1-5. Nine and a half tribes still did not have any land, although two and a half tribes had already received land east of the River Jordan. Moses had divided that land among them, and he had also said that the Levi tribe would not receive a large region like the other tribes. Instead, the people of Levi would receive towns and the nearby pastures for their sheep, goats, and cattle. And since the descendants of Joseph had become the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, there were still nine and a half tribes that needed land. The Lord had told Moses that he would show those tribes how to divide up the land of Canaan.When the priest Eleazar, Joshua, and the leaders of the families and tribes of Israel met to divide up the land of Canaan, the Lord showed them how to do it.
6. One day while the Israelites were still camped at Gilgal, Caleb the son of Jephunneh went to talk with Joshua. Caleb belonged to the Kenaz clan, and many other people from the Judah tribe went with Caleb. He told Joshua:You know that back in Kadesh-Barnea the Lord talked to his prophet Moses about you and me.
7. I was forty years old at the time Moses sent me from Kadesh-Barnea into Canaan as a spy. When I came back and told him about the land, everything I said was true.
8. The other spies said things that made our people afraid, but I completely trusted the Lord God.
9. The same day I came back, Moses told me, “Since you were faithful to the Lord God, I promise that the places where you went as a spy will belong to you and your descendants for ever.”
10. Joshua, it was forty-five years ago that the Lord told Moses to make that promise, and now I am eighty-five. Even though Israel has moved from place to place in the desert, the Lord has kept me alive all this time as he said he would.