However, Moses did not assign land as an inheritance to the Levites; their inheritance is the Lord God of Israel, as he instructed them.

The entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh and there they set up the tent of meeting. Though they had subdued the land,

Joshua drew lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord and divided the land among the Israelites according to their allotted portions.

When they finished dividing the land into its regions, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun some land.

“Have the Israelites select the cities of refuge that I told you about through Moses.

The tribal leaders of the Levites went before Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the Israelite tribal leaders

So the Israelites assigned these cities and their grazing areas to the Levites from their own holdings, as the Lord had instructed.

So the Israelites assigned to the Levites by lot these cities and their grazing areas, as the Lord had instructed Moses.

Not one of the Lord’s faithful promises to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; every one was realized.

Now today you dare to turn back from following the Lord! You are rebelling today against the Lord; tomorrow he may break out in anger against the entire community of Israel.

The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the Israelite clans:

We swear we have done this because we were worried that in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel?

So Joshua summoned all Israel, including the elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and told them: “I am very old.

Joshua said, “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to the Lord God of Israel.”

After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?”

When the Lord’s messenger finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.

Joshua left those nations to test Israel. I wanted to see whether or not the people would carefully walk in the path marked out by the Lord, as their ancestors were careful to do.”

These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel – he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites.

He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war.

They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses.