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The First Stage in Dividing the Land

14 This is the land that the people of Israel inherited in Canaan. The priest Eleazar, Joshua (son of Nun), and the heads of Israel’s tribes distributed it to the people. The land inherited by the nine-and-a-half tribes was determined by drawing lots as Yahweh had commanded through Moses. Moses had given the two-and-a-half tribes their inheritance east of the Jordan River. He did not give any land as an inheritance to Levi’s tribe, because Joseph’s descendants, Manasseh and Ephraim, formed two tribes. The Levites were not given a share of the land. Joseph’s descendants gave the Levites cities to live in with pasturelands for their cattle and everything they had. So the people of Israel divided the land as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Special Land for Caleb

Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb, son of Jephunneh and grandson of Kenaz, said to him, “You know what Yahweh said to Moses, the man of Elohim, at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. I was 40 years old when Yahweh’s servant Moses sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. I reported to him exactly what I thought. But my companions discouraged the people. However, I was completely loyal to Yahweh my Elohim. On that day Moses swore this oath: ‘The land your feet walked on will be a permanent inheritance for you and your descendants because you were completely loyal to Yahweh my Elohim.’

10 “So look at me. Yahweh has kept me alive as he promised. It’s been 45 years since Israel wandered in the desert when Yahweh made this promise to Moses. So now look at me today. I’m 85 years old. 11 I’m still as fit to go to war now as I was when Moses sent me out. 12 Now give me this mountain region which Yahweh spoke of that day. You heard that the people of Anak are still there and that they have large, fortified cities. If Yahweh is with me, I can force them out, as Yahweh promised.”

13 So Joshua blessed Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. 14 Hebron is still the inheritance of Caleb, son of Jephunneh and grandson of Kenaz, because Caleb was completely loyal to Yahweh Elohim of Israel. 15 In the past Hebron was called Kiriath Arba. Arba was the greatest man among the people of Anak. So the land had peace.

14 These are the inheritances which the people of Isra’el took in the land of Kena‘an, which El‘azar the cohen, Y’hoshua the son of Nun and the heads of the ancestral clans of the tribes of the people of Isra’el distributed to them by lot for them to inherit, as Adonai ordered through Moshe, for the nine tribes and the half-tribe. Moshe had already given the inheritances to the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Yarden; to the L’vi’im he gave no inheritance among them. The descendants of Yosef constituted two tribes, M’nasheh and Efrayim; and they gave no portion of the land to the L’vi’im except cities to live in, with the open land surrounding them for their livestock and crops. As Adonai had ordered Moshe, so the people of Isra’el did — they divided the land.

The descendants of Y’hudah approached Y’hoshua in Gilgal, and Kalev the son of Y’funeh the K’nizi said to him, “You know what Adonai told Moshe the man of God about me and you in Kadesh-Barnea. I was forty years old when Moshe the servant of Adonai sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to reconnoiter the land, and I brought back to him an honest report. My brothers who went up with me discouraged the people, but I followed Adonai my God completely. On that day Moshe swore, ‘Surely the land where your foot has been will be the inheritance for you and your descendants forever, because you have followed Adonai my God completely.’ 10 Now, look: Adonai has kept me alive these forty-five years, as he said he would, from the time Adonai said this to Moshe, when Isra’el was going through the desert. Today I am eighty-five years old, 11 but I am as strong today as on the day Moshe sent me — I’m as strong now as I was then, whether for war or simply for going here and there. 12 Therefore, give me this hill, the one Adonai spoke about on that day; for on that day you heard how the ‘Anakim were there with great, fortified cities; perhaps Adonai will be with me, and I will drive them away, as Adonai said.”

13 Y’hoshua blessed him and gave Hevron to Kalev the son of Y’funeh as his inheritance. 14 So Hevron became the inheritance of Kalev the son of Y’funeh the K’nizi, as it is to this day; because he followed Adonai the God of Isra’el completely. 15 (Hevron was formerly called Kiryat-Arba; this Arba was the greatest man among the ‘Anakim.) Then the land had rest from war.