Joshua 15

Judah is the first tribe to receive its land west of the Jordan, and its portion is the largest. The chapter traces the borders, tells the story of Caleb’s inheritance at Hebron and Debir, and lists Judah’s towns by region. It ends with a sober note: Judah could not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem.

Joshua 15:1

The land was divided by lot, and Judah’s lot came first. It stretched from the edge of Edom in the far south. This was God’s gift, not something Judah took by its own strength. Each tribe received a home from His hand.

BSA: allotment (“portion, inheritance”): The land is an inheritance given by God, not a prize earned by Judah.

Hebrew: גּוֹרָל (gôrāl, H1486) — “a lot, a share assigned by lot.” The word means the lot that was cast. Israel believed the outcome was directed by the LORD, so each tribe’s land was His choice.

See also: Proverbs 16:33.

Joshua 15:2-4

The southern border starts at the southern end of the Salt Sea, now called the Dead Sea. It runs west through the desert near Kadesh-barnea, where Israel had once wandered. It then follows the Brook of Egypt to the Mediterranean. The wilderness years are now behind them.

BSA: Ascent (“the ascent of scorpions, Akrabbim”): The name means ‘scorpions’, which paints this southern pass as rough, dry, and dangerous country.

See also: Numbers 34:3-5.

Joshua 15:5-6

The eastern border is the Salt Sea itself. The northern border begins where the Jordan flows into it and heads west and upward. Along the way is the Stone of Bohan, a marker named for a man of Reuben. Boundary stones gave each family security in its own land.

Hebrew: יָם הַמֶּלַח (yam hammelaḥ, H3220) — “the Sea of Salt.” The sea is so salty that nothing lives in it. That is why the Hebrew name is simply ‘Salt Sea’, which we call the Dead Sea.

Joshua 15:7

The border climbs from the Valley of Achor, the place where Achan was judged after his sin at Jericho. It then passes Gilgal and springs near Jerusalem. The old valley of trouble is now simply a landmark on the map of an inheritance won.

BSA: Achor (“trouble, calamity”): The name recalls Achan’s sin and its cost, a reminder that God’s gift of land came with holiness.

Hebrew: עָכוֹר (ʿākôr, H5911) — “trouble.” It is the very word Joshua used when he told Achan that he had brought trouble on Israel. Hosea later promised that this valley would become a door of hope.

See also: Joshua 7:24-26; Hosea 2:15.

Joshua 15:8

The border now runs along the south side of Jerusalem, then still held by the Jebusites, through the Valley of Hinnom. Jerusalem lay right on Judah’s northern edge. The city that would one day be central to God’s purposes was at this point still in foreign hands.

BSA: Jerusalem (“the city of peace”): The name is often understood as ‘city of peace’, which sits oddly with a city still unconquered and later fought over.

Hebrew: גֵּי הִנֹּם (gê hinnōm, H1516) — “valley of Hinnom.” In later times this valley became a place of shame and judgment. Its name lies behind ‘Gehenna’, the word Jesus used when he spoke of hell.

See also: Matthew 5:22.

Joshua 15:9

The line turns west to the spring of Nephtoah, to the cities of Mount Ephron, and on to Baalah, also called Kiriath-jearim. That town later sheltered the ark of the covenant for years. Even a border list passes places that would matter in Israel’s story.

See also: 1 Samuel 7:1-2.

Joshua 15:10-11

The border bends toward Beth-shemesh and Timnah, then north of Ekron, a Philistine city, and finally reaches the sea. These are towns on the edge between Israel and the Philistines. Many names here would be heard again in the stories of Samson and of the ark.

See also: Judges 14:1; 1 Samuel 6:12-13.

Joshua 15:12

The Great Sea, the Mediterranean, forms the whole western border, and no surveying was needed there. The verse then closes the circuit: the south, east, north and west boundaries together enclose Judah’s family groups. Every clan could know where it belonged.

Hebrew: הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל (hayyam haggādôl, H3220) — “the Great Sea.” To the Israelites the Mediterranean was simply ’the Great Sea’, the largest water they knew, and it served as a natural wall on the west.

Joshua 15:13

Caleb, now an old man, receives Hebron as the LORD had promised. Hebron had been the city of the Anakites, the giants who frightened the spies. Caleb had trusted God forty-five years earlier, and God kept His word to him.

BSA: command (“instruction, divine direction”): Caleb’s land is given on God’s own instruction, not by chance or favoritism.

See also: Joshua 14:6-14; Numbers 14:24.

Joshua 15:14

Caleb himself drives out the three sons of Anak, the very giants who had once made Israel afraid. At eighty-five he still trusted that God would be with him. What seemed impossible to the spies was possible with the LORD.

See also: Numbers 13:28-33; Joshua 14:12.

Joshua 15:15-16

Caleb next moves against Debir, an old Canaanite town. Its former name meant ‘city of the book’. He offers his daughter Acsah in marriage to whoever captures it. This was a way to find a brave man, and it shows a father who valued courage.

BSA: captures (“taketh, seizes”): The prize goes to the one who actually takes the city, not merely to the one who talks about it.

