Caleb's Request and Inheritance

Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the (A)Kenizzite said to him, “You know (B)what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord (C)sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But (D)my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, (E)‘Surely the land (F)on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, (G)just as he said, these (H)forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day (I)eighty-five years old. 11 (J)I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and (K)for going and coming. 12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the (L)Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

13 Then Joshua (M)blessed him, and he gave (N)Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. 14 Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, (O)because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 (P)Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba.[a] (Arba[b] was the greatest man among the Anakim.) (Q)And the land had rest from war.

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 14:15 Kiriath-arba means the city of Arba
  2. Joshua 14:15 Hebrew He

Caleb’s Request(A)

After this, the descendants of Judah approached Joshua in Gilgal. Jephunneh the Kenizzite’s son Caleb told him, “You know the promise that the Lord gave Moses the man of God concerning the two of us in Kadesh-barnea. I was 40 years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to scout the land. I brought back an honest report[a] to him. As it happened, my fellow Israelis who went up with me terrified the people, but I fully followed the Lord my God. Moses made a promise to me on that day when he said, ‘The land that you covered on foot will certainly be your inheritance. It will belong to your descendants forever, because you have fully followed the Lord my God.’

10 “Look how[b] the Lord has let me survive, as you can see, these 45 years since the time when the Lord said this through Moses, while Israel was wandering through the wilderness. And look! I’m here today—my eighty-fifth birthday! 11 I’m still as strong today as I was the day Moses commissioned me. I’m as strong today as I was then, and I can go out to battle and come back successful. 12 Now then, give me that hill country about which the Lord spoke back on that day, because you yourself heard back then that the Anakim[c] were there, with great reinforced cities. Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will expel them, just as the Lord said.”

13 So Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Jephunneh’s son Caleb for his inheritance. 14 Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Jephunneh the Kenizzite’s son Caleb, and it remains so today, because he fully followed the Lord God of Israel. 15 Hebron used to be known as Kiriath-arba, after the greatest man among the Anakim.[d] After all of this, the land enjoyed rest from war.

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 14:7 Lit. a report with my heart
  2. Joshua 14:10 The Heb. lacks how
  3. Joshua 14:12 2 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2
  4. Joshua 14:15 I.e. a race of giants that formerly populated Canaan; cf. Num 13:22, 33; Deut 9:2