Read Through the Bible in a Year / March

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / March Index​

March 20 / Deuteronomy 22–25


CHAPTER 22

YOU SHALL not see your brother’s ox or his sheep being driven away or stolen, and hide yourself from [your duty to help] them; you shall surely take them back to your brother. [Prov. 24:12.]
2 And if your brother [the owner] is not near you or if you do not know who he is, you shall bring the animal to your house and it shall be with you until your brother comes looking for it; then you shall restore it to him.
3 And so shall you do with his donkey or his garment or with anything which your brother has lost and you have found. You shall not hide from [your duty concerning] them.
4 You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fall down by the way, and hide from [your duty concerning] them; you shall surely help him to lift them up again.
5 The woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all that do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.
6 If a bird’s nest should chance to be before you in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother bird is sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother bird with the young.
7 You shall surely let the mother bird go, and take only the young, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
8 When you build a new house, then you shall put a railing around your [flat] roof, so that no one may fall from there and bring guilt of blood upon your house.
9 You shall not plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole crop be forfeited [under this ban], the seed which you have sown and the yield of the vineyard forfeited to the sanctuary.
10 You shall not plow with an ox [a clean animal] and a donkey [unclean] together. [II Cor. 6:14-16.]
11 You shall not wear a garment of mingled stuff, wool and linen together. [Ezek. 44:18; Rev. 19:8.]
12 You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your cloak with which you cover yourself. [Num. 15:37-40.]
13 If any man takes a wife and goes in to her, and then scorns her
14 And charges her with shameful things and gives her an evil reputation, and says, I took this woman, but when I came to her, I did not find in her the tokens of a virgin,
15 Then the father of the young woman, and her mother, shall get and bring out the tokens of her virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.
16 And her father shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man as wife, but he hates and spurns her;
17 And behold, he has made shameful charges against her, saying, I found not in your daughter the evidences of her virginity. And yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city,
18 And the elders of that city shall take the man and rebuke and whip him.
19 And they shall fine him 100 shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he may not divorce her all his days.
20 But if it is true that the evidences of virginity were not found in the young woman,
21 Then they shall bring her to the door of her father’s house and the men of her city shall stone her to death, because she has wrought [criminal] folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
22 If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, they shall both die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
23 If a maiden who is a virgin is engaged to be married, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her,
24 Then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and shall stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s [promised] wife. So shall you put away evil from among you.
25 But if a man finds the betrothed maiden in the open country and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.
26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no sin punishable by death, for this is as when a man attacks and slays his neighbor,
27 For he came upon her in the open country, and the betrothed girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.
28 If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her and they are found,
29 Then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her; he may not divorce her all his days.
30 A man shall not take his father’s former wife, nor shall he uncover her who belongs to his father.


CHAPTER 23

HE WHO is wounded in the testicles, or has been made a eunuch, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.
2 A person begotten out of wedlock shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall his descendants not enter into the congregation of the Lord.
3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation their descendants shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord forever,
4 Because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia against you to curse you.
5 Nevertheless, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because the Lord your God loves you.
6 You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.
7 You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother [Esau’s descendant]. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a stranger and temporary resident in his land.
8 Their children may enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation.
9 When you go forth against your enemies and are in camp, you shall keep yourselves from every evil thing.
10 If there is among you any man who is not clean by reason of what happens to him at night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come within the camp;
11 But when evening comes he shall bathe himself in water, and when the sun is down he may return to the camp.
12 You shall have a place also outside the camp to which you shall go [as a comfort station];
13 And you shall have a paddle or shovel among your weapons, and when you sit down outside [to relieve yourself], you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up what has come from you.
14 For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore shall your camp be holy, that He may see nothing indecent among you and turn away from you.
15 You shall not give up to his master a servant who has escaped from his master to you.
16 He shall dwell with you in your midst wherever he chooses in one of your towns where it pleases him best. You shall not defraud or oppress him.
17 There shall be no cult prostitute among the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a cult prostitute (a sodomite) among the sons of Israel.
18 You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the price of a dog (a sodomite) into the house of the Lord your God as payment of a vow, for both of these [the gift and the giver] are an abomination to the Lord your God.
19 You shall not lend on interest to your brother—interest on money, on victuals, on anything that is lent for interest.
20 You may lend on interest to a foreigner, but to your brother you shall not lend on interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land to which you go to possess it.
21 When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not be slack in paying it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and slackness would be sin in you.
22 But if you refrain from vowing, it will not be sin in you.
23 The vow which has passed your lips you shall be watchful to perform, a voluntary offering which you have made to the Lord your God, which you have promised with your mouth.
24 When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you please, but you shall not put any in your vessel.
25 When you come into the standing grain of your neighbor, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.


