7
I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to make a search through the land; and the account which I gave him was in keeping with his desire.
8
My brothers, however, who went up with me, made the heart of the people like water: but I was true to the Lord with all my heart.
9
And on that day Moses took an oath, saying, Truly the land where your feet have been placed will become a heritage for you and your children for ever, because you have been true to the Lord your God with all your heart.
10
And now, as you see, the Lord has kept me safe these forty-five years, from the time when the Lord said this to Moses, while Israel was wandering in the waste land: and now I am eighty-five years old.
11
And still, I am as strong today as I was when Moses sent me out: as my strength was then, so is it now, for war and for all the business of life.
12
So now, give me this hill-country named by the Lord at that time; for you had an account of it then, how the Anakim were there, and great walled towns: it may be that the Lord will be with me, and I will be able to take their land, as the Lord said.
13
And Joshua gave him his blessing; and he gave Hebron to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, for his heritage.
14
So Hebron became the heritage of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, to this day, because with all his heart he was true to the Lord, the God of Israel.
15
In earlier times the name of Hebron had been Kiriath-arba, named after Arba, the greatest of the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.