14:1 VE ELEH ASHER NACHALU VENEY YISRA-EL BE ERETS KENA'AN ASHER NICHALU OTAM EL-AZAR HA KOHEN VI YEHOSHU'A BIN NUN VE RASHEY AVOT HA MATOT LI VENEY YISRA-EL
וְאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר נָחֲלוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן אֲשֶׁר נִחֲלוּ אֹותָם אֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן וִיהֹושֻׁעַ בִּן נוּן וְרָאשֵׁי אֲבֹות הַמַּטֹּות לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
KJ: And these are the countries which the children of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed for inheritance to them.
BN: And these are what the Beney Yisra-El inherited in the land of Kena'an, which El-Azar the priest, and Yehoshu'a bin Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the Beney Yisra-El, shared among them.
As with "inheritances" in the previous chapter, KJ and other translators append the word "countries" to clarify the meaning of the verse. Unfortunately what the Beney Yisra-El inherited, as per the lists and descriptions, was not countries at all, but valleys, towns, hills, villages, tribal areas of other peoples; the societal structure at this epoch did not include "countries" in the way we would understand the term today, or only the broader geographical concept of Kena'an (Canaan) as a whole, though there was no nation of that name with a unified body politic.
We also need to read this endlessly repeated word NACHALAH with caution, even cynicism. "To inherit" usually infers a will, a bequest, a legal document, a proof of previous ownership. Even in the Tanach, before Ya'akov took the Beney Yisra-El down to Mitsrayim, there is very little evidence of anybody in the tribe owning any land at all: Av-Raham purchased what was probably no more than a grave-plot in the Cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23), Yitschak disputed the access to many wells, but appears to have been nomadic, and other than the home and farm in Be'er Sheva, Ya'akov spent most of his adult life in Padan Aram, around Shechem, then back at the family home in Be'er Sheva. But the "inheritance" covers most of Asia Minor! Inherited, then, from whom? YHVH? Does that count, without his signed documents, in a court of law? "Inherited", then, as a propagandistic euphemism for "conquered". Or might we use today's terminology, and prefer "annexed"?
EL-AZAR: Important that the share was done by the heads of the tribes and a representative of the priesthood, and not just by the political leader.
14:2 BE GORAL NACHALATAM KA ASHER TSIVAH YHVH BE YAD MOSHEH LE TISH'AT HA MATOT VA CHATSI HA MATEH
KJ: By lot was their inheritance, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half tribe.
BN: By lot was their inheritance, as YHVH instructed through the hand of Mosheh, for the nine tribes, and for the half-tribe.
Perhaps it was just a mythological metaphor, a poetical way of expressing the amount of chance and randomness and haphazard (the continuance of Tohu and Bohu) in the god-made world (though, on reflection. those two mythological characters are Babylonian-Persian too).
14:3 KI NATAN MOSHEH NACHALAT SHENEY HA MATOT VA CHATSI HA MATEH ME EVER LA YARDEN VE LA LEVIYIM LO NATAN NACHALAH BETOCHAM
KJ: For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and an half tribe on the other side Jordan: but unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them.
BN: For Moshe had given their inheritance to the two tribes, and to the half-tribe, on the other side of the Yarden; but to the Leviyim he bequeathed no inheritance.
This is now at least the fourth time that this has been restated. And it still isn't true - well, yes, it's true, but somewhat disingenuously true. Imagine a clause in Magna Carta which stated repeatedly that the Barons had not been granted the right to offer themselves as serfs and vassals, because they had generously sacrificed themselves to the sacred task of land ownership and governance. Something of that order.
14:4 KI HAYU VENEY YOSEPH SHENEY MATOT MENASHEH VE EPHRAYIM VE LO NATNU CHELEK LA LEVIYIM BA ARETS KI IM ARIM LASHEVET U MIGRESHEYHEM LE MIKNEYHEM U LE KINYANIM
KJ: For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim: therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.
BN: For the Beney Yoseph were two tribes, Menasheh and Ephrayim; therefore they gave no part to the Leviyim in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.
