1And the portion for the Judahites according to their clans was southward to the border of Edom, the Wilderness of Zin on the far south. 2And their southern boundary was from the edge of the Salt Sea, from the tongue that turns southward. 3And it extended to the south, to the ascent of Akrabbim, and passed on to Zin and went up from the south to Kadesh-Barnea, and passed on to Hezron and went up to Addar and swung round to Karka. 4And it passed on to Azmon and extended to the Wadi of Egypt, and the far reaches of the border came to the sea. This shall be for you the southern boundary. 5And the boundary to the east is the Salt Sea south of the Jordan, and the boundary on the northern side from the tongue of the Sea to the mouth of the Jordan. 6And the boundary went up to Beth-Hoglah and passed on north of Beth-Arabah, and the boundary went up to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben. 7And the boundary went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor and turned north to Gilgal, which is opposite the Ascent of Adummim, which is south of the wadi, and the boundary passed on to the waters of Ein-Shemesh, and its far reaches were to Ein-Rogel. 8And the boundary went up to the Vale of Ben-Hinnom to the flank of the Jebusite on the south, which is Jerusalem, and it went up to the mountaintop which overlooks the Vale of Ben-Hinnom to the west, which is at the end of the Valley of Rephaim to the north. 9And the border swung round from the mountaintop to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah and extended to the towns of the high country of Ephron, and the boundary swung round to Baalah, which is Kiriath-Jearim. 10And the boundary turned from Baalah westward to Mount Seir and passed on northward to the flank of Mount Jearim, which is Kesalon, and went down to Beth-Shemesh and passed on to Timnah. 11And the boundary extended to the flank of Ekron to the north, and the boundary swung round to Shikkron and passed on to Mount Baalah and extended to Jabneel, and the far reaches of the boundary were to the sea. 12And the western boundary—the Great Sea. And this boundary is the boundary of the Judahites all around, according to their clans. 13And Caleb the son of Jephunneh was given a share in the midst of the Judahites at the behest of the LORD through Joshua—Kiriath-Arba, father of the giant, which is Hebron. 14And Caleb dispossessed from there the three sons of the giant, Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, offspring of the giant. 15And he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir, and the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-Sepher. 16And Caleb said, “Whoever strikes Kiriath-Sepher and takes it, to him I shall give Achsah my daughter as wife.” 17And Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 18And it happened when she came, that she enticed him to ask a field of her father, and she alighted from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What troubles you?” 19And she said, “Give me a present, for you have given me desert-land, and you should give me springs of water.” And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. 20This is the estate of the tribe of the Judahites according to their clans. 21And the towns at the edge of the Judahites by the boundary of Edom to the south were Kabzeel and Eder and Yagur. 22And Kinah and Dimonah and Adadah. 23And Kedesh and Hazor and Ithnan. 24Ziph and Telem and Bealoth. 25And Hazor-Hadattah and Kerioth-Hezron, which is Hazor. 26Amam and Shema and Moladah. 27And Hazar-Gaddah and Heshmon and Beth-Pelet. 28And Hazar-Shual and Beersheba and Beziothiah. 29Baalah and Iim and Ezem. 30And Eltolad and Kesil and Hormah. 31And Ziklag and Madmenah and Sansanah. 32And Lebaoth and Shilhin and Ain and Rimmon. All the towns with their pasturelands came to twenty-nine. 33In the lowland: Eshtaol and Zorah and Ashnah. 34And Zanoah and Ein-Gannim, Tapuah and Einan. 35Jarmuth and Adullam, Socoh and Azekah. 36And Shaaraim and Aditaim and Gederah and Gederothaim—fourteen towns with their pastureland. 37Zenan and Hadashah and Migdal-Gad. 38And Dilan and Mizpeh and Joktheel. 39Lachish and Bozkath and Eglon. 40And Cabbon and Lahmas and Kithlish. 41And Gederoth, Beth-Dagon, and Naamah and Makkedah—sixteen towns with their pasturelands. 42Libnah and Ether and Ashan. 43And Iphtah and Ashmah and Nezib. 44And Keilah and Achzib and Mareshah—nine towns with their pasturelands. 45Ekron with its hamlets and its pasturelands. 