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.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

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

Caleb Requests His Land

A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, “Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea. I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to explore the land of Canaan. I returned and gave an honest report, but my brothers who went with me frightened the people from entering the Promised Land. For my part, I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God. So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’

10 “Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old. 11 I am as strong now as I was when Moses sent me on that journey, and I can still travel and fight as well as I could then. 12 So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.”

13 So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion of land. 14 Hebron still belongs to the descendants of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 (Previously Hebron had been called Kiriath-arba. It had been named after Arba, a great hero of the descendants of Anak.)

And the land had rest from war.

Read full chapter