How does the Beney Yoseph being two tribes equate to "therefore... the Leviyim..."? This only makes sense if there was an inherent requirement for the number of tribal regions to be twelve: if Yoseph were one, then Levi could make up the total; but why couldn't there be eleven regions, or thirteen? Which endorses the oft-stated conviction that the tribal structure was an earthly reflection of the cosmic: twelve constellations, so twelve tribes. But this also works a second way around, which would be more ingenuous: that it became necessary to find a twelfth tribe, precisely because the Leviyim had been raised to the theocracy. And which tribe could that be: only the firstborn of either Rachel or Le'ah were eligible; Rachel was the favoured wife; Re'u-Ven was disqualified because of his incest with Bilhah. Therefore Yoseph, and therefore the tale of the grandsons in Genesis 48.
One last thought, by way of a however. In Genesis, the firstborn is always supplanted by the youngest, which leaves open the question: why Yoseph and not Bin-Yamin? When it comes time to choose a king, the man chosen will be Sha'ul ben Kish of the tribe of Bin-Yamin - I have explored the whys and wherefores of this in the first volume of "City of Peace". His successor, David, comes from the tribe of Yehudah, but will establish his capital, and the site for YHVH's permanent home, in Yeru-Shala'im, which is in the tribal territory of Bin-Yamin. By the time of Ezra, only two tribes will be left: Yehudah and Bin-Yamin. So the oracle will be fulfilled!
KI IM ARIM LASHEVET: As noted above, and previously - the understanding is that the blemished among the Leviyim (Levites) will be allowed to farm and keep animals in compensation for their preclusion from priestly duties, and that the tribes will not only give them "refuge cities", which is to say priestly residences and shrines, but also a secular living. For this purpose they were given the land beside the city walls, and the homes that were built on those walls; the best houses in the city, but also the most dangerous at a time of siege.
14:5 KA ASHER TSIVAH YHVH ET MOSHEH KEN ASU BENEY YISRA-EL VA YACHLEKU ET HA ARETS
KJ: As the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did, and they divided the land.
BN: As YHVH instructed Mosheh, so the Beney Yisra-El did, and they shared out the land.
YACHLEKU: That word CHALAK again! And yes, it means "divide", and they did indeed divide it; but "divisions" are negatives, and the objective was a unified nation, ultimately a confederation: so "shared out" in my translation.
pey break
14:6 VA YIGSHU VENEY YEHUDAH EL YEHOSHU'A BA GIL-GAL VA YOMER ELAV KALEV BEN YEPHUNEH HA KENIZI ATAH YADA'TA ET HA DAVAR ASHER DIBER YHVH EL MOSHEH ISH HA ELOHIM AL ODOTAY VE AL ODOTEYCHA BE KADESH BARNE'A
KJ: Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea.
BN: Then the Beney Yehudah came to Yehoshu'a in Gil-Gal: and Kalev ben Yephuneh the Kenizi said to him: "You know what YHVH said to Mosheh the man of Elohim concerning me and you in Kadesh Barne'a...
KALEV BEN YEPHUNEH HA KENIZI: Is Kalev a Kenizite or a Yehudi - it matters, because of the dispute over Chevron later, when David becomes king there, but the heirs of Kalev dispute his right, claiming the city and their own (2 Samuel 2). Need to go back to the tribal Toldot to clarify this (click the link under Kenizite), but this verse appears to state that the Kenizites were a sub-clan of Yehudah.
KADESH BARNE'A: See the link.
ATAH YADA'TA: The phrasing is very colloquial (he is using the past tense for a statement in the present tense), and also very "chummy" - which is not surprising: Kalev and Yehoshu'a were spies together many years ago, and joined by their mutual positivity. But it is also very... I hate to use the word "stupid", but if this was Shakespeare we would assume he had given the line to Bottom in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", or maybe Andrew Aguecheek in "Twelfth Night", but not to someone intellectual like Hamlet.
14:7 BEN ARBA'IM SHANAH ANOCHI BISHLO'ACH MOSHEH EVED YHVH OTI MI KADESH BARNE'A LERAGEL ET HA ARETS VA ASHEV OTO DAVAR KA ASHER IM LEVAVI
KJ: Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart.
BN: "Forty years old I was, when Mosheh the servant of YHVH sent me from Kadesh Barne'a to spy out the land; and I brought back word to him just as it was in my heart...
