The Daily Audio Bible

The land that remained for Israel to take

13 Joshua had become a very old man.^[a] The Lord said to him, ‘You are now very old. There is still a lot of land that you have not yet taken. ² This is the land left for you to take: All the land of the Philistines and the Geshurites. ³ Their land goes from the Shihor river on the east side of Egypt, to the border of Ekron's land. That part belongs to the Canaanites. The land of the Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. There is also the land of the Avvites in the south.^{[b] 4} You must take all the land of the Canaanites, which goes from Arah in Sidon region, and continues to Aphek, as far as the border of the Amorites. ⁵ There is also the land of the Gebalites, and all of Lebanon in the east. That land goes from Baal Gad at the side of Hermon mountain, to Lebo-Hamath.

⁶ I myself will chase out all the people of Sidon in front of the Israelites. I will chase them out of the hill country, from Lebanon as far as Misrephoth Maim. You must give this land to the tribes of Israel, as I have already told you. ⁷ Each of the nine tribes, and the half tribe of Manasseh, must receive its own part of the land.’^[c]

How Moses had given land to some tribes

⁸ Moses had already given land to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the other half of Manasseh. Their land was on the east side of the Jordan River. Moses, the Lord's servant, had given a piece of land to each tribe.

⁹ Their land went from Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon valley and the town in the middle of the valley. It included all the flat land of Medeba, as far as Dibon. ¹⁰ It included all the towns of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon. It went to the border of the Amorites' land. ¹¹ It included the land of Gilead, and the land of the Geshurites and Maakathites. It included all of Hermon mountain, and Bashan as far as Salecah. ¹² (That was the kingdom of King Og in Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei. He was one of the last of the Rephaites.) Moses had won a fight against them and he had taken their land. ¹³ But the Israelites did not chase out the Geshurites and the Maakathites, so they still live there among the Israelites.

¹⁴ Moses had given no land to the tribe of Levi. This was because God had made the Levites a promise. He had made a rule that they would receive their food from the sacrifices and offerings that the other tribes gave to the Lord God of Israel. The Levites received that, instead of land for themselves.

Land for Reuben's tribe

¹⁵ This is the part of the land that Moses gave to the clans of Reuben's tribe.

¹⁶ He gave them the land from Aroer by the edge of the Arnon valley and the town in the middle of the valley. ¹⁷ And he gave them all the flat land past Medeba in Heshbon. It included Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon, ¹⁸ Jahaz and Kedemoth. It also included Mephaath, ¹⁹ Kiriathaim, Sibmah and Zereth Shahar. Zereth was on a hill in the middle of the valley. ²⁰ Their land included Beth Peor, and the sides of Pisgah mountain, and Beth Jeshimoth town. ²¹ Moses gave them all the towns on the flat land. He gave them all the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites. Sihon had ruled from Hebron. But Moses had won the fight against him and the Midianite kings, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba. These kings had ruled with Sihon and they lived in his land. ²² The Israelites had killed the prophet Balaam, son of Beor, when they killed soldiers in the battle.^[d] He had used magic to help Balak fight against Israel. ²³ The border of Reuben's land was the Jordan River.

Moses gave these towns and their villages to the tribe of Reuben, family by family.

Land for Gad's tribe

²⁴ This is the part of the land that Moses gave to the clans of Gad's tribe.

²⁵ He gave them the land of Jazer, the towns of Gilead and half the land of the Ammonites. Their land went as far as Aroer, a town which was near Rabbah. ²⁶ It went from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the land of Debir. ²⁷ Moses gave Gad these towns in the valley: Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth and Zaphon. He gave them the rest of the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon. This was on the east side of the Jordan River, up to the edge of the sea of Galilee.

²⁸ Moses gave these towns and their villages to the tribe of Gad, family by family.

Land for half of Manasseh's tribe

²⁹ This is the land that Moses gave to half the tribe of Manasseh, clan by clan.

³⁰ He gave them the land from Mahanaim, the land of Bashan, all the land ruled by Og, king of Bashan. It included all the 60 towns of Jair in Bashan. ³¹ It included half of Gilead, Ashtaroth and Edrei. (These were the cities that belonged to King Og in Bashan.) This land was for half the descendants of Makir, Manasseh's son, to live in, family by family.

³² Moses gave all that land to those tribes, while they were still on the east side of the Jordan River. They were in Moab, on the flat land near Jericho. ³³ Moses gave no part of the land to Levi's tribe. The Lord himself, Israel's God, would be their part, as he had promised them.

