The Daily Audio Bible

Land for Judah's tribe

15 This is the land that Joshua gave to the tribe of Judah, clan by clan. Their land went south along the border of Edom, as far as the wilderness of Zin in the Negev.

² The south border of Judah's land was from the south end of the Salt Sea. ³ It went across the south side of the Scorpion Hill, to Zin. From the south it went up to Kadesh-Barnea, as far as Hebron. Their border continued past Addar, and it turned towards Karka. ⁴ Then it went to Azmon and it continued to the Stream of Egypt. It finished at the sea. That was the south border of Judah's land.

⁵ Judah's east border went from the Salt Sea as far as the end of the Jordan River.

Their north border started from the end of the Jordan at the Salt Sea. ⁶ From there it went to Beth Hoglah. Then it went north of Beth Arabah to the stone of Bohan. (Bohan was a son of Reuben.) ⁷ The border went from the valley of Achor to Debir.^[a] Then it went north to Gilgal. Gilgal is opposite the Adummim hill, on the south side of the valley. Then it reached the springs of En Shemesh to En Rogel. ⁸ From there it went through the valley of Hinnom to the south side of a hill beside the Jebusite city of Jerusalem. Judah's border then continued to the top of the hill on the west side of the Hinnom valley. This was at the north end of the valley of the Rephaites. ⁹ From there it went to the springs of Nephtoah and onto the cities near Mount Ephron. It went towards Baalah (also called Kiriath-Jearim). ¹⁰ It went round Baalah towards the hills of Edom. It went north of Jearim mountain (also called Kesalon) down to Beth Shemesh, and it continued on past Timnah. ¹¹ Then it went out to the hills north of Ekron, and on towards Shikkeron. It went past Baalah mountain, as far as Jabneel. Judah's north border ended at the sea.

¹² The west border of Judah's land was the Mediterranean Sea.

Those were the borders of the land which Judah's tribe and its clans received.

Caleb takes the cities of Hebron and Debir^[b]

¹³ The Lord had told Joshua to give Kiriath Arba to Caleb, Jephunneh's son. That was the part of Judah's land that Caleb received. Arba was the father of Anak. Kiriath Arba was now called Hebron. ¹⁴ Caleb chased out the three sons of Anak from Hebron. Their names were Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. ¹⁵ From there he went to attack the people of Debir. (Debir had been called Kiriath Sepher). ¹⁶ Caleb said, ‘If a brave man attacks and takes Kiriath Sepher, he can marry my daughter, Acsah.’ ¹⁷ Othniel attacked the city and he took it. He was the son of Caleb's brother, Kenaz. So Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel, to be his wife.

¹⁸ After this, Acsah told Othniel that they should ask her father to give them some land. She went to see her father, Caleb. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What would you like me to do for you?’

¹⁹ She said, ‘Please be kind and give me a special gift. You have given me some land in the Negev desert. Now please give me a place with springs so that I have water for the land.’ So Caleb gave her some land with springs, on high land and on low land.

Judah's towns

²⁰ This is the land that Joshua gave to the clans of Judah's tribe.

²¹ These towns were in the south of Judah's land, near the border of Edom:

Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, ²² Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, ²³ Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, ²⁴ Ziph, Telem, and Bealoth. ²⁵ Also Hazor Hadattah, Kerioth Hezron (that is, Hazor), ²⁶ Amam, Shema, Moladah, ²⁷ Hazar-Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth Pelet. ²⁸ Also Hazar-Shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, ²⁹ Baalah, Iim, Ezem, ³⁰ Eltolad, Kesil, Hormah, ³¹ Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, ³² Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain and Rimmon.

That is 29 towns with their villages.

³³ These towns were in the low hills in the west:

Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, ³⁴ Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, ³⁵ Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh and Azekah. ³⁶ Also he gave them Shaaraim, Adithaim and Gederah, (or Gederothaim).

There were 14 towns and villages.

³⁷ He gave them Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal Gad, ³⁸ Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel, ³⁹ Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, ⁴⁰ Cabbon, Lahmas, and Kitlish. ⁴¹ Also he gave them Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah and Makkedah.

There were 16 towns and their villages.

⁴² He also gave them Libnah, Ether, Ashan, ⁴³ Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, ⁴⁴ Keilah, Aczib and Mareshah.

There were nine towns with their villages.

