Land Still to Be Taken

13 When Joshua was very old, the Lord spoke to him. He said, “Joshua, you have grown old. But there is still much land for you to take. ² You have not yet taken the land of Geshur and the land of the Philistines. ³ You have not yet taken the area from the Shihor River at the border of Egypt to Ekron in the north. That belongs to the Canaanites. You must still defeat the five Philistine leaders. They are at Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. You must also defeat the Avvites. ⁴ They live south of the Canaanite land. ⁵ You have not yet defeated the Gebalites. And there is also the area of Lebanon east of Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

⁶ “The Sidonians are living in the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim. But I will force out all of them ahead of the Israelites. Be sure to remember this land when you divide the land among the Israelites. Do this as I told you.

⁷ “Now divide the land among the nine tribes and the western half-tribe of Manasseh.”

Dividing the Land

⁸ The eastern half-tribe of Manasseh and the tribes of Reuben and Gad had received their land. The Lord’s servant Moses gave them the land east of the Jordan River. ⁹ Their land started at Aroer at the Arnon Ravine. It continued to the town in the middle of the ravine. And it included the whole plain from Medeba to Dibon. ¹⁰ All the towns that Sihon king of the Amorites ruled were in that land. He ruled in the city of Heshbon. The land continued to the area where the Ammonites lived. ¹¹ Gilead was also there. And the area where the people of Geshur and Maacah lived was in that land. All of Mount Hermon and all of Bashan as far as Salecah was included. ¹² All the kingdom of Og king of Bashan was in the land. In the past he ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei. Og was one of the last of the Rephaites. In the past Moses had defeated them and had taken their land. ¹³ The Israelites did not force out the people of Geshur and Maacah. They still live among the Israelites today.

¹⁴ The tribe of Levi was the only one that did not get any land. Instead, they were to be given all the burned sacrifices made to the Lord, the God of Israel. That is what the Lord had promised them.

¹⁵ Moses had given each family group from the tribe of Reuben some land. This is the land they were given: ¹⁶ It was the land from Aroer near the Arnon Ravine to the town of Medeba. This included the whole plain and the town in the middle of the ravine. ¹⁷ The land continued to Heshbon. It included all the towns on the plain. These towns were Dibon, Bamoth Baal and Beth Baal Meon. ¹⁸ They included Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, ¹⁹ Kiriathaim, Sibmah and Zereth Shahar on the hill in the valley. ²⁰ They also included Beth Peor, the hills of Pisgah and Beth Jeshimoth. ²¹ So that land included all the towns on the plain and all the area that Sihon the king of the Amorites had ruled. He ruled from the town of Heshbon. But Moses had defeated him and the leaders of the Midianites. Those leaders included Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba. All these leaders fought together with Sihon. And they lived in that country. ²² The Israelites killed many people during the fighting. They also killed Balaam of Beor. He tried to use magic to tell the future. ²³ The land given to Reuben stopped at the shore of the Jordan River. So the land given to the family groups of Reuben included all these towns and their fields that were listed.

²⁴ This is the land Moses gave to the tribe of Gad. He gave it to all the family groups: ²⁵ He gave them the land of Jazar and all the towns of Gilead. He also gave them half the land of the Ammonites. It went as far as Aroer near Rabbah. ²⁶ It included the area from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim. It included the area from Mahanaim to the land of Debir. ²⁷ The land included the valley, Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth and Zaphon. All the other land Sihon king of Heshbon had ruled was also included in it. This is the land on the east side of the Jordan River. It continued to the end of Lake Galilee. ²⁸ All this is the land Moses gave to the tribe of Gad. It included all the towns that were listed. Moses gave it to all the family groups.

²⁹ This is the land Moses had given to the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh. Half of all the family groups in the tribe of Manasseh were given this land: ³⁰ The land started at Mahanaim. It included all of Bashan and the land ruled by Og king of Bashan. It also included all the Towns of Jair in Bashan. There were 60 cities in all. ³¹ It also included half of Gilead, Ashtaroth and Edrei. (These were the cities where Og king of Bashan had ruled.) All this land had been given to the family of Makir son of Manasseh. Half of all his sons had been given this land.

³² Moses had given this land to these tribes on the plains of Moab. It was across the Jordan River east of Jericho. ³³ But Moses had given no land to the tribe of Levi. The Lord, the God of Israel, promised that he himself would be the gift for the Levites.