This page gives you Bible study questions for Joshua 13, with answers and discussion notes a leader can use directly. It suits a small group, a Sunday class, or personal study. The questions move from what the chapter says, to what it means, to how it shapes daily faithfulness.
Joshua 13 at a Glance
Joshua is old, and God tells him that much of the land remains unconquered. The chapter lists the regions still to be possessed, including Philistine territory, the Geshurites, and the Canaanite lands reaching toward Lebanon and Hamath. God promises to drive out the remaining inhabitants himself and charges Joshua to divide the land.
The second half turns back to the tribes who already received their inheritance east of the Jordan from Moses. Their borders are traced carefully, city by city, and the chapter closes by noting that Levi receives no land, because the Lord himself is their inheritance.
Observation Questions
Start here. These questions ask what the text actually says, so the group stays close to the words before anyone draws conclusions. Read the chapter aloud once before you begin, and let people answer from the page.
Joshua 13:1
Now Joshua was old and well advanced in years. The LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed.
(WEB)
Read this first to set the scene. It shows God speaking to an aging leader about unfinished work, which frames the whole chapter with honesty and hope.
Joshua 13:6
All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, even all the Sidonians. I will drive them out from before the children of Israel. Just allocate it to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.
(WEB)
This verse contains God’s promise to drive out the inhabitants himself. Reading it aloud lets the group hear that the decisive action belongs to the Lord, not to their own strength.
Joshua 13:14
Only he gave no inheritance to the tribe of Levi. The offerings of the LORD, the God of Israel, made by fire are his inheritance, as he spoke to him.
(WEB)
Reading this verse highlights the unusual inheritance of the Levites. It opens conversation about what it means for God to be a people’s portion.
Joshua 13:33
But Moses gave no inheritance to the tribe of Levi. The LORD, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he spoke to them.
(WEB)
This closing verse brings the chapter back to the Lord as Levi’s inheritance. Reading it at the end of the session reinforces the central theme of God as the foundation of every blessing.
Joshua 13:8-9
8 With him the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, even as Moses the servant of the LORD gave them: 9 from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain of Medeba to Dibon…
(WEB)
These verses show the eastern tribes receiving their inheritance from Moses. Reading them reminds the group that God’s faithfulness was already at work through earlier leaders and older promises.
Memory Verse for Joshua 13
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come before you grateful that you are faithful to finish what you have begun. Like Joshua, we sometimes see the land that remains and feel the weight of how much is still ahead. Help us trust your word enough to take the next step, even when the full promise is not yet in view. Show us the places where we have allowed old compromises to remain, and give us courage to face them with you. Teach us to find our deepest security in you, as the Levites did, so that we hold our possessions loosely and our hearts firmly. Strengthen each person here to keep faithful this week, and bind us together in prayer and encouragement. Amen.