⁴⁵ He also gave them Ekron with the houses and villages that belonged to it. ⁴⁶ And he gave them all those towns west of Ekron, near to Ashdod with their villages. ⁴⁷ And he gave them Ashdod and Gaza with their houses and villages. They had the land as far as the Stream of Egypt, and to the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴⁸ These towns were in the hill country:

Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, ⁴⁹ Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (that is, Debir), ⁵⁰ and Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, ⁵¹ Goshen, Holon and Giloh.

There were 11 towns and their villages.

⁵² He also gave them Arab, Dumah, Eshan, ⁵³ Janim, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah, ⁵⁴ Humtah, Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) and Zior.

There were nine towns and their villages.

⁵⁵ Also Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah, ⁵⁶ Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, ⁵⁷ Kain, Gibeah and Timnah.

There were ten towns and their villages.

⁵⁸ And he gave them Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor, ⁵⁹ Maarath, Beth Anoth and Eltekon.

There were six towns and their villages.

⁶⁰ And Kiriath Baal, (that is, Kiriath-Jearim) and Rabbah.

There were two towns and their villages.

⁶¹ These towns were in the desert:

Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, ⁶² Nibshan, Salt city, and En Gedi.

There were six towns and their villages.

⁶³ But the men of Judah's tribe could not chase the Jebusites out of Jerusalem. As a result, the Jebusites still live there, together with the people of Judah.

Jesus meets a rich ruler

¹⁸ A Jewish ruler came to Jesus and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do so that I can live with God for ever?’

¹⁹ Jesus asked him, ‘Why do you say that I am good? Only God is good. Nobody else. ²⁰ You know God's rules: “Do not have sex with anyone who is not your wife. Do not kill anyone. Do not rob anyone. Do not say things that are not true about people. Love your father and your mother, and obey them.” ’

²¹ The man replied, ‘I have obeyed all these laws since I was a young man.’

²² Jesus heard what he said and he replied, ‘There is still just one thing that you must do. You must sell everything that you have. Then give the money to poor people. If you do that, you will have many valuable things in heaven. Then come back and be my disciple.’

²³ When the ruler heard this, he became very sad. This was because he was a very rich man.

²⁴ Jesus saw that the ruler had become sad. He said, ‘It is very difficult for rich people to let God rule in their lives. ²⁵ The hole in a needle is very small. A camel cannot go through it! But it is even more difficult than that for a rich person to let God rule in their life.’

²⁶ The people who were listening to Jesus said, ‘So perhaps God will not save anyone!’ ²⁷ Jesus replied, ‘God can do things that are impossible for people to do.’

²⁸ Peter then said to Jesus, ‘Look! We have left everything that we had. Now we are your disciples.’

²⁹ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: Some people have left their homes. Or they may have left their wife or their brothers. Or they may have left their parents or their children. They have done this to work for the kingdom of God. ³⁰ Now, in this world, God will give these people many more things than they have left behind. And in the future world they will live for ever with God.’

³¹ Jesus took the 12 disciples away from the other people. ‘Listen!’ he said to them. ‘We are going to Jerusalem. There, many bad things will happen to me. All the things that God's prophets wrote down long ago about the Son of Man will now happen to me. ³² The Jewish leaders will deliver me to people that are not Jews. They will laugh at me. They will say bad things against me. They will spit at me. ³³ They will hit me with whips and then they will kill me. But after three days, I will become alive again.’

³⁴ The 12 disciples did not understand any of these things. What Jesus said did not mean anything to them. So they did not know what Jesus was talking about.

Jesus makes a blind man well

³⁵ When Jesus was getting near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the side of the road. He was asking people to give him money. ³⁶ Then he heard a large crowd of people as they went along the road. So he asked the people near him what was happening. ³⁷ They told him, ‘Jesus from Nazareth is walking past.’

³⁸ The man began to shout out. ‘Jesus! Son of David! Please be kind to me and help me.’ ³⁹ The people who were walking at the front of the crowd were angry with him. They told him that he should be quiet. But he started to shout even louder, ‘Son of David! Please help me!’

⁴⁰ Then Jesus stopped. He said to the people, ‘Bring that man to me.’ When the man came near, Jesus asked him, ⁴¹ ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Sir,’ the blind man replied, ‘I want to see again.’

⁴² Jesus said to him, ‘See again! You are well now because you believed in me.’ ⁴³ Immediately, the man could see again. He started to follow Jesus along the road. He was praising God.

Many people saw what had happened. They also praised God.

David's prayer.

A prayer for help