Joshua 13

Translator Notes

1. Attah zaqanta bata vayyamim ('you have grown old, you have entered into the days') — God states Joshua's age not as a compliment but as an urgency: much remains to be done and Joshua's time is limited. V'ha-arets nish'arah harbeh me'od l'rishtah ('the land remaining is very great to possess') — the verb yarash ('to possess, to dispossess') reappears. Despite the conquest summary of chapters 10-12, significant territory remains outside Israelite control. The tension between 'Joshua took the whole land' (11:23) and 'very much land remains' (13:1) is deliberate: the initial military campaigns broke Canaanite power, but comprehensive settlement and control were incomplete.

Translator Notes

1. Kol g'lilot ha-P'lishtim ('all the districts/regions of the Philistines') — the Philistine territory along the southern coastal plain was never conquered during Joshua's campaigns. The Philistines, a Sea People who arrived in Canaan around the same time as the Israelite settlement, would become Israel's primary adversary through the period of the Judges and into the monarchy. Their five cities (v. 3) remained independent enclaves within the promised land.

Translator Notes

1. Chameshet sarnei F'lishtim ('the five lords/rulers of the Philistines') — the word seren (plural sarnim) is a distinctly Philistine title, possibly cognate with Greek tyrannos ('tyrant, ruler'). Each of the five Philistine cities was governed by its own seren, forming a pentapolis confederation. The five cities — Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron — controlled the southern coastal plain and the trade routes connecting Egypt to Mesopotamia.
2. The Shihor (Shichor, 'black waters') is likely the easternmost branch of the Nile delta or the Wadi el-Arish, marking the traditional border with Egypt.

Translator Notes

1. The unconquered territory extends northward along the Phoenician coast. M'arah asher la-Tsidonim ('Mearah belonging to the Sidonians') — likely a cave or cave-settlement in the Lebanese coast region. The Sidonians (Phoenicians) controlled the northern coastal territory that Israel never occupied.

Translator Notes

1. Ha-Givli ('the Gebalites') — inhabitants of Gebal (Byblos), the ancient Phoenician port city. Kol ha-L'vanon ('all Lebanon') — the Lebanon mountain range and its settlements remained unconquered. Ad l'vo Chamat ('to the entrance of Hamath') — Lebo-hamath (modern Lebweh in the Beqa'a Valley) marks the ideal northern boundary of the promised land (Numbers 34:8). The gap between the ideal boundary and the actual conquest is significant — the territory described in verses 2-6 represents the 'not yet' within God's 'already.'

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Anokhi orishem mip'nei b'nei Yisrael ('I myself will drive them out before the Israelites') — God takes personal responsibility for completing the conquest of the unconquered territories. The emphatic anokhi ('I myself') signals that the remaining dispossession is God's task, not Joshua's. Raq happilehah l'Yisrael b'nachalah ('only divide it for Israel as an inheritance') — Joshua's remaining assignment is allocation, not conquest. The verb nafal (hiphil, 'to cause to fall' — i.e., to cast lots) connects to the lot-casting method of land distribution.
2. The word nachalah ('inheritance') here carries its full covenantal weight: the land — including territory not yet controlled — is already Israel's inheritance by divine grant. Joshua is to distribute what God has promised, even before it is fully possessed.

Translator Notes

1. L'tish'at ha-sh'vatim va-chatsi ha-shevet ha-M'nasheh ('for the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh') — the western half of Manasseh receives its allotment west of the Jordan, while the eastern half already received its share in the Transjordan (v. 29-31). The nine-and-a-half tribes awaiting Cisjordan allocation are the focus of chapters 14-19.

Translator Notes

1. The narrative pauses to recapitulate the Transjordan allotment (vv. 8-13), confirming that Reuben, Gad, and eastern Manasseh already hold their nachalah by Mosaic grant. This establishes the precedent for the upcoming allocations: the same authority (divine command through Moses) governs both the Transjordan and Cisjordan distributions.

Translator Notes

1. The Transjordan boundary description begins at the Arnon gorge (the southern boundary) and moves north. Kol ha-mishor ('the entire plateau') — the Mishor is the flat, elevated tableland east of the Dead Sea, known today as the Madaba plain. This was prime agricultural and grazing land.