EVED YHVH: In the previous verse he was ISH HA ELOHIM - clearly Kalev is unclear which is whom, but trying to use the correct diplomatic language. As with his portrayal in the Book of Samuel... as I said above, I do not like to use the word "stupid" to describe another person.
And anyway, why is he telling Yehoshu'a what Yehoshu'a obviously already knows, given that he was there at the time?
14:8 VE ACHAI ASHER ALU IMI HIMSIV ET LEV HA AM VE ANOCHI MIL'E'TI ACHAREY YHVH ELOHAY
KJ: Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God.
BN: "But my brothers what went up with me made the hearts of the people melt; while me, I was totally with YHVH my god...
And despite my previous comment, my translation here is absolutely accurate to the original; I have translated it "with my heart", as sincerely as Kalev reported back his observations of Kena'an to Mosheh.
14:9 VA YISHAV'A MOSHEH BA YOM HA HU LEMOR IM LO HA ARETS ASHER DARCHAH RAGLECHA BAH LECHA TIHEYEH LE NACHALAHU LE VANEYCHA AD OLAM KI MIL'E'TA ACHAREY YHVH ELOHAY
KJ: And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God.
BN: "And Mosheh made me a promise that day, saying: 'If the land on which your feet have trodden does not come to you as your inheritance, and your children's for ever, because you wholly followed YHVH my god...'
My god, his god, your god! see verse 14.
My translation appears to leave this as an unfinished sentence; it is, however, once again completely accurate to the original.
14:10 VE ATAH HINEH HECHEYAH YHVH OTI KA ASHER DIBER ZEH ARBA'IM VE CHAMESH SHANAH ME'AZ DIBER YHVH ET HA DAVAR HA ZEH EL MOSHEH ASHER HALACH YISRA-EL BA MIDBAR VE ATAH HINEH ANOCHI HAYOM BEN CHAMESH U SHEMONIM SHANAH
KJ: And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.
BN: "And now, as you can see, YHVH has kept me alive, like he said he would, these forty-five years, ever since YHVH spoke this word to Mosheh, while the Beney Yisra-El were wandering in the desert: and now, as you can see, today is my eighty-fifth birthday...
Now that we have had a meeting with the man - we never did in the Mosheh version - I am left wondering why Mosheh chose him in the first place. (Or is all this merely a deliberate cartooning of the man by the writer, to make him come across as an ignorant and illiterate peasant, and thereby put him down?)
14:11 ODENI HAYOM CHAZAK KA ASHER BE YOM SHELO'ACH OTI MOSHEH KE CHOCHI AZ U CHE CHOCHI ATAH LA MILCHAMAH VE LATS'ET VE LAVO
KJ: As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.
BN: "And I am still as tough today as I was on the day that Mosheh sent me; as strong as I was then, that's how strong I am now, for war, and for the old in-out...
CHAZAK...CHOCHI: KJ translates both as "strength", but if the original wanted to convey a single idea, it would have repeated the same word. CHAZAK is about muscular strength, the power to bind, to wrestle; KO'ACH is much more about inner strength, natural vitality.
LATSET VE LAVO: Some will no doubt question my literality here, or at least its vulgarity; but these are "old mates" who have seen hard times together, and no doubt supped a flagon of mead together of an evening while eyeing up the ladies. But the point about his continuing vigour is also a threat, as the next verse will confirm.
14:12 VE ATAH TENAH LI ET HA HAR HA ZEH ASHER DIBER YHVH BA YOM HA HU KI ATAH SHAMA'TA VA YOM HA HU KI ANAKIM SHAM VE ARIM GEDOLOT BE TSUROT ULAY YHVH OTI VE HORASHTIM KA ASHER DIBER YHVH
KJ: Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities weregreat and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.
BN: "So now you are going to give me this hill, the one that YHVH spoke about that day. You heard that day how the Anakim were there, and that those cities were huge, and fenced. Maybe YHVH will be with me, and I'll be the one to drive them out, like what YHVH said."
HA HAR: Since when was Chevron a mountain? A hill maybe, high enough, and rocky enough, for a large cave.
KJ: And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.
