Joshua 13 - Easy To Read Version

¹ When Joshua was very old, the Lord said to him, “Joshua you have grown old, but there is still much land for you to take control of.

² You have not yet taken the land of Geshur or the land of the Philistines.

³ You have not yet taken the area from the Shihor River [53] at Egypt to the border of Ekron and the land further north. That land still belongs to the Canaanite people. You must still defeat the five Philistine leaders at Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. You must also defeat the Avvite people

⁴ who live south of the Canaanite land.

⁵ You have not yet defeated the area of the Gebalites. And also there is the area of Lebanon east of Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

⁶ “People of Sidon are living in the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim. But I will force out all of these people for the people of Israel. Be sure to remember this land when you divide the land among the people of Israel. Do this like I told you.

⁷ Now, divide the land among the nine family groups and half of the family group of Manasseh.”

⁸ The family groups of Reuben, Gad, and the other half of Manasseh had already taken all of their land. The Lord’s servant, Moses gave them the land east of the Jordan River.

⁹ Their land started at Aroer by the Arnon Ravine and continued to the town in the middle of the ravine. And it included the whole plain from Medeba to Dibon.

¹⁰ All the towns that Sihon the king of the Amorite people ruled were in that land. That king ruled in the city of Heshbon. The land continued to the area where the Amorite people lived.

¹¹ Also the town of Gilead was in that land. And the area where the people of Geshur and Maacah lived was in that land. All of Mount Hermon and all of Bashan as far as Salecah was in that land.

¹² All the kingdom of King Og was in that land. King Og ruled in Bashan. In the past he ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei. Og was from the Rephaite people. In the past Moses had defeated those people and had taken their land.

¹³ The people of Israel did not force out the people of Geshur and Maacah. Those people still live among the people of Israel today.

¹⁴ The family group of Levi is the only family group that did not get any land. Instead, the people of Levi get all the animals that are offered made by fire to the Lord God of Israel. That is what the Lord promised them.

¹⁵ Moses had given each family group from the family group of Reuben some land. This is the land they received:

¹⁶ It was the land from Aroer near the Arnon Ravine to the town of Medeba. This included the whole plain and the town in the middle of the ravine.

¹⁷ The land continued to Heshbon. It included all the towns on the plain. Those towns were Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon,

¹⁸ Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,

¹⁹ Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on the hill in the valley,

²⁰ Beth Peor, the hills of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth.

²¹ So that land included all the towns on the plain and all the area that Sihon the king of the Amorite people had ruled. That king ruled at the town of Heshbon. But Moses had defeated him and the leaders of the Midianite people. Those leaders were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. (All these leaders fought together with Sihon.) All these leaders lived in that country.

²² The people of Israel defeated Balaam son of Beor. (Balaam tried to use magic to tell the future.) The people of Israel killed many people during the fighting.

²³ The land that was given to Reuben stopped at the shore of the Jordan River. So the land that was given to the family groups of Reuben included all these towns and their fields that were listed.

²⁴ This is the land Moses gave to the family group of Gad. Moses gave this land to each family group:

²⁵ The land of Jazer and all the towns of Gilead. Moses also gave them half of the land of the Ammonite people as far as Aroer near Rabbah.

²⁶ That land included the area from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim. That land included the area from Mahanaim to the land of Debir.

²⁷ That land included the valley of Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth and Zaphon. All the other land that Sihon, the king of Heshbon, had ruled was included in this land. This is the land on the east side of the Jordan River. The land continued to the end of Lake Galilee.

²⁸ All this land is the land Moses gave the family group of Gad. That land included all the towns that were listed. Moses gave that land to each family group.

²⁹ This is the land Moses gave to half of the family group of Manasseh. Half of all the families in the family group of Manasseh got this land:

³⁰ The land started at Mahanaim. The land included all of Bashan, all the land ruled by Og, king of Bashan, all the towns of Jair in Bashan. (In all, there were 60 cities.)

³¹ The land also included half of Gilead, Ashtaroth, and Edrei. (Gilead, Ashtaroth, and Edrei were the cities where king Og had lived.) All this land was given to the family of Makir son of Manasseh. Half of all those sons got this land.