Joshua 13

¹⁰Now behold, as the Lord promised, He has kept me alive these forty-five years since He spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old,

³The Lord your God Himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua will cross ahead of you, as the Lord has said.

²⁹Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110.

¹¹And Abraham and Sarah were already old and well along in years; Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

¹A long time after the Lord had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, when Joshua was old and well along in years,

²he summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers. “I am old and well along in years,” he said,

⁷But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years.

¹¹also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah—

⁴Now what do you have against Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering against Me a recompense? If you retaliate against Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your recompense upon your heads.

¹These are the nations that the Lord left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan,

⁸Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)

²³then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you.

²⁴Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea.

⁵He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all of Bashan up to the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.

¹⁸Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain on your way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

²³And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor and settled in their place.)

³the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

⁴“What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.

²“Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance with these boundaries:

³Your southern border will extend from the Wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom. On the east, your southern border will run from the end of the Salt Sea,

¹⁵And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,

¹⁶the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,

³⁰Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob. There were twenty-two cities, along with their villages.

¹Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek.

³⁴The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to come down into the plain.

³⁵And the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. But when the house of Joseph grew in strength, they pressed the Amorites into forced labor.

⁷And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the Israelites conquered beyond the Jordan to the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir (according to the allotments to the tribes of Israel, Joshua gave them as an inheritance

⁸the hill country, the foothills, the Arabah, the slopes, the wilderness, and the Negev—the lands of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites):

¹⁸the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;

³to the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

¹⁸So Solomon’s and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the construction of the temple.

⁷And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the Israelites conquered beyond the Jordan to the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir (according to the allotments to the tribes of Israel, Joshua gave them as an inheritance

⁷of Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, of Philistia with the people of Tyre.

⁹The elders of Gebal were aboard as shipwrights, repairing your leaks. All the ships of the sea and their sailors came alongside to barter for your merchandise.

⁸and from Mount Hor to Lebo-hamath, then extend to Zedad,

¹⁷from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death.

⁸and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who struck them down and pursued them all the way to Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.

²¹I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.

²²In this way I will test whether Israel will keep the way of the Lord by walking in it as their fathers did.”

⁵⁴And you are to divide the land by lot according to your clans. Give a larger inheritance to a larger clan and a smaller inheritance to a smaller one. Whatever falls to each one by lot will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to the tribes of your fathers.

¹³know for sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the Lord your God has given you.

³⁰Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land.

³¹And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

⁵³“The land is to be divided among the tribes as an inheritance, according to the number of names.

⁵⁴Increase the inheritance for a large tribe and decrease it for a small one; each tribe is to receive its inheritance according to the number of those registered.

⁵⁴And you are to divide the land by lot according to your clans. Give a larger inheritance to a larger clan and a smaller inheritance to a smaller one. Whatever falls to each one by lot will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to the tribes of your fathers.

¹³This is what the Lord God says: “These are the boundaries by which you are to divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall receive two portions.

¹⁴You are to divide it equally among them. Because I swore with an uplifted hand to give it to your forefathers, this land will fall to you as an inheritance.

²³As for the rest of the tribes: Benjamin will have one portion extending from the east side to the west side.

²⁴Simeon will have one portion bordering the territory of Benjamin from east to west.

²So the Gadites and Reubenites came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the congregation, and said,

³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

⁶Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the Israelites had struck them down and given their land as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

¹²So at that time we took possession of this land. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the land beyond Aroer along the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead, along with its cities.

¹³To the half-tribe of Manasseh I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og. (The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.)

⁴And now that the Lord your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them, you may return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you across the Jordan.

³³So Moses gave to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land including its cities and the territory surrounding them.

³⁴And the Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

¹²The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over before the Israelites, armed for battle as Moses had instructed them.

¹⁶The territory from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, to the whole plateau beyond Medeba,

³⁰But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed as far as Dibon. We demolished them as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.”

¹²So at that time we took possession of this land. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the land beyond Aroer along the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead, along with its cities.

²²upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

²Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.

¹⁶and to the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.

²⁴And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified.

²⁵Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.

⁴⁷They took possession of the land belonging to Sihon and to Og king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan to the east—

⁴⁸extending from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Siyon (that is, Hermon),

²Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,

³as well as the Arabah east of the Sea of Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), eastward through Beth-jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

²³But Geshur and Aram captured Havvoth-jair, along with Kenath and its sixty surrounding villages. All these were descendants of Machir the father of Gilead.

⁴And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.

¹⁰all the cities of the plateau, all of Gilead, and all of Bashan as far as the cities of Salecah and Edrei in the kingdom of Og.

¹¹(For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

²³But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

²⁴And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified.

³For Moses had given the inheritance east of the Jordan to the other two and a half tribes. But he granted no inheritance among them to the Levites.

⁴The descendants of Joseph became two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion of the land was given to the Levites, except for cities in which to live, along with pasturelands for their flocks and herds.

¹¹also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah—

¹²For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them,

¹³know for sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the Lord your God has given you.

⁵⁵But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they will harass you in the land where you settle.