46From Ekron westward, all that is by Ashdod, with their pasturelands. 47Ashdod, its hamlets and its pasturelands, Gaza, its hamlets and its pasturelands, to the Wadi of Egypt, and the Great Sea is the boundary. 48And in the high country, Shamir and Jattir and Socoh. 49And Dannah and Kiriath-Sannah, which is Debir. 50And Anab and Eshtamoa and Anim. 51And Goshen and Holon and Giloh—eleven towns with their pasturelands. 52Arab and Dumah and Eshan. 53And Janim and Beth-Tapuah and Aphekah. 54And Humtah and Kiriath-Arba, which is Hebron, and Zior—nine towns with their pasturelands. 55Maon, Carmel, Ziph, and Juttah. 56And Jezreel and Jokneam and Zanoah. 57Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah—ten towns with their pasturelands. 58Halhul, Beth-Zur and Gedor. 59And Maaroth and Beth-Anot and Eltekon—six towns with their pasturelands. 60Kiriath-Baal, which is Kiriath-Jearim, and Rabbah—two towns with their pasturelands. 61In the wilderness, Beth-Arabah, Middin, and Secacah. 62And Nishban and Salt Town and Ein-Gedi—six towns with their pasturelands. 63But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Judahites were not able to dispossess, and the Jebusites have dwelled alongside the Judahites to this day.
CHAPTER 15 NOTES
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1. the portion. The Hebrew goral means “lot”—evidently, an aleatory device used to portion out the various territories—and through metonymy, it also means what is indicated by the lot, the portion or share.
southward to the border of Edom. What begins here and runs through the chapter is an elaborate geographical tracing of Judah’s tribal territory. The general reader can scarcely be expected to follow all these details, and any reader would need a complicated map to do it. What is noteworthy is the inordinate amount of space devoted to Judah’s possessions, which appear to cover most of central and southern Israel from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. As many scholars have inferred, this account probably reflects a later period—seventh century?—when a centralized monarchy coming from the tribe of Judah governed the entire southern kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital. The towns in this list are so numerous that many of them were probably not much bigger than substantial villages. Some of the names are well-known, can be confidently located, and are sites of important biblical events. Others remain elusive.
9. Baalah, which is Kiriath-Jearim. This, like at least one other item on the list, cites first an old pagan name and then its replacement (which means “Forest City”).
13. Caleb. He was the other one of the twelve spies, besides Joshua, who brought back an encouraging report about the land, and Hebron with the surrounding territory was to be his reward.
17. Othniel. He is to become the first of the Judges.
18. she enticed him to ask a field of her father. The Septuagint reads “he enticed her,” which makes the sequence of events easier to follow, but perhaps one should hew to the philological principle of adopting the more difficult reading. In that case, Achsah enticed her husband but then did the asking herself, perhaps because Othniel’s request was rebuffed.
19. present. More literally, “blessing.”
desert-land. In the Hebrew “Negeb-land,” the Negeb serving as the model for arid country. The term is associated by etymology with dryness.
46. Ekron . . . Ashdod. These towns, like Gaza in the next verse, are Philistine cities. They could scarcely have been allotted to Judah in the thirteenth century, though by the time this list was compiled the Philistines had long been vanquished.
63. But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Judahites were not able to dispossess. The writer is obliged to make this notation because it was well-known that Jerusalem remained in Jebusite hands until David conquered it, more than two centuries after the time of Joshua.
and the Jebusites have dwelled alongside the Judahites to this day. This second clause is somewhat misleading after the first clause. It could not mean, as it may appear, that the Jebusites were never conquered but rather that after having been conquered by David, many of them remained as landholding residents of the city. See the account of David’s purchase of the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite for use as a cultic site in 2 Samuel 24:18–25)—he buys it and does not take it by right of conquest.