Jos 14 | EE | STEP | Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the families of Israel chose different parts of the land for each tribe. This is how they did it.

Joshua 14

1 Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the families of Israel chose different parts of the land for each tribe. This is how they did it. 2 The leaders used lots to decide which parts of the land God had chosen for each of the 9 and a half tribes left. This is what the LORD had told Moses to do. 3 Moses had already given the two and a half tribes land east of the river Jordan. But he had not given any land to the Levites. 4 (The tribe of Joseph was now two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim.) The leaders gave the Levites towns to live in, with enough land near them to feed their animals. 5 The leaders of the Israelites gave a part of the land to each tribe, as the LORD had told Moses. ^{▼▼14:5 Verse 4. Manasseh and Ephraim were Joseph’s sons.}

Joshua gives Hebron to Caleb

6 Some of the men of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb, son of Jephunneh, spoke to Joshua. He said, ‘You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God, about you and me, at Kadesh Barnea. 7 I was 40 years old when Moses sent me from there to explore the land. And I brought him a report that was true, and I was sure that we could take the land. 8 The other men who went with us made the people afraid. But I did only what the LORD wanted us to do. 9 So Moses made me a promise on that day. Moses said, “The land that your feet have walked on will always belong to you and to your children. This is because you have done everything as the LORD told you”’. ^{▼▼14:9 Verses 6-9. You can read this story in Numbers 13:26-33 and Deuteronomy 1:34-36.}

10 Caleb said to Joshua, ‘The LORD has kept me alive for the 45 years since Moses said this. Israel was walking about the desert for all this time. Now I am 85 years old. 11 I am still as strong as I was on the day that Moses sent me out. I can fight as well now as I could then. 12 Now then, give to me this hill country that the LORD promised to me. You heard that the Anakites were there then. And you heard that their cities were large and strong. But the LORD will help me to push them out. The LORD said that he would.’

13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb, son of Jephunneh. And Joshua gave Hebron to him as his part of the land. 14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite since that day. He had done everything as the LORD had told him to do. So Joshua gave him the land. 15 (Hebron had been called ‘Kiriath Arba’ after Arba, the most important man among the Anakites.)

The fighting in the land ended after this.