Joshua 13:1

1 When Joshua had reached a venerable age, God said to him, "You've had a good, long life, but there is a lot of land still to be taken.

Joshua 13:1 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 13:1

Now Joshua was old, [and] stricken in years
How old he was cannot be said precisely, but it is very probable he was now about an hundred years of age, for he lived to be an hundred ten; and the land of Canaan was seven years in dividing, as the Jews generally say, and it seems as if he did not live long after that:

and the Lord said unto him:
either spoke to him out of the tabernacle, or appeared to him in a dream or vision:

thou art old, [and] stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very
much land to be possessed:
that is, very much of the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham, yet remained unconquered by Joshua, and unpossessed by the children of Israel; and the old age of Joshua is observed, to intimate to him that through it, and the infirmities of it, he was unable to go out to war, and to finish this work, which must be left to be done by others hereafter; and that he should with all expedition set about another work he was capable of doing, before he died, which was the division of the land among the tribes of Israel.

Joshua 13:1 In-Context

1 When Joshua had reached a venerable age, God said to him, "You've had a good, long life, but there is a lot of land still to be taken.
2 This is the land that remains: all the districts of the Philistines and Geshurites;
3 the land from the Shihor River east of Egypt to the border of Ekron up north, Canaanite country (there were five Philistine tyrants - in Gaza, in Ashdod, in Ashkelon, in Gath, in Ekron); also the Avvim
4 from the south; all the Canaanite land from Arah (belonging to the Sidonians) to Aphek at the Amorite border;
5 the country of the Gebalites; all Lebanon eastward from Baal Gad in the shadow of Mount Hermon to the Entrance of Hamath;
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.