⁵ The Lord had told Moses how to give the land to the tribes of Israel. The Israelites divided the land as the Lord had commanded.

Caleb’s Land

⁶ One day some men from the tribe of Judah went to Joshua at Gilgal. One of those men was Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite. He said to Joshua, “You remember what the Lord said at Kadesh Barnea. He was speaking to the prophet Moses about you and me. ⁷ Moses, the Lord’s servant, sent me to look at the land where we were going. I was 40 years old then. When I came back, I told Moses what I thought about the land. ⁸ The other men who went with me told the people things that made them afraid. But I fully believed the Lord would allow us to take the land. ⁹ So that day Moses promised me, ‘The land where you went will become your land. Your children will own it forever. I will give you that land because you fully believed in the Lord, my God.’

¹⁰ “Now then, the Lord has kept his promise. He has kept me alive for 45 years from the time he said this to Moses. During that time we all wandered in the desert. Now here I am, 85 years old. ¹¹ I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. I am just as ready to fight now as I was then. ¹² So give me the mountain country the Lord promised me that day long ago. Back then you heard that the Anakite people lived there. And the cities were large and well protected. But now with the Lord helping me, I will force them out, just as the Lord said.”

¹³ Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh. He gave him the city of Hebron as his own. ¹⁴ And Hebron still belongs to the family of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite. It still belongs to his people because he had faith. He obeyed the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ (In the past it was called Kiriath Arba. It was named for the greatest man among the Anakites. He was named Arba.)

After this there was peace in the land.

¹³ The Lord had commanded Joshua to give Caleb son of Jephunneh part of the land in Judah. So he gave Caleb the land God had commanded. He gave him the town of Kiriath Arba, also called Hebron. (Arba was the father of Anak.) ¹⁴ Caleb forced out the three Anakite families living in Hebron. Those families were Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. They were descendants of Anak. ¹⁵ Then he fought against the people living in Debir. (In the past Debir had been called Kiriath Sepher.)

⁴³ So the Lord kept the promise he had made to the Israelites. He gave the people all the land he had promised. The people took the land and lived there. ⁴⁴ The Lord allowed them to have peace on all sides of their land. This is what he had promised to their people who lived long ago. None of their enemies defeated them. The Lord allowed the Israelites to defeat every enemy. ⁴⁵ He kept every promise he had made to the Israelites. No promises failed. Each one came true.