BN: And Yehoshu'a blessed him, and gave Kalev ben Yephuneh Chevron as an inheritance.
As above, this will become important later, when Sha'ul dies and there are multiple claims to the succession; especially competition over David's claim to the kingship of Chevron.
14:14 AL KEN HAYETAH CHEVRON LE CHALEV BEN YEPHUNEH HA KENIZI LE NACHALAH AD HA YOM HA ZEH YA'AN ASHER MIL'E ACHAREY YHVH ELOHEY YISRA-EL
KJ: Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel.
BN: Chevron therefore became the inheritance of Kalev ben Yephuneh the Kenizi until this day, because he wholly followed YHVH the god of Yisra-El.
Given the change in David's time, can we now date the text? Not later than 950 BCE, which is five hundred years before the Redaction (and why did they not correct the text as part of that Redaction?) [But that reading depends on our acceptance of the tale of David as history, rather than mythology.]
14:15 VE SHEM CHEVRON LEPHANIM KIRYAT ARBA HA ADAM HA GADOL BA ANAKIM HU VE HA ARETS SHAKTAH MI MILCHAMAH
KJ: And the name of Hebron before was Kirjatharba; which Arba was a great man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war.
BN: But before this time Chevron was named Kiryat Arba for the founding chieftain of the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.
KIRYAT ARBA: See the link.
ANAKIM:
HA ADAM HA DADOL: "Great man", or, literally, "great Adam", in the sense that Adam was the "first human" in the world of the Yisra-Elim, and Arba the equivalent among the Anakim.
We also need to read this endlessly repeated word NACHALAH with caution, even cynicism. "To inherit" usually infers a will, a bequest, a legal document, a proof of previous ownership. Even in the Tanach, before Ya'akov took the Beney Yisra-El down to Mitsrayim, there is very little evidence of anybody in the tribe owning any land at all: Av-Raham purchased what was probably no more than a grave-plot in the Cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23), Yitschak disputed the access to many wells, but appears to have been nomadic, and other than the home and farm in Be'er Sheva, Ya'akov spent most of his adult life in Padan Aram, around Shechem, then back at the family home in Be'er Sheva. But the "inheritance" covers most of Asia Minor! Inherited, then, from whom? YHVH? Does that count, without his signed documents, in a court of law? "Inherited", then, as a propagandistic euphemism for "conquered". Or might we use today's terminology, and prefer "annexed"?
EL-AZAR: Important that the share was done by the heads of the tribes and a representative of the priesthood, and not just by the political leader.
14:2 BE GORAL NACHALATAM KA ASHER TSIVAH YHVH BE YAD MOSHEH LE TISH'AT HA MATOT VA CHATSI HA MATEH
בְּגֹורַל נַחֲלָתָם כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה בְּיַד מֹשֶׁה לְתִשְׁעַת הַמַּטֹּות וַחֲצִי הַמַּטֶּה
BN: By lot was their inheritance, as YHVH instructed through the hand of Mosheh, for the nine tribes, and for the half-tribe.
Despite searching through hills, mountains, villages and even countries of encyclopaedia, I am unable to find anything, anywhere, that explains how a conquered land, which has not by a long way been completely conquered, gets to be divided among the tribes "by lot". Did they create a written list of the places that we have read about in the last two chapters, categorised by general areas - the north-west, the Negev - and then drop the list into a container of some sort, after which the clan chiefs came along, dipped their hand in without looking, and pulled out their personal plum? Yay, I got the whole of the Mediterranean coast, lucky me! I got the Sea of Galilee - great fishing lands. Sorry mate, I see you got the marshlands of the Yazar-El valley. Bad luck. I find it hard to believe that either YHVH or Mosheh thought up quite such a stupid way of doing this. So it has to mean something else...
... and the festival of Purim, which Zeru-Bavel, or perhaps Ezra and Nechem-Yah, brought to Yehudah when they returned to Yehudah from exile with the support of the Medean Persians, the festival of Purim, which is a Judaisation of the ancient Persian and Babylonian spring-fertilty feast of Ishtar (Easter, in the Christian world), is also known as the Feast of Lots, and it has to do with an abstruse verse (Esther 3:7) in the Biblical version of the tale, in which the wicked Prime Minister Chaman (Haman; cf Leviticus 26:30) draws lots to decide on which date the pogrom against the Jews should take place... might it have something to do with this, which is obviously a mythological tale, because Esther is Ishtar and Mordechai is Marduk and Chaman is a sun-idol, and the lots fall on the twelfth month, in what happened to be the twelfth year of the king's reign; and then, in verse 12, on the 13th day of the 1st month... but what all this means, and how this "lot" connects with the one in Joshua, I am unable to explain; but it is a coincidence that this is the second time in consecutive chapters that precisely this piece of Persia has cropped up in the text (see Joshua 13:30).
Perhaps it was just a mythological metaphor, a poetical way of expressing the amount of chance and randomness and haphazard (the continuance of Tohu and Bohu) in the god-made world (though, on reflection. those two mythological characters are Babylonian-Persian too).
14:3 KI NATAN MOSHEH NACHALAT SHENEY HA MATOT VA CHATSI HA MATEH ME EVER LA YARDEN VE LA LEVIYIM LO NATAN NACHALAH BETOCHAM
כִּי נָתַן מֹשֶׁה נַחֲלַת שְׁנֵי הַמַּטֹּות וַחֲצִי הַמַּטֶּה מֵעֵבֶר לַיַּרְדֵּן וְלַלְוִיִּם לֹא נָתַן נַחֲלָה בְּתֹוכָם
BN: For Moshe had given their inheritance to the two tribes, and to the half-tribe, on the other side of the Yarden; but to the Leviyim he bequeathed no inheritance.
This is now at least the fourth time that this has been restated. And it still isn't true - well, yes, it's true, but somewhat disingenuously true. Imagine a clause in Magna Carta which stated repeatedly that the Barons had not been granted the right to offer themselves as serfs and vassals, because they had generously sacrificed themselves to the sacred task of land ownership and governance. Something of that order.
14:4 KI HAYU VENEY YOSEPH SHENEY MATOT MENASHEH VE EPHRAYIM VE LO NATNU CHELEK LA LEVIYIM BA ARETS KI IM ARIM LASHEVET U MIGRESHEYHEM LE MIKNEYHEM U LE KINYANIM
כִּי הָיוּ בְנֵי יֹוסֵף שְׁנֵי מַטֹּות מְנַשֶּׁה וְאֶפְרָיִם וְלֹא נָתְנוּ חֵלֶק לַלְוִיִּם בָּאָרֶץ כִּי אִם עָרִים לָשֶׁבֶת וּמִגְרְשֵׁיהֶם לְמִקְנֵיהֶם וּלְקִנְיָנָם
BN: For the Beney Yoseph were two tribes, Menasheh and Ephrayim; therefore they gave no part to the Leviyim in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.
How does the Beney Yoseph being two tribes equate to "therefore... the Leviyim..."? This only makes sense if there was an inherent requirement for the number of tribal regions to be twelve: if Yoseph were one, then Levi could make up the total; but why couldn't there be eleven regions, or thirteen? Which endorses the oft-stated conviction that the tribal structure was an earthly reflection of the cosmic: twelve constellations, so twelve tribes. But this also works a second way around, which would be more ingenuous: that it became necessary to find a twelfth tribe, precisely because the Leviyim had been raised to the theocracy. And which tribe could that be: only the firstborn of either Rachel or Le'ah were eligible; Rachel was the favoured wife; Re'u-Ven was disqualified because of his incest with Bilhah. Therefore Yoseph, and therefore the tale of the grandsons in Genesis 48.
One last thought, by way of a however. In Genesis, the firstborn is always supplanted by the youngest, which leaves open the question: why Yoseph and not Bin-Yamin? When it comes time to choose a king, the man chosen will be Sha'ul ben Kish of the tribe of Bin-Yamin - I have explored the whys and wherefores of this in the first volume of "City of Peace". His successor, David, comes from the tribe of Yehudah, but will establish his capital, and the site for YHVH's permanent home, in Yeru-Shala'im, which is in the tribal territory of Bin-Yamin. By the time of Ezra, only two tribes will be left: Yehudah and Bin-Yamin. So the oracle will be fulfilled!
