Joshua 14
Legacy Standard Bible
The Inheritance Beyond the Jordan
14 Now these are the territories which the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which (A)Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the [a]households of the tribes of the sons of Israel apportioned to them for an inheritance, 2 by the (B)lot of their inheritance, as Yahweh commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. 3 For (C)Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan; but (D)he did not give an inheritance to the Levites among them. 4 For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, (E)Manasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property. 5 Thus the sons of Israel did just (F)as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and they divided the land.
Caleb’s Inheritance
6 Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal, and (G)Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word which Yahweh spoke to Moses the man of God concerning [b]you and me in Kadesh-barnea. 7 I was forty years old when (H)Moses the servant of Yahweh sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart. 8 Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people [c]melt with fear; but (I)I followed Yahweh my God fully. 9 So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely (J)the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children forever because you have followed Yahweh my God fully.’ 10 So now behold, Yahweh has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; so now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. 11 (K)I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for (L)going out and coming in. 12 So now, give me this hill country about which Yahweh spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that (M)Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps Yahweh will be with me, and I will dispossess them as Yahweh has spoken.”
13 So Joshua (N)blessed him and (O)gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore, Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite until this day because he fully followed Yahweh, the God of Israel. 15 Now the name of Hebron was formerly [d]Kiriath-arba; for Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. (P)Then the land was quiet from war.
Footnotes
- Joshua 14:1 Lit fathers
- Joshua 14:6 Lit me and concerning you
- Joshua 14:8 Lit become demoralized
- Joshua 14:15 Lit the city of Arba
Joshua 14
Living Bible
14 1-2 The conquered lands of Canaan were allotted to the remaining nine and a half tribes of Israel. The decision as to which tribe would receive which area was decided by throwing dice[a] before the Lord, and he caused them to turn up in the ways he wanted. Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and the tribal leaders supervised the lottery.
3-4 (Moses had already given land to the two and a half tribes on the east side of the Jordan River. The tribe of Joseph had become two separate tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and the Levites were given no land at all, except cities in which to live and the surrounding pasturelands for their cattle. 5 So the distribution of the land was in strict accordance with the Lord’s directions to Moses.)
6 The Land Given to Caleb: A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb, came to Joshua in Gilgal.
“Remember what the Lord said to Moses about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea?” Caleb asked Joshua. 7 “I was forty years old at the time, and Moses had sent us from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land of Canaan. I reported what I felt was the truth, 8 but our brothers who went with us frightened the people and discouraged them from entering the Promised Land. But since I had followed the Lord my God, 9 Moses told me, ‘The section of Canaan you were just in shall belong to you and your descendants forever.’
10 “Now, as you see, from that time until now the Lord has kept me alive and well for all these forty-five years since crisscrossing the wilderness, and today I am eighty-five years old. 11 I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent us on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then! 12 So I’m asking that you give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as spies we found the Anakim living there in great, walled cities, but if the Lord is with me, I shall drive them out of the land.”
13-14 So Joshua blessed him and gave him Hebron as a permanent inheritance because he had followed the Lord God of Israel. 15 (Before that time Hebron had been called Kiriath-arba, after a great hero of the Anakim.)
And there was no resistance from the local populations as the Israelis resettled the land.
Footnotes
- Joshua 14:1 by throwing dice, literally, “by lot.”
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.