³⁷Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day.

³⁸After Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, he stayed there three years.

¹Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I had promised to your fathers, and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,

²and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?

³his second was Chileab, by Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; his third was Absalom, the son of Maacah daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;

²⁰Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

²¹Behold, I have given to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the service of the Tent of Meeting.

³For Moses had given the inheritance east of the Jordan to the other two and a half tribes. But he granted no inheritance among them to the Levites.

⁴The descendants of Joseph became two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion of the land was given to the Levites, except for cities in which to live, along with pasturelands for their flocks and herds.

¹The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the food offerings to the Lord; that is their inheritance.

²Although they have no inheritance among their brothers, the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them.

⁹That is why Levi has no portion or inheritance among his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God promised him.

¹⁹and be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

¹²And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

⁹The area from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon,

²Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,

⁷Therefore let Moab wail; let them wail together for Moab. Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth, you who are utterly stricken.

⁸For the fields of Heshbon have withered, along with the grapevines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choicest vines, which had reached as far as Jazer and spread toward the desert. Their shoots had spread out and passed over the sea.

²¹Judgment has come upon the high plain—upon Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,

²²upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,

³³So Moses gave to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land including its cities and the territory surrounding them.

³⁴And the Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

¹²So at that time we took possession of this land. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the land beyond Aroer along the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead, along with its cities.

⁴¹The next morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal. From there he could see the outskirts of the camp of the people.

¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

³⁸as well as Nebo and Baal-meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. And they renamed the cities they rebuilt.

²³But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.

³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they were given Bezer, Jahaz,

³⁷Kedemoth, and Mephaath—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

⁷⁸From the tribe of Reuben east of the Jordan opposite Jericho they were given Bezer in the wilderness, Jahzah,

⁷⁹Kedemoth, and Mephaath, together with their pasturelands.

³⁷The Reubenites built up Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,

³⁸as well as Nebo and Baal-meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. And they renamed the cities they rebuilt.

⁴⁶while they were in the valley across the Jordan facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.

³as well as the Arabah east of the Sea of Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), eastward through Beth-jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

⁹therefore I will indeed expose the flank of Moab beginning with its frontier cities—Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim—the glory of the land.

⁴⁹And there on the plains of Moab they camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim.

³So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord burned against them.

¹⁷The Jordan River in the Arabah bordered it from Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) with the slopes of Pisgah to the east.

⁸Among the slain were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

¹⁰all the cities of the plateau, all of Gilead, and all of Bashan as far as the cities of Salecah and Edrei in the kingdom of Og.

³⁰But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.

³¹Then the Lord said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”

²⁴And Israel put him to the sword and took possession of his land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok—but only up to the border of the Ammonites, because it was fortified.

²⁵Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its villages.

⁸Among the slain were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

¹¹Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

¹⁴But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

¹⁵They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

¹And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not seek omens as on previous occasions, but he turned his face toward the wilderness.

⁵he sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt,” said Balak. “They cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.

⁶So please come now and put a curse on this people, because they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land; for I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed.”

³⁴And the Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,

³⁵Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

¹¹(For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)

¹In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

²⁶Meanwhile, Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal fortress.

³⁵Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

¹⁹But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”

¹⁴So I will kindle a fire in the walls of Rabbah to consume its citadels amid war cries on the day of battle and a violent wind on the day of tempest.

²⁷When David came to Mahanaim, he was met by Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim.

⁸Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, moved him to Mahanaim,

⁴⁹It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other.

³who said to his servants, “Do you not know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, but we have failed to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?”

¹⁷Then the Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, and the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.

¹¹So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their leader and commander. And Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of the Lord at Mizpah.

¹¹then go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain and continue along the slopes east of the Sea of Chinnereth.

³⁶Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and they built folds for their flocks.

¹⁷but Jacob went on to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

²to the kings of the north in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Chinnereth, in the foothills, and in Naphoth-dor to the west;

¹⁷The Jordan River in the Arabah bordered it from Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) with the slopes of Pisgah to the east.

³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,

²⁶the territory from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Debir;

³⁹The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who were there.

⁴⁰So Moses gave Gilead to the clan of Machir son of Manasseh, and they settled there.

²¹Later, Hezron slept with the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead. He had married her when he was sixty years old, and she bore to him Segub.

²²Segub was the father of Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.

¹³To the half-tribe of Manasseh I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og. (The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.)

¹⁴Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He renamed Bashan after himself, Havvoth-jair, by which it is called to this day.

⁴And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei.

³⁹The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it, and drove out the Amorites who were there.

⁴⁰So Moses gave Gilead to the clan of Machir son of Manasseh, and they settled there.

⁷The Levites, however, have no portion among you, because their inheritance is the priesthood of the Lord. And Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received the inheritance that Moses the servant of the Lord gave them beyond the Jordan to the east.”

¹⁴To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses had given no inheritance. The food offerings to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, just as He had promised them.

¹The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the food offerings to the Lord; that is their inheritance.

²Although they have no inheritance among their brothers, the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them.

⁹That is why Levi has no portion or inheritance among his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God promised him.

²⁰Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.