14 Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the Israelite clans gave different parts of the land to each tribe of Israel. This tells about the land that each tribe received. ² The leaders used lots to decide which parts of the land God had chosen for each of the 9½ tribes. This is what the Lord had told Moses to do. ³ Moses had already given land east of the Jordan River to the other 2½ tribes. But he had not given any land to the Levites. ⁴ The descendants of Joseph had now become two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim.^[e] The leaders gave the Levites towns to live in, with enough land near them to feed their animals. ⁵ The leaders of the Israelites gave a part of the land to each tribe, as the Lord had told Moses to do.

Joshua gives Hebron to Caleb

⁶ Some of the men of Judah's tribe came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb spoke to Joshua. He was the son of Jephunneh, a Kenizzite man. Caleb said, ‘You know what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me, at Kadesh-Barnea. ⁷ I was 40 years old when Moses sent me from there to explore the land of Canaan. I brought back to him a true report. I was sure that we could take the land. ⁸ The other men who went with me made the people afraid. But I continued to trust the Lord my God. ⁹ So Moses made a promise to me on that day. He said, “The land that your feet have walked on will always belong to you and to your children. That is because you have trusted the Lord your God.”^[f]

¹⁰ The Lord has kept me alive for 45 years since Moses said this. During that time, the Israelites were travelling in the desert. Now I am 85 years old. ¹¹ I am still as strong as I was on the day that Moses sent me out. I can fight as well now as I could then. ¹² So please give to me this hill country that the Lord promised to me. You heard that the Anakites were living there then, in large, strong cities. But the Lord will help me to chase them out, as he has promised to do.’

¹³ Then Joshua blessed Caleb, Jephunneh's son. Joshua gave Hebron to him as his part of the land. ¹⁴ So since that day, Hebron has belonged to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite. He continued to trust the Lord, Israel's God. So Joshua gave him the land that he wanted. ¹⁵ (Before that, Hebron had been called ‘Kiriath Arba’. Arba was a famous Anakite.)

After that, there were no more battles in Canaan.

Jesus talks about how to pray

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a story. He wanted to teach them that they must go on praying always. They must not get tired. ² He said to them, ‘In a certain city, there was a judge.^[a] He was not afraid of God. He did not respect people.

³ A woman lived in that same city. Her husband had died. She came to the judge many times with a problem. “Somebody is doing bad things against me. Please keep me safe from that person,” she was saying. ⁴ For a long time, the judge would not do anything to help her. Later, he thought, “I am not afraid of God. Nor do I respect people. ⁵ But this woman causes me trouble. If I do not do anything for her, she will continue to come to me again and again. She will make me ill. So I will help her to be safe. I will say that she is right.” ’

⁶ Jesus then said, ‘This judge was not a good man. But you should think about what he said. He helped the woman because she caused him trouble. ⁷ But as for God, he always helps those that he has chosen to be his children. When they continue to ask him for help, in the day and in the night, he will answer them. He will not wait. ⁸ I tell you this. He will show that they are right. He will help them quickly. I, the Son of Man, will return to earth. But will I find many people that still believe in me then, or not?’

Jesus tells a story about two men who were praying

⁹ Jesus told a story to teach other people. These people thought that they were very good in front of God. They thought that they were much better than other people.

¹⁰ Jesus said, ‘One day, two men went into the temple to pray. One man was a Pharisee. The other man took taxes from people. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood there by himself. He prayed like this: “Thank you, God, that I am different from all these other people. They are bad people. They rob other people. They have sex with women who are not their wife. Thank you, God, that I am not like this man who takes taxes on behalf of the government. ¹² I fast for two days of each week. I give to you one tenth of all the things and money that I receive.”

¹³ But the other man stood far away. He would not even look up towards heaven. He was hitting his body with his hands to show how sorry he was. He prayed like this: “Please, God, be kind to me. I have done many bad things.” ’

¹⁴ Jesus then said, ‘Let me tell you about these men when they went home. The man that took taxes from people was now right with God. But the Pharisee was still guilty. Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring all of them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’

Little children come to Jesus

¹⁵ People were also bringing babies to Jesus. They wanted him to put his hands on each child's head. But Jesus' disciples did not like this. They told the people that they should not do it.

¹⁶ Then Jesus told the children to come to him. He said to his disciples, ‘Let the children come to me. Do not try to stop them. People must become like these children so that God can rule their lives. That is what the kingdom of God is like. ¹⁷ I tell you this: A person must become like a little child for God to rule in his life. If he does not become like a child, he will not come into the kingdom of God.’

The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.

A prayer for peace^[a]