KI IM ARIM LASHEVET: As noted above, and previously - the understanding is that the blemished among the Leviyim (Levites) will be allowed to farm and keep animals in compensation for their preclusion from priestly duties, and that the tribes will not only give them "refuge cities", which is to say priestly residences and shrines, but also a secular living. For this purpose they were given the land beside the city walls, and the homes that were built on those walls; the best houses in the city, but also the most dangerous at a time of siege.
14:5 KA ASHER TSIVAH YHVH ET MOSHEH KEN ASU BENEY YISRA-EL VA YACHLEKU ET HA ARETS
כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶת מֹשֶׁה כֵּן עָשׂוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּחְלְקוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ
BN: As YHVH instructed Mosheh, so the Beney Yisra-El did, and they shared out the land.
YACHLEKU: That word CHALAK again! And yes, it means "divide", and they did indeed divide it; but "divisions" are negatives, and the objective was a unified nation, ultimately a confederation: so "shared out" in my translation.
pey break
14:6 VA YIGSHU VENEY YEHUDAH EL YEHOSHU'A BA GIL-GAL VA YOMER ELAV KALEV BEN YEPHUNEH HA KENIZI ATAH YADA'TA ET HA DAVAR ASHER DIBER YHVH EL MOSHEH ISH HA ELOHIM AL ODOTAY VE AL ODOTEYCHA BE KADESH BARNE'A
וַיִּגְּשׁוּ בְנֵי יְהוּדָה אֶל יְהֹושֻׁעַ בַּגִּלְגָּל וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו כָּלֵב בֶּן יְפֻנֶּה הַקְּנִזִּי אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ אֶת הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים עַל אֹדֹותַי וְעַל אֹדֹותֶיךָ בְּקָדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ
BN: Then the Beney Yehudah came to Yehoshu'a in Gil-Gal: and Kalev ben Yephuneh the Kenizi said to him: "You know what YHVH said to Mosheh the man of Elohim concerning me and you in Kadesh Barne'a...
KALEV BEN YEPHUNEH HA KENIZI: Is Kalev a Kenizite or a Yehudi - it matters, because of the dispute over Chevron later, when David becomes king there, but the heirs of Kalev dispute his right, claiming the city and their own (2 Samuel 2). Need to go back to the tribal Toldot to clarify this (click the link under Kenizite), but this verse appears to state that the Kenizites were a sub-clan of Yehudah.
KADESH BARNE'A: See the link.
ATAH YADA'TA: The phrasing is very colloquial (he is using the past tense for a statement in the present tense), and also very "chummy" - which is not surprising: Kalev and Yehoshu'a were spies together many years ago, and joined by their mutual positivity. But it is also very... I hate to use the word "stupid", but if this was Shakespeare we would assume he had given the line to Bottom in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", or maybe Andrew Aguecheek in "Twelfth Night", but not to someone intellectual like Hamlet.
14:7 BEN ARBA'IM SHANAH ANOCHI BISHLO'ACH MOSHEH EVED YHVH OTI MI KADESH BARNE'A LERAGEL ET HA ARETS VA ASHEV OTO DAVAR KA ASHER IM LEVAVI
בֶּן אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה אָנֹכִי בִּשְׁלֹחַ מֹשֶׁה עֶבֶד יְהוָה אֹתִי מִקָּדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ לְרַגֵּל אֶת הָאָרֶץ וָאָשֵׁב אֹתֹו דָּבָר כַּאֲשֶׁר עִם לְבָבִי
BN: "Forty years old I was, when Mosheh the servant of YHVH sent me from Kadesh Barne'a to spy out the land; and I brought back word to him just as it was in my heart...
EVED YHVH: In the previous verse he was ISH HA ELOHIM - clearly Kalev is unclear which is whom, but trying to use the correct diplomatic language. As with his portrayal in the Book of Samuel... as I said above, I do not like to use the word "stupid" to describe another person.
And anyway, why is he telling Yehoshu'a what Yehoshu'a obviously already knows, given that he was there at the time?
