Joshua 14:6-15

6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal; and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me.
7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land; and I brought him an honest report.
8 But my companions who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.
9 And Moses swore on that day, saying, "Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.'
10 And now, as you see, the Lord has kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel was journeying through the wilderness; and here I am today, eighty-five years old.
11 I am still as strong today as I was on the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war, and for going and coming.
12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day; for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; it may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as the Lord said."
13 Then Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.
14 So Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.
15 Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba; this Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.

Joshua 14:6-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 14

This chapter proceeds to give an account of the countries divided to the children of Israel in the land of Canaan, Jos 14:1-5; but previous to that division relates the claim of Caleb to Hebron, through a promise made unto him by Moses forty five years ago, upon his report of the good land, whither he was sent a spy by him, Jos 14:6-12; and the grant which Joshua made of it to him, with his blessing, Jos 14:13-15.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. That is [the city of Arba]
  • [b]. Heb lacks [this Arba was]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.