Translator Notes

1. Ad g'vul b'nei Ammon ('to the border of the Ammonites') — Israel's territory did not extend into Ammonite land, as God had prohibited (Deuteronomy 2:19). The Ammonite border served as the eastern limit of the Transjordan allotment.

Translator Notes

1. The description moves north through the Transjordan: Gilead (the central Transjordan highlands), the Geshurite and Maacathite territories (northeast of the Sea of Galilee), Mount Hermon, and Bashan (the volcanic plateau of the modern Golan Heights and Hauran). This represents Og's former kingdom.

Translator Notes

1. Hu nishar mi-yeter ha-Refa'im ('he remained from the remnant of the Rephaim') — Og's identity as the last Rephaim giant is repeated from 12:4. Vayyakkhem Mosheh vayyorishem ('Moses struck them and dispossessed them') — the verb yarash in the hiphil ('to dispossess, to drive out') confirms that the Transjordan conquest under Moses achieved genuine dispossession of the former inhabitants.

Translator Notes

1. V'lo horishu b'nei Yisrael et ha-G'shuri v'et ha-Ma'akhati ('the Israelites did not dispossess the Geshurites or the Maacathites') — the first explicit acknowledgment of incomplete conquest in the allocation section. This failure foreshadows the pattern that will dominate Judges 1. Ad ha-yom ha-zeh ('to this day') — the narrator confirms the ongoing presence of these unconquered peoples in the narrator's own time. David will later marry Maacah, a Geshurite princess (2 Samuel 3:3), and Absalom will flee to his grandfather the king of Geshur (2 Samuel 13:37-38).

Translator Notes

1. Raq l'shevet ha-Levi lo natan nachalah ('only to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance') — Levi's exclusion from territorial allocation is stated three times in this chapter (vv. 14, 33) and repeatedly throughout Joshua. Ishei YHWH Elohei Yisrael hu nachalato ('the fire offerings of the LORD are his inheritance') — Levi's nachalah is not land but liturgical service. The tribe that serves at the altar receives its sustenance from the altar offerings. Their 'inheritance' is proximity to God — a theological statement that the divine presence is worth more than any territory. Levi will receive designated cities within other tribes' territories (chapter 21) but no contiguous tribal homeland.

Translator Notes

1. L'mishp'chotam ('according to their clans/families') — the allocation is not merely tribal but sub-tribal, organized by extended family groups (mishpachot). Each clan receives a specific portion within the tribal territory.

Translator Notes

1. Reuben's territory occupies the southern portion of the Transjordan: from the Arnon gorge northward through the Medeba plateau. This is the same area described in verses 9-10 as part of Sihon's former kingdom.

Translator Notes

1. Several of these city names contain the element ba'al ('lord, master') — Bamot Ba'al ('high places of Baal'), Beit Ba'al M'on ('house of Baal of the dwelling'). The Canaanite religious names persist in the geography even after Israelite occupation, reflecting the enduring challenge of religious syncretism in the Transjordan.

Translator Notes

1. Yahtsah ('Jahaz') — the site where Israel defeated Sihon in the original battle (Numbers 21:23; Deuteronomy 2:32). The city where the Transjordan conquest began is now part of Reuben's inheritance.

Translator Notes

1. Tseret ha-Shachar b'har ha-emeq ('Zereth-shahar on the mount of the valley') — a town perched on a ridge above the Dead Sea valley. Sibmah was known for its vineyards (Isaiah 16:8-9; Jeremiah 48:32).

Translator Notes

1. Beit P'or ('house of Peor') — associated with the Baal-peor apostasy (Numbers 25), where Israelite men engaged in sexual idolatry with Moabite women. The site's inclusion in Reuben's territory places them as guardians of a place of prior disgrace. Ashdot ha-Pisgah ('slopes of Pisgah') — the mountain range where Moses viewed the promised land and died (Deuteronomy 34:1-6).

Translator Notes

1. N'sikhei Sichon yosh'vei ha-arets ('vassals/princes of Sihon, inhabitants of the land') — these five Midianite leaders were client-rulers under Sihon's overlordship. Their defeat is narrated in Numbers 31:8. Zur is the father of Cozbi, the Midianite woman killed by Phinehas during the Baal-peor incident (Numbers 25:15, 18). The listing connects the territorial allocation to the broader story of Transjordan conflict.

Translator Notes

1. Bil'am ben B'or ha-qosem ('Balaam son of Beor, the diviner') — Balaam, who could not curse Israel (Numbers 22-24) but who advised Moab to seduce Israel through the Baal-peor strategy (Numbers 31:16), met his end in the Transjordan battles. The term qosem ('diviner') is pejorative — contrasting his pagan practice with legitimate prophetic authority. His death is recorded here within Reuben's territorial description because he died in this region.

Translator Notes

1. Ha-Yarden ug'vul ('the Jordan and its border') — the Jordan River formed Reuben's western boundary, separating them from the tribes in Canaan proper. He-arim v'chatsreihen ('the cities and their villages/enclosures') — each city had dependent satellite settlements (chatserim, from chatser, 'courtyard, enclosure').

Translator Notes

1. Gad's allotment follows Reuben's, occupying the central Transjordan — the heart of Gilead.

Translator Notes

1. V'kol arei ha-Gil'ad ('all the cities of Gilead') — Gad received the central highlands of the Transjordan, the fertile and well-watered region of Gilead. Va-chatsi erets b'nei Ammon ('half the land of the Ammonites') — this appears to contradict Deuteronomy 2:19, which forbade taking Ammonite land. The territory described was likely land Sihon had previously taken from Ammon (cf. Judges 11:13, 22), making it legitimately Israelite through conquest from Sihon rather than directly from Ammon.

Translator Notes

1. Machanayim ('double camp') — the place where Jacob saw the angels of God and exclaimed 'This is God's camp!' (Genesis 32:2). It will later serve as the capital for Ish-bosheth (2 Samuel 2:8) and as David's refuge during Absalom's rebellion (2 Samuel 17:24). The patriarchal memory is embedded in the tribal geography.

Translator Notes

1. Sukkot ('Succoth,' meaning 'shelters/booths') — where Jacob built shelters for his livestock after his reconciliation with Esau (Genesis 33:17). The patriarchal narrative is woven into the tribal geography at every turn. Ad q'tseh yam Kinneret ('to the edge of the Sea of Chinnereth') — Gad's territory extended north along the Jordan Valley to the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Translator Notes

1. The formulaic summary closes Gad's allotment as it closed Reuben's (v. 23).

Translator Notes

1. The eastern half of Manasseh receives the northernmost Transjordan territory — Bashan and northern Gilead. The split of Manasseh between east and west of the Jordan creates a unique situation: one tribe spanning the river, divided by geography but united by kinship.

Translator Notes

1. Kol chavvot Ya'ir asher ba-Bashan shishim ir ('all the tent-villages of Jair in Bashan, sixty cities') — the chavvot ('tent-villages, encampments') of Jair were settlements named after Jair son of Manasseh, who captured them (Numbers 32:41; Deuteronomy 3:14). Sixty towns represents a substantial territory in the rich volcanic region of Bashan.

Translator Notes

1. Livnei Makhir ben M'nasheh ('to the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh') — Machir was Manasseh's firstborn son (Genesis 50:23), and his clan was the dominant military force within the tribe. They received the most formidable territory: the former royal cities of Og, the last of the Rephaim giants. The warrior clan receives the giant's kingdom.

Translator Notes

1. B'arvot Mo'av ('on the plains of Moab') — Moses made these allocations during Israel's encampment on the Moabite plain, opposite Jericho, in the final days before the Jordan crossing. The Transjordan section closes by returning to the scene of Moses's last acts.

Translator Notes

1. YHWH Elohei Yisrael hu nachalatam ('the LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance') — the chapter's closing verse escalates from verse 14. There, Levi's inheritance was the fire offerings (the produce of the altar service). Here, the inheritance is God Himself. The LORD is not merely the source of Levi's sustenance but the substance of their portion. This is the highest theological statement about inheritance in Joshua: the ultimate nachalah is not land but the living God.