CHAPTER 24

WHEN A man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house,
2 And when she departs out of his house she goes and marries another man,
3 And if the latter husband dislikes her and writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies, who took her as his wife,
4 Then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled. For that is an abomination before the Lord; and you shall not bring guilt upon the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.
5 When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.
6 No man shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for he would be taking a life in pledge.
7 If a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren of the Israelites and treats him as a slave or a servant or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall put evil from among you.
8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that you watch diligently and do according to all that the Levitical priests shall teach you. As I commanded them, so you shall be watchful and do. [Lev. 13:14, 15.]
9 Remember [earnestly] what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way after you had come out of Egypt. [Num. 12:10.]
10 When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge.
11 You shall stand outside and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you.
12 And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight.
13 You shall surely restore to him the pledge at sunset, that he may sleep in his garment and bless you; and it shall be credited to you as righteousness (rightness and justice) before the Lord your God.
14 You shall not oppress or extort from a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is of your brethren or of your strangers and sojourners who are in your land inside your towns.
15 You shall give him his hire on the day he earns it before the sun goes down, for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it; lest he cry against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.
16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; only for his own sin shall anyone be put to death.
17 You shall not pervert the justice due the stranger or the sojourner or the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge.
18 But you shall [earnestly] remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.
19 When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
20 When you beat your olive tree, do not go over the boughs again; the leavings shall be for the stranger and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.
22 You shall [earnestly] remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.


CHAPTER 25

IF THERE is a controversy between men, and they come into court and the judges decide between them, justifying the innocent and condemning the guilty,
2 Then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a certain number of stripes according to his offense.
3 Forty stripes may be given him but not more, lest, if he should be beaten with many stripes, your brother should [be treated like a beast and] seem low and worthless to you.
4 You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain. [I Cor. 9:9, 10; I Tim. 5:17, 18.]
5 If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, his wife shall not be married outside the family to a stranger [an excluded man]. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.
6 And the firstborn son shall succeed to the name of the dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.
7 And if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuses to continue his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.
8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. And if he stands firm and says, I do not want to take her,
9 Then shall his brother’s wife come to him in the presence of the elders and pull his shoe off his foot and spit in his face and shall answer, So shall it be done to that man who does not build up his brother’s house.
10 And his family shall be called in Israel, The House of Him Whose Shoe Was Loosed.
11 When men strive together one with another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband out of the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand and seizes the other man by the private parts,
12 Then you shall cut off her hand; your eyes shall not pity her.
13 You shall not have in your bag true and false weights, a large and a small.
14 You shall not have in your house true and false measures, a large and a small.
15 But you shall have a perfect and just weight and a perfect and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
16 For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God.
17 Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you had come forth from Egypt,
18 How he did not fear God, but when you were faint and weary he attacked you along the way and cut off all the stragglers at your rear. [Exod. 17:14.]
19 Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens; you must not forget.

 

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / March Index​

March 21 / Deuteronomy 26–28


CHAPTER 26

WHEN YOU have come into the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance and possess it and live in it,
2 You shall take some of the first of all the produce of the soil which you harvest from the land the Lord your God gives you and put it in a basket, and go to the place [the sanctuary] which the Lord your God has chosen as the abiding place for His Name [and His Presence].
3 And you shall go to the priest who is in office in those days, and say to him, I give thanks this day to the Lord your God that I have come to the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.
4 And the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.
5 And you shall say before the Lord your God, A wandering and lost Aramean ready to perish was my father [Jacob], and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and numerous.
6 And the Egyptians treated us very badly and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage.
7 And when we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our [cruel] oppression;
8 And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with great (awesome) power and with signs and with wonders;
9 And He brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10 And now, behold, I bring the firstfruits of the ground which You, O Lord, have given me. And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God;
11 And you and the Levite and the stranger and the sojourner among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.
12 When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger and the sojourner, the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your towns and be filled,
13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, I have brought the hallowed things (the tithe) out of my house and moreover have given them to the Levite, to the stranger and the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed any of Your commandments, neither have I forgotten them.
14 I have not eaten of the tithe in my mourning [making the tithe unclean], nor have I handled any of it when I was unclean, nor given any of it to the dead. I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me.
15 Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
16 This day the Lord your God has commanded you to do these statutes and ordinances. Therefore you shall keep and do them with all your [mind and] heart and with all your being.
17 You have [openly] declared the Lord this day to be your God, [pledging] to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes and His commandments and His precepts, and to hearken to His voice.
18 And the Lord has declared this day that you are His peculiar people as He promised you, and you are to keep all His commandments;
19 And He will make you high above all nations which He has made, in praise and in fame and in honor, and that you shall be a holy people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.


CHAPTER 27

AND MOSES with the elders of Israel commanded the people, Keep all the commandments with which I charge you today.
2 And on the day when you pass over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall set up great stones and cover them with plaster.
3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law when you have passed over, that you may go into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
4 And when you have gone over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, as I command you this day, on Mount Ebal, and coat them with plaster.
5 And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you shall not lift up any iron tool upon them.
6 You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to Him;
7 And you shall offer peace offerings, and eat there and rejoice before the Lord your God.
8 And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.
9 And Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This day you have become the people of the Lord your God.
10 So you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God and do His commandments and statutes which I command you today.
11 And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,
12 These [tribes] shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have passed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph’s [sons], and Benjamin.
13 And these [tribes] shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce the curse [for disobedience]: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
14 And the Levites shall declare with a loud voice to all the men of Israel:
15 Cursed is the man who makes a graven or molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. All the people shall answer, Amen.
16 Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother. All the people shall say, Amen.
17 Cursed is he who moves [back] his neighbor’s landmark. All the people shall say, Amen.
18 Cursed is he who misleads a blind man on his way. All the people shall say, Amen.
19 Cursed is he who perverts the justice due to the sojourner or the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. All the people shall say, Amen.
20 Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he uncovers what belongs to his father. All the people shall say, Amen.
21 Cursed is he who lies with any beast. All the people shall say, Amen.
22 Cursed is he who lies with his half sister, whether his father’s or his mother’s daughter. All the people shall say, Amen.
23 Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law. All the people shall say, Amen.
24 Cursed is he who slays his neighbor secretly. All the people shall say, Amen.
25 Cursed is he who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person. All the people shall say, Amen.
26 Cursed is he who does not support and give assent to the words of this law to do them [as the rule of his life]. All the people shall say, Amen.


CHAPTER 28

IF YOU will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you heed the voice of the Lord your God.
3 Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock.
5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading trough.
6 Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 The Lord shall command the blessing upon you in your storehouse and in all that you undertake. And He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to Himself, as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.
10 And all people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name [and in the presence of] the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.
11 And the Lord shall make you have a surplus of prosperity, through the fruit of your body, of your livestock, and of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
12 The Lord shall open to you His good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
13 And the Lord shall make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day and are watchful to do them.
14 And you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you this day, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:
16 Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the field.
17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading trough.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, of your land, of the increase of your cattle and the young of your sheep.
19 Cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 The Lord shall send you curses, confusion, and rebuke in every enterprise to which you set your hand, until you are destroyed, perishing quickly because of the evil of your doings by which you have forsaken me [Moses and God as one].
21 The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land into which you go to possess.
22 The Lord will smite you with consumption, with fever and inflammation, fiery heat, sword and drought, blasting and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.
23 The heavens over your head shall be brass and the earth under you shall be iron.
24 The Lord shall make the rain of your land powdered soil and dust; from the heavens it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed.
25 The Lord shall cause you to be struck down before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and you shall be tossed to and fro and be a terror among all the kingdoms of the earth. [Fulfilled in II Chron. 29:8.]
26 And your dead body shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.
27 The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and the tumors, the scurvy and the itch, from which you cannot be healed.
28 The Lord will smite you with madness and blindness and dismay of [mind and] heart.
29 And you shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness. And you shall not prosper in your ways; and you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to save you.
30 You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but not gather its grapes.
31 Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away before your face and not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to help you.
32 Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day; and there shall be no power in your hands to prevent it. [Fulfilled in II Chron. 29:9.]
33 A nation which you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your land and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, [Fulfilled in Judg. 6:1–6; 13:1.]
34 So that you shall be driven mad by the sights which your eyes shall see.
35 The Lord will smite you on the knees and on the legs with a sore boil that cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
36 The Lord shall bring you and your king whom you have set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall [be forced to] serve other gods, of wood and stone. [Fulfilled in II Kings 17:4, 6; 24:12, 14; 25:7, 11; Dan. 6:11, 12.]
37 And you shall become an amazement, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples to which the Lord will lead you.
38 You shall carry much seed out into the field and shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. [Fulfilled in Hag. 1:6.]
39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them but shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.
40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory but you shall not anoint yourselves with the oil, for your olive trees shall drop their fruit.
41 You shall beget sons and daughters but shall not enjoy them, for they shall go into captivity. [Fulfilled in Lam. 1:5.]
42 All your trees and the fruit of your ground shall the locust possess. [Fulfilled in Joel 1:4.]
43 The transient (stranger) among you shall mount up higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.
44 He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
45 All these curses shall come upon you and shall pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.
46 They shall be upon you for a sign [of warning to other nations] and for a wonder, and upon your descendants forever.
47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of [mind and] heart [in gratitude] for the abundance of all [with which He had blessed you],
48 Therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things; and He will put a yoke of iron upon your neck until He has destroyed you.
49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
50 A nation of unyielding countenance who will not regard the person of the old or show favor to the young,
51 And shall eat the fruit of your cattle and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed, who also shall not leave you grain, new wine, oil, the increase of your cattle or the young of your sheep until they have caused you to perish.
52 They shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you.
53 And you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the [pressing] misery with which your enemies shall distress you. [Fulfilled in II Kings 6:24–29.]
54 The man who is most tender among you and extremely particular and well-bred, his eye shall be cruel and grudging of food toward his brother and toward the wife of his bosom and toward those of his children still remaining,
55 So that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children which he is eating, because he has nothing left to him in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you in all your towns.
56 The most tender and daintily bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground because she is so dainty and kind, will grudge to the husband of her bosom, to her son and to her daughter
57 Her afterbirth that comes out from her body and the children whom she shall bear. For she will eat them secretly for want of anything else in the siege and distress with which your enemies shall distress you in your towns.
58 If you will not be watchful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may [reverently] fear this glorious and fearful name [and presence]—THE LORD YOUR GOD—
59 Then the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary strokes and blows, great plagues of long continuance, and grievous sicknesses of long duration.
60 Moreover, He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
61 Also every sickness and every affliction which is not written in this Book of the Law the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed.
62 And you shall be left few in number, whereas you had been as the stars of the heavens for multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
63 And as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice to bring ruin upon you and to destroy you; and you shall be plucked from the land into which you go to possess.
64 And the Lord shall scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall [be forced to] serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. [Fulfilled in Dan. 3:6.]
65 And among these nations you shall find no ease and there shall be no rest for the sole of your foot; but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes [from disappointment of hope], fainting of mind, and languishing of spirit.
66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; day and night you shall be worried, and have no assurance of your life.
67 In the morning you shall say, Would that it were evening! and at evening you shall say, Would that it were morning!—because of the anxiety and dread of your [minds and] hearts and the sights which you shall see with your [own] eyes.
68 And the Lord shall bring you into Egypt again with ships by the way about which I said to you, You shall never see it again. And there you shall be sold to your enemies as bondmen and bondwomen, but no man shall buy you. [Hos. 8:13.]

 

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / March Index​

March 22 / Deuteronomy 29–31

CHAPTER 29

THESE ARE the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.
2 Moses called to all Israel and said to them, You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land;
3 The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.
4 Yet the Lord has not given you a [mind and] heart to understand and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this day.
5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out upon you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.
6 You have not eaten [grain] bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, that you might recognize and know [your dependence on Him Who is saying], I am the Lord your God.
7 And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them.
8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites.
9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may deal wisely and prosper in all that you do.
10 All of you stand today before the Lord your God—your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,
11 Your little ones, your wives, and the stranger