Now Joshua was old and well along in years, and the LORD said to him, “You are old and well along in years, but very much of the land remains to be possessed.
The LORD tells Joshua that he is old, yet much of the land still remains to be possessed. Joshua's age and Israel's unfinished task are set side by side.
It frames the chapter with both Joshua's limitation and the land still before Israel.
1Now Joshua was old and well along in years, and the LORD said to him, “You are old and well along in years, but very much of the land remains to be possessed. 2This is the land that remains: 3All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites, from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)— that of the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as that of the Avvites; 4to the south, all the land of the Canaanites, from Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek, as far as the border of the Amorites; 5the land of the Gebalites; 6All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim — all the Sidonians — I Myself will drive out before the Israelites. Be sure to divide it by lot as an inheritance to Israel, as I have commanded you. 7Now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”