14:8 VE ACHAI ASHER ALU IMI HIMSIV ET LEV HA AM VE ANOCHI MIL'E'TI ACHAREY YHVH ELOHAY
וְאַחַי אֲשֶׁר עָלוּ עִמִּי הִמְסִיו אֶת לֵב הָעָם וְאָנֹכִי מִלֵּאתִי אַחֲרֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהָי
BN: "But my brothers what went up with me made the hearts of the people melt; while me, I was totally with YHVH my god...
And despite my previous comment, my translation here is absolutely accurate to the original; I have translated it "with my heart", as sincerely as Kalev reported back his observations of Kena'an to Mosheh.
14:9 VA YISHAV'A MOSHEH BA YOM HA HU LEMOR IM LO HA ARETS ASHER DARCHAH RAGLECHA BAH LECHA TIHEYEH LE NACHALAHU LE VANEYCHA AD OLAM KI MIL'E'TA ACHAREY YHVH ELOHAY
וַיִּשָּׁבַע מֹשֶׁה בַּיֹּום הַהוּא לֵאמֹר אִם לֹא הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר דָּרְכָה רַגְלְךָ בָּהּ לְךָ תִהְיֶה לְנַחֲלָה וּלְבָנֶיךָ עַד עֹולָם כִּי מִלֵּאתָ אַחֲרֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהָי
BN: "And Mosheh made me a promise that day, saying: 'If the land on which your feet have trodden does not come to you as your inheritance, and your children's for ever, because you wholly followed YHVH my god...'
My god, his god, your god! see verse 14.
My translation appears to leave this as an unfinished sentence; it is, however, once again completely accurate to the original.
14:10 VE ATAH HINEH HECHEYAH YHVH OTI KA ASHER DIBER ZEH ARBA'IM VE CHAMESH SHANAH ME'AZ DIBER YHVH ET HA DAVAR HA ZEH EL MOSHEH ASHER HALACH YISRA-EL BA MIDBAR VE ATAH HINEH ANOCHI HAYOM BEN CHAMESH U SHEMONIM SHANAH
וְעַתָּה הִנֵּה הֶחֱיָה יְהוָה אֹותִי כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּר זֶה אַרְבָּעִים וְחָמֵשׁ שָׁנָה מֵאָז דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֶת הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה אֶל מֹשֶׁה אֲשֶׁר הָלַךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּמִּדְבָּר וְעַתָּה הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי הַיֹּום בֶּן חָמֵשׁ וּשְׁמֹונִים שָׁנָה
BN: "And now, as you can see, YHVH has kept me alive, like he said he would, these forty-five years, ever since YHVH spoke this word to Mosheh, while the Beney Yisra-El were wandering in the desert: and now, as you can see, today is my eighty-fifth birthday...
Now that we have had a meeting with the man - we never did in the Mosheh version - I am left wondering why Mosheh chose him in the first place. (Or is all this merely a deliberate cartooning of the man by the writer, to make him come across as an ignorant and illiterate peasant, and thereby put him down?)
14:11 ODENI HAYOM CHAZAK KA ASHER BE YOM SHELO'ACH OTI MOSHEH KE CHOCHI AZ U CHE CHOCHI ATAH LA MILCHAMAH VE LATS'ET VE LAVO
עֹודֶנִּי הַיֹּום חָזָק כַּאֲשֶׁר בְּיֹום שְׁלֹחַ אֹותִי מֹשֶׁה כְּכֹחִי אָז וּכְכֹחִי עָתָּה לַמִּלְחָמָה וְלָצֵאת וְלָבֹוא
BN: "And I am still as tough today as I was on the day that Mosheh sent me; as strong as I was then, that's how strong I am now, for war, and for the old in-out...
CHAZAK...CHOCHI: KJ translates both as "strength", but if the original wanted to convey a single idea, it would have repeated the same word. CHAZAK is about muscular strength, the power to bind, to wrestle; KO'ACH is much more about inner strength, natural vitality.
LATSET VE LAVO: Some will no doubt question my literality here, or at least its vulgarity; but these are "old mates" who have seen hard times together, and no doubt supped a flagon of mead together of an evening while eyeing up the ladies. But the point about his continuing vigour is also a threat, as the next verse will confirm.