Hebrew: סֵפֶר (sēper, H7158) — “book, written record.” The old name Kiriath-sepher, ‘city of the book’, hints that Debir may have been a place of records, which is unusual for a town of that age.

See also: Judges 1:11-13.

Joshua 15:17

Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, wins the city and marries Acsah. He would later become Israel’s first judge, delivering the people from an oppressor. A faithful household here produces a faithful servant for the nation.

See also: Judges 3:9-11.

Joshua 15:18

Acsah is no passive bride. She urges Othniel to ask her father for more land, then goes to Caleb herself, getting down from her donkey as a sign of respect. Caleb meets her with a warm, open question: what do you want?

BSA: urged (“incited, stimulated”): She actively pressed her husband to act, showing she knew what the family needed.

Joshua 15:19

She asks for a blessing and then names her need. The land in the dry Negev is no use without water. Caleb gives her both upper and lower springs. It is a picture of asking boldly of a generous father, and receiving more than the bare minimum.

BSA: blessing (“a gift from God, bringing prosperity and praise”): She asks for a gift that brings real good, not just land but the means to live on it.

Hebrew: בְּרָכָה (bĕrākâ, H1293) — “blessing, gift.” The same word is used for God’s blessings and for a gift between people. Here it is a father’s gift that makes dry land live.

See also: Judges 1:14-15; Matthew 7:7-11.

Joshua 15:20

This sentence closes the boundary section and opens the town lists. What follows is the inheritance of Judah’s clans, written down so that each family could find its place. God’s gifts were specific, recorded, and secure.

BSA: inheritance (“heritage, allotted land”): The land came as a family heritage to be passed down, not as a temporary holding.

Joshua 15:21-32

The first list names Judah’s towns in the dry Negev, the far south, near Edom. They include Beersheba, Hormah and Ziklag. The text counts twenty-nine, together with their villages. These were hard, thinly watered places, yet they were part of God’s gift.

BSA: Negev (“south country, desert area”): The Negev is a dry southland, so settling there meant depending on wells and springs.

Hebrew: בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע (bĕʾēr šebaʿ, H884) — “well of the oath, or well of seven.” Beersheba’s name goes back to Abraham’s oath and well, so even a place name in this list carries the memory of God’s early promises.

See also: Genesis 21:31.

Joshua 15:33-36

Next come fourteen towns in the foothills, the Shephelah, the low rolling country between the hills and the coastal plain. Zorah and Eshtaol are Samson’s home area. Adullam, Socoh and Azekah lie where David would later face Goliath.

See also: Judges 13:2; 1 Samuel 17:1.

Joshua 15:37-41

This second group of foothill towns, sixteen in all, includes Lachish, Eglon and Makkedah. Joshua had already fought battles at these places when the five kings came against Gibeon. The map reminds us that the land was won first by battle, then settled.

See also: Joshua 10:3-5; Joshua 10:28-35.

Joshua 15:42-44

A third foothill group of nine towns includes Libnah, Keilah and Mareshah. Keilah is where David later rescued a town from the Philistines. The towns are small, but together they show how many families had a secure place to live.

See also: 1 Samuel 23:1-5.

Joshua 15:45-47

The list reaches the coastal plain, with Ekron, Ashdod and Gaza and their surrounding villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt. On paper Judah is given these Philistine cities. In practice, the Philistines held them for a very long time.

BSA: towns (“daughter-towns”): Smaller settlements were pictured as ‘daughters’ depending on the larger city nearby.

Joshua 15:48-51

The list turns to the hill country, the rugged high ground. It includes Debir, also called Kiriath-sannah, which Othniel captured, and Eshtemoh. This Goshen is a town in southern Judah, not the region of Egypt. Eleven cities in all.

See also: Joshua 21:14.

Joshua 15:52-54

Another group of nine hill towns includes Hebron, Caleb’s own inheritance. Hebron already held deep meaning, because Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried nearby. The city of promise now belonged to the family of a man who trusted God fully.

BSA: Hebron (“a place of fellowship”): The name suggests friendship or union, fitting for the place where Abraham lived as God’s friend.

See also: Genesis 23:19.

Joshua 15:55-60

Here are towns in the southern hill country, including Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Beth-zur and Kiriath-jearim. Many of them appear when David was hunted by Saul, so the quiet list holds the stage for later stories. The chapter’s numbers are counted by town, not by people.

See also: 1 Samuel 23:24-25; 1 Samuel 25:2.

Joshua 15:61-62

The last region is the wilderness along the Dead Sea, with six towns, among them the City of Salt and En-gedi. En-gedi has a freshwater spring in the middle of a harsh landscape. David would later find refuge there.

BSA: wilderness (“desert, waste land”): Even desert ground was part of the inheritance, and some of it had life-giving springs.

See also: 1 Samuel 24:1.

Joshua 15:63

The chapter ends on a failure. Judah could not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem, so they lived beside them for generations. Judah had great success elsewhere, but incomplete obedience left a foreign city in their midst until David finally took it.

BSA: drive out (“expel, dispossess”): The word speaks of removing the former owners, which Judah did not accomplish here.

See also: Judges 1:21; 2 Samuel 5:6-7.