Joshua 15:13-19

Contemporary English Version

Caleb's Land

(Judges 1.12-15)

¹³^(A) Joshua gave Caleb some land among the people of Judah, as God had told him to do. Caleb's share was Hebron, which at that time was known as Arba's Town,^[a] because Arba was the famous ancestor of the Anakim.^[b]

¹⁴Caleb attacked Hebron and forced the three Anakim clans of^[c] Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai to leave. ¹⁵Next, Caleb started a war with the town of Debir, which at that time was called Kiriath-Sepher. ¹⁶He told his men, “The man who captures Kiriath-Sepher can marry my daughter Achsah.”

¹⁷Caleb's nephew Othniel^[d] captured Kiriath-Sepher, and Caleb let him marry Achsah. ¹⁸Right after the wedding, Achsah started telling Othniel that he^[e] ought to ask her father for a field. She went to see her father, and while she was getting down from^[f] her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What's bothering you?”

¹⁹She answered, “I need your help. The land you gave me is in the Southern Desert, so I really need some spring-fed ponds^[g] for a water supply.”

Caleb gave her a couple of small ponds, named Higher Pond and Lower Pond.^[h]

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Footnotes

15.13 Arba's Town: See the note at 14.15.
15.13 Anakim: See the note at 11.21.
15.14 clans of: Or “warriors.”
15.17 Caleb's nephew Othniel: Hebrew “Othniel the son of Caleb's brother Kenaz.”
15.18 Achsah … Othniel … he: Hebrew; one manuscript of one ancient translation and two ancient translations of the parallel in Judges 1.14 “Othniel … Achsah … she.”
15.18 getting down from: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
15.19 spring-fed ponds: Or “wells.”
15.19 small ponds … Pond … Pond: Or “wells … Well … Well.”