Joshua Chapter 13

Joshua 13 — English translation

Translation: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. Verse numbers match the Hebrew text below.

1. 1Joshua was now old, advanced in years. G OD said to him, “You have grown old, you are advanced in years; and very much of the land still remains to be taken possession of.
2. 2This is the territory that remains: all the districts of the Philistines and all [those of] the Geshurites,
3. 3from the Shihor, which is close to Egypt, to the territory of Ekron on the north, are accounted Canaanite, namely, those of the five lords of the Philistines—the Gazites, the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites—and those of the Avvim
4. 4on the south; further, all the Canaanite country from Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek at the Amorite border
5. 5and the land of the Gebalites, with the whole [Valley of the] Lebanon, from Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon to Lebo-hamath on the east,
6. 6with all the inhabitants of the hill country from the [Valley of the] Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, namely, all the Sidonians. I Myself will dispossess those nations for the Israelites; you have only to apportion their lands by lot among Israel, as I have commanded you.
7. 7Therefore, divide this territory into hereditary portions for the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”
8. 8Now the Reubenites and the Gadites, along with the other half-tribe, had already received the shares that Moses assigned to them on the east side of the Jordan—as assigned to them by Moses the servant of G OD :
9. 9from Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon and the town in the middle of the wadi, the entire Tableland [from] Medeba to Dibon,
10. 10embracing all the towns of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had reigned in Heshbon, up to the border of the Ammonites;
11. 11further, Gilead, the territories of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and all of Mount Hermon, and the whole of Bashan up to Salcah—
12. 12the entire kingdom of Og, who had reigned over Bashan at Ashtaroth and at Edrei. (He was the last of the remaining Rephaim.) These were defeated and dispossessed by Moses;
13. 13but the Israelites failed to dispossess the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and Geshur and Maacath remain among Israel to this day.
14. 14No hereditary portion, however, was assigned to the tribe of Levi, their portion being the fire offerings of the E TERNAL , the God of Israel, as [God] spoke concerning them.
15. 15And so Moses assigned [the following] to the tribe of the Reubenites, for their various clans,
16. 16and it became theirs: The territory from Aroer, on the edge of the Wadi Arnon and the town in the middle of the wadi, up to Medeba—the entire Tableland—
17. 17Heshbon and all its towns in the Tableland: Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon,
18. 18Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,
19. 19Kiriathaim, Sibmah, and Zereth-shahar in the hill of the valley,
20. 20Beth-peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth—
21. 21all the towns of the Tableland and the entire kingdom of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who had reigned in Heshbon. (For Moses defeated him and the Midianite chiefs Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, who had dwelt in the land as princes of Sihon.
22. 22Together with the others that they slew, the Israelites put Balaam son of Beor, the augur, to the sword.)
23. 23The boundary of the Reubenites was the edge of the Jordan. That was the portion of the Reubenites for their various clans—those towns with their villages.
24. 24To the tribe of Gad, for the various Gadite clans, Moses assigned [the following],
25. 25and it became their territory: Jazer, all the towns of Gilead, part of the country of the Ammonites up to Aroer, which is close to Rabbah,
26. 26and from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Lidbir;
27. 27and in the Valley, Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon—the rest of the kingdom of Sihon, the king of Heshbon—down to the edge of the Jordan and up to the tip of the Sea of Chinnereth on the east side of the Jordan.
28. 28That was the portion of the Gadites, for their various clans—those towns with their villages.
29. 29And to the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses assigned [the following], so that it went to the half-tribe of Manasseh, for its various clans,
30. 30and became their territory: Mahanaim, all of Bashan, the entire kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, and all of Havvoth-jair in Bashan, sixty towns;
31. 31and part of Gilead, and Ashtaroth and Edrei, the royal cities of Og in Bashan, were assigned to the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh—to a part of the descendants of Machir—for their various clans.
32. 32Those, then, were the portions that Moses assigned in the steppes of Moab, on the east side of the Jordan.
33. 33But no portion was assigned by Moses to the tribe of Levi; the E TERNAL , the God of Israel, is their portion—as [God] spoke concerning them.

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