14:12 VE ATAH TENAH LI ET HA HAR HA ZEH ASHER DIBER YHVH BA YOM HA HU KI ATAH SHAMA'TA VA YOM HA HU KI ANAKIM SHAM VE ARIM GEDOLOT BE TSUROT ULAY YHVH OTI VE HORASHTIM KA ASHER DIBER YHVH
וְעַתָּה תְּנָה לִּי אֶת הָהָר הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה בַּיֹּום הַהוּא כִּי אַתָּה שָׁמַעְתָּ בַיֹּום הַהוּא כִּי עֲנָקִים שָׁם וְעָרִים גְּדֹלֹות בְּצֻרֹות אוּלַי יְהוָה אֹותִי וְהֹורַשְׁתִּים כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה
BN: "So now you are going to give me this hill, the one that YHVH spoke about that day. You heard that day how the Anakim were there, and that those cities were huge, and fenced. Maybe YHVH will be with me, and I'll be the one to drive them out, like what YHVH said."
HA HAR: Since when was Chevron a mountain? A hill maybe, high enough, and rocky enough, for a large cave.
ASHER DIBER YHVH: Earlier he said that it was Mosheh who made this promise; but I guess that amounts to the same thing.
Does he want the mountain, or the town? Or the mountain with any towns that happen to be located there? Again, this will be significant to the inheritance of Chevron later, when David takes over the kingship from Kalev's descendants.
ANAKIM: are they really still there?
VE HORASHTIM: see Joshua 15:14, when Kalev does indeed achieve this.
14:13 VA YEVARCHEHU YEHOSHU'A VA YITEN ET CHEVRON LE CHALEV BEN YEPHUNEH LE NACHALAH
Does he want the mountain, or the town? Or the mountain with any towns that happen to be located there? Again, this will be significant to the inheritance of Chevron later, when David takes over the kingship from Kalev's descendants.
ANAKIM: are they really still there?
VE HORASHTIM: see Joshua 15:14, when Kalev does indeed achieve this.
14:13 VA YEVARCHEHU YEHOSHU'A VA YITEN ET CHEVRON LE CHALEV BEN YEPHUNEH LE NACHALAH
וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ יְהֹושֻׁעַ וַיִּתֵּן אֶת חֶבְרֹון לְכָלֵב בֶּן יְפֻנֶּה לְנַחֲלָה
BN: And Yehoshu'a blessed him, and gave Kalev ben Yephuneh Chevron as an inheritance.
As above, this will become important later, when Sha'ul dies and there are multiple claims to the succession; especially competition over David's claim to the kingship of Chevron.
14:14 AL KEN HAYETAH CHEVRON LE CHALEV BEN YEPHUNEH HA KENIZI LE NACHALAH AD HA YOM HA ZEH YA'AN ASHER MIL'E ACHAREY YHVH ELOHEY YISRA-EL
עַל כֵּן הָיְתָה חֶבְרֹון לְכָלֵב בֶּן יְפֻנֶּה הַקְּנִזִּי לְנַחֲלָה עַד הַיֹּום הַזֶּה יַעַן אֲשֶׁר מִלֵּא אַחֲרֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
BN: Chevron therefore became the inheritance of Kalev ben Yephuneh the Kenizi until this day, because he wholly followed YHVH the god of Yisra-El.
Given the change in David's time, can we now date the text? Not later than 950 BCE, which is five hundred years before the Redaction (and why did they not correct the text as part of that Redaction?) [But that reading depends on our acceptance of the tale of David as history, rather than mythology.]
14:15 VE SHEM CHEVRON LEPHANIM KIRYAT ARBA HA ADAM HA GADOL BA ANAKIM HU VE HA ARETS SHAKTAH MI MILCHAMAH
וְשֵׁם חֶבְרֹון לְפָנִים קִרְיַת אַרְבַּע הָאָדָם הַגָּדֹול בָּעֲנָקִים הוּא וְהָאָרֶץ שָׁקְטָה מִמִּלְחָמָה
BN: But before this time Chevron was named Kiryat Arba for the founding chieftain of the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.
KIRYAT ARBA: See the link.
ANAKIM:
HA ADAM HA DADOL: "Great man", or, literally, "great Adam", in the sense that Adam was the "first human" in the world of the Yisra-Elim, and Arba the equivalent among the Anakim.
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