Study Desk

"We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the property of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan."

So Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad, the sons of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Joseph's son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the land with its cities with their territories, the cities of the surrounding land.

These are the journeys of the sons of Israel, by which they came out of the land of Egypt by their armies, under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

They journeyed from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom.

Then Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of the LORD, and died there in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come from the land of Egypt, on the first day in the fifth month.

Now the Canaanite, the king of Arad who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard about the coming of the sons of Israel.

"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from you, and destroy all their idolatrous sculptures, destroy all their cast metal images, and eliminate all their high places;

and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.

'You shall maintain the land as an inheritance by lot according to your families; to the larger you shall give more inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give less inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to anyone, that shall be his. You shall pass on land as an inheritance according to the tribes of your fathers.

'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from you, then it will come about that those whom you let remain of them will be like thorns in your eyes and like pricks in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.

"Command the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, that is, the land of Canaan according to its borders.

So Moses commanded the sons of Israel, saying, "This is the land that you are to possess by lot, which the LORD has commanded to give to the nine and a half tribes.

"These are the names of the men who shall assign the land to you as an inheritance: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun.

"And you shall take one leader of each tribe to assign the land as an inheritance.

These are the ones whom the LORD commanded to apportion the inheritance to the sons of Israel in the land of Canaan.

"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

'You shall provide three cities across the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge.

because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the one who committed manslaughter may return to the land of his property.

'And you shall not accept a ransom for one who has fled to his city of refuge, so that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest.