The Living Bible (77 page)

Joshua
23

Long after this, when the Lord had given success to the people of Israel against their enemies and when Joshua was very old,
²
 he called for the leaders of Israel—the elders, judges, and officers—and said to them, “I am an old man now,
³
 and you have seen all that the Lord your God has done for you during my lifetime. He has fought for you against your enemies and has given you their land.
^4-5
 And I have divided to you the land of the nations yet unconquered as well as the land of those you have already destroyed. All the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea shall be yours, for the Lord your God will drive out all the people living there now, and you will live there instead, just as he has promised you.

    
⁶
 “But be very sure to follow all the instructions written in the book of the laws of Moses; do not deviate from them the least little bit.
⁷
 Be sure that you do not mix with the heathen people still remaining in the land; do not even mention the names of their gods, much less swear by them or worship them.
⁸
 But follow the Lord your God just as you have until now.
⁹
 He has driven out great, strong nations from before you, and no one has been able to defeat you.
¹⁰
 Each one of you has put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for the Lord your God fights for you, just as he has promised.
¹¹
 So be very careful to keep on loving him.

    
¹²
 “If you don’t, and if you begin to intermarry with the nations around you,
¹³
 then know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no longer chase those nations from your land. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap to you, a pain in your side and a thorn in your eyes, and you will disappear from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

    
¹⁴
 “Soon I will be going the way of all the earth—I am going to die.

    
“You know very well that God’s promises to you have all come true.
^15-16
 But as certainly as the Lord has given you the good things he promised, just as certainly he will bring evil upon you if you disobey him. For if you worship other gods, he will completely wipe you out from this good land that the Lord has given you. His anger will rise hot against you, and you will quickly perish.”

Joshua
24

Then Joshua summoned all the people of Israel to him at Shechem, along with their leaders—the elders, officers, and judges. So they came and presented themselves before God.

    
²
 Then Joshua addressed them as follows: “The Lord God of Israel says, ‘Your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived east of the Euphrates River; and they worshiped other gods.
³
 But I took your father Abraham from that land across the river and led him into the land of Canaan and gave him many descendants through Isaac, his son.
⁴
 Isaac’s children, whom I gave him, were Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the area around Mount Seir while Jacob and his children went into Egypt.

    
⁵
 “‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron to bring terrible plagues upon Egypt; and afterwards I brought my people out as free men.
⁶
 But when they arrived at the Red Sea, the Egyptians chased after them with chariots and cavalry.
⁷
 Then Israel cried out to me and I put darkness between them and the Egyptians; and I brought the sea crashing in upon the Egyptians, drowning them. You saw what I did. Then Israel lived in the wilderness for many years.

    
⁸
 “‘Finally I brought you into the land of the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan; and they fought against you, but I destroyed them and gave you their land.
⁹
 Then King Balak of Moab started a war against Israel, and he asked Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you.
¹⁰
 But I wouldn’t listen to him. Instead I made him bless you; and so I delivered Israel from him.

    
¹¹
 “‘Then you crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, and so did many others—the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Each in turn fought against you, but I destroyed them all.
¹²
 And I sent hornets ahead of you to drive out the two kings of the Amorites and their people. It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory!
¹³
 I gave you land you had not worked for and cities you did not build—these cities where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them.’

    
¹⁴
 “So revere Jehovah and serve him in sincerity and truth. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Worship the Lord alone.
¹⁵
 But if you are unwilling to obey the Lord, then decide today whom you will obey. Will it be the gods of your ancestors beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites here in this land? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

    
¹⁶
 And the people replied, “We would never forsake the Lord and worship other gods!
¹⁷
 For the Lord our God is the one who rescued our fathers from their slavery in the land of Egypt. He is the God who did mighty miracles before the eyes of Israel, as we traveled through the wilderness, and preserved us from our enemies when we passed through their land.
¹⁸
 It was the Lord who drove out the Amorites and the other nations living here in the land. Yes, we choose the Lord, for he alone is our God.”

    
¹⁹
 But Joshua replied to the people, “You can’t worship the Lord God, for he is holy and jealous; he will not forgive your rebellion and sins.
²⁰
 If you forsake him and worship other gods, he will turn upon you and destroy you, even though he has taken care of you for such a long time.”

    
²¹
 But the people answered, “We choose the Lord!”

    
²²
 “You have heard yourselves say it,” Joshua said. “You have chosen to obey the Lord.”

    
“Yes,” they replied, “we are witnesses.”

    
²³
 “All right,” he said, “then you must destroy all the idols you now own, and you must obey the Lord God of Israel.”

    
²⁴
 The people replied to Joshua, “Yes, we will worship and obey the Lord alone.”

    
²⁵
 So Joshua made a covenant with them that day at Shechem, committing them to a permanent and binding contract between themselves and God.
²⁶
 Joshua recorded the people’s reply in the book of the laws of God and took a huge stone as a reminder and rolled it beneath the oak tree that was beside the Tabernacle.

    
²⁷
 Then Joshua said to all the people, “This stone has heard everything the Lord said, so it will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word.”

    
²⁸
 Then Joshua sent the people away to their own sections of the country.

