to the people of Reuben was the Jordan with its banks. This, then, was the land given to the people of Reuben, clan by clan, and all their cities and villages.

24 Moses also gave an inheritance to the tribe of the Gadites according to their clans. 25 Their territory comprised Jazer, and all the cities of the land of Gilead, and half the country of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, east of Rabbah; 26 from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim as far as the border of Debir; 27 and in the valley, Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon—all the rest of the kingdom of Sihon, king of Heshbon—the Jordan and its eastern banks, to the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. 28 This, then, was the land given to the people of Gad, clan by clan, and all their cities and villages.

29 Finally Moses gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh, again allotted clan by clan. 30 Their territory started at Mahanaim and included all of Bashan and the whole kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, and all the settlements of Jair, which were in Bashan: 60 towns in all. 31 Half of Gilead, Ashtaroth, and Edrei (the royal cities of Og, king in Bashan) were allotted to half of the people of Machir, son of Manasseh, who would dwell east of the Jordan, according to their clans.

32 These were the inheritances Moses distributed on the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan River and east of Jericho. 33 The clans of the tribe of Levi received no inheritance from Moses since the Eternal God of Israel was their inheritance as He promised them.

Footnotes

  1. 13:5 Hebrew, Lebo-hamath, the entrance to Hamath
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