Study Desk

So Moses promised on that day, ‘For sure the land where your foot has stepped will be a gift to you and your children forever. Because you have followed the Lord my God with all your heart.'

So now give me this hill country the Lord spoke about on that day. For you heard then that big powerful men were there, with strong cities with high walls. If the Lord will be with me, I will drive them out just as the Lord said."

So Joshua prayed that God would favor him. And he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his share.

Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's brother, took it. So Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah as a wife.

Achsah answered, "Give me a gift. You have given me the land of the Negev. Give me wells of water also." So Caleb gave her the wells in the high-land and in the valley.

But the sons of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites, the people of Jerusalem. So the Jebusites live with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites live among Ephraim to this day. But they have been made to work for the people of Ephraim.

They came to Eleazar the religious leader, Joshua the son of Nun, and the leaders, saying, "The Lord told Moses to give us a share of land among our brothers." So they gave them a share of land among their father's brothers, as the Lord had said.

So Joshua said to the people of Israel, "How long will you wait before going in to take the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?

The land of the people of Simeon was taken from the land of the people of Judah. For the share of the people of Judah was too large for them. So the people of Simeon received a share of land in the center of Judah's land.

The people of Dan needed more land. So they went up and fought with Leshem and took it with the sword. They took it for themselves and lived in it. And they gave it the name Leshem Dan after the name of Dan their father.

As the Lord had told them, they gave him the city he asked for. They gave him Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and lived in it.

This is the land which was given by Eleazar the religious leader, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the houses of the families of the people of Israel. It was given by drawing names in Shiloh before the Lord at the door of the meeting tent. So they finished dividing the land.

So the man who kills any person without meaning to or planning to may run to one of these cities. They will be places where you can go to be safe from the one who wants to punish you for the killing.

He will run to one of these cities and stand at the city gate. There he will tell his story to the leaders of that city. They will take him into the city and give him a place. So he may live among them.

So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali. They set apart Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim. And they set apart Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

These were the chosen cities for all the people of Israel and for the stranger staying among them. So whoever killed any person without meaning to could run there. He could not be killed by the one who wanted to punish him, before standing trial in front of the people.

So the sons of Israel gave these cities and fields of their land to the Levites, as the Lord had said.

So to the sons of Aaron the religious leader they gave Hebron and Libnah with their fields. Hebron was the city where one who killed a man could go to be safe.

Each one of these cities had its fields around it. So it was with all these cities.