    
²⁹
 Soon after this he died at the age of 110.
³⁰
 He was buried on his own estate at Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of the mountains of Gaash.

    
³¹
 Israel obeyed the Lord throughout the lifetimes of Joshua and the other old men who had personally witnessed the amazing deeds the Lord had done for Israel.

    
³²
 The bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel had brought along when they left Egypt, were buried in Shechem, in the parcel of ground Jacob had bought
*
from the sons of Hamor. (The land was located in the territory assigned to the tribes of Joseph.)

    
³³
 Eleazar, the son of Aaron, also died; he was buried in the hill country of Ephraim, at Gibeah, the city that had been given to his son Phinehas.

Judges

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Judges
1

After Joshua died, the nation of Israel went to the Lord to receive his instructions.

    
“Which of our tribes should be the first to go to war against the Canaanites?” they inquired.

    
²
 God’s answer came, “Judah. And I will give them a great victory.”

    
³
 The leaders of the tribe of Judah, however, asked help from the tribe of Simeon. “Join us in clearing out the people living in the territory allotted to us,” they said, “and then we will help you conquer yours.” So the army of Simeon went with the army of Judah.
^4-6
 And the Lord helped them defeat the Canaanites and Perizzites, so that ten thousand of the enemy were slain at Bezek. King Adoni-bezek escaped, but the Israeli army soon captured him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

    
⁷
 “I have treated seventy kings in this same manner and have fed them the scraps under my table!” King Adoni-bezek said. “Now God has paid me back.” He was taken to Jerusalem and died there.

    
⁸
 (Judah had conquered Jerusalem and massacred its people, setting the city on fire.)
⁹
 Afterward the army of Judah fought the Canaanites in the hill country and in the Negeb, as well as on the coastal plains.
¹⁰
 Then Judah marched against the Canaanites in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath-arba), destroying the cities of Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
¹¹
 Later they attacked the city of Debir (formerly called Kiriath-sepher).

    
¹²
 “Who will lead the attack against Debir?” Caleb challenged them. “Whoever conquers it shall have my daughter Achsah as his wife!”

    
¹³
 Caleb’s nephew, Othniel, son of his younger brother Kenaz, volunteered to lead the attack; and he conquered the city and won Achsah as his bride.
¹⁴
 As they were leaving for their new home,
*
she urged him to ask her father for an additional
*
piece of land. She dismounted from her donkey to speak to Caleb about it.

    
“What do you wish?” he asked.

    
¹⁵
 And she replied, “You have been kind enough to give me land in the Negeb, but please give us springs of water too.”

    
So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

    
¹⁶
 When the tribe of Judah moved into its new land in the Negeb Desert south of Arad, the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law—members of the Kenite tribe—accompanied them. They left their homes in Jericho, “The City of Palm Trees,” and the two tribes lived together after that.
¹⁷
 Afterwards the army of Judah joined Simeon’s, and they fought the Canaanites at the city of Zephath and massacred all its people. So now the city is named Hormah (meaning, “massacred”).
¹⁸
 The army of Judah also conquered the cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, with their surrounding villages.
¹⁹
 The Lord helped the tribe of Judah exterminate the people of the hill country, though they failed in their attempt to conquer the people of the valley, who had iron chariots.

    
²⁰
 The city of Hebron was given to Caleb as the Lord had promised; so Caleb drove out the inhabitants of the city; they were descendants of the three sons of Anak.

    
²¹
 The tribe of Benjamin failed to exterminate the Jebusites living in their part of the city of Jerusalem, so they still live there today, mingled with the Israelis.

    
^22-23
 As for the tribe of Joseph, they attacked the city of Bethel, formerly known as Luz, and the Lord was with them. First they sent scouts,
²⁴
 who captured a man coming out of the city. They offered to spare his life and that of his family if he would show them the entrance passage through the wall.
*
²⁵
 So he showed them how to get in, and they massacred the entire population except for this man and his family.
²⁶
 Later the man moved to Syria and founded a city there, naming it Luz, too, as it is still known today.

    
²⁷
 The tribe of Manasseh failed to drive out the people living in Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, with their surrounding towns; so the Canaanites stayed there.
²⁸
 In later years when the Israelis were stronger, they put the Canaanites to work as slaves, but never did force them to leave the country.
²⁹
 This was also true of the Canaanites living in Gezer; they still live among the tribe of Ephraim.

    
³⁰
 And the tribe of Zebulun did not massacre the people of Kitron or Nahalol, but made them their slaves;
^31-32
 nor did the tribe of Asher drive out the residents of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob; so the Israelis still live among the Canaanites, who were the original people of that land.
³³
 And the tribe of Naphtali did not drive out the people of Beth-shemesh or of Beth-anath, so these people continue to live among them as servants.

    
³⁴
 As for the tribe of Dan, the Amorites forced them into the hill country and wouldn’t let them come down into the valley;
³⁵
 but when the Amorites later spread into Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim, the tribe of Joseph conquered them and made them their slaves.
³⁶
 The boundary of the Amorites begins at the ascent of Scorpion Pass, runs to a spot called The Rock, and continues upward from there.