Dividing the Land West of the Jordan
1These are the territories the Israelites received as an inheritance in the land of Canaan, allotted to them by Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral tribes of Israel. 2Their inheritance was assigned by lot, as Yahweh had commanded through Moses, for the nine and a half tribes, 3for Moses had given the inheritance of the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them, 4since the descendants of Joseph made up two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites received no share of the land, only towns to live in, along with the pasturelands for their livestock and possessions. 5The Israelites did just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and they divided the land.
Caleb’s Inheritance
6The people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what Yahweh said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me at Kadesh-barnea. 7I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of Yahweh, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him back word as it was in my heart. 8But the brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear, while I followed Yahweh my God wholeheartedly. 9So on that day Moses swore an oath: ‘The land on which your foot has walked will be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have followed Yahweh my God wholeheartedly.’ 10Now then, Yahweh has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, while Israel journeyed through the wilderness. Here I am today, eighty-five years old, 11and I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me. My strength now is just as it was then, for war, and for going out and coming in. 12So now, give me this hill country that Yahweh promised on that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakim were there, with large fortified cities. Perhaps Yahweh will be with me, and I will drive them out, just as Yahweh said.” 13Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. 14So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite as an inheritance to this day, because he followed Yahweh, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly. 15Now the name of Hebron used to be Kiriath-arba — Arba had been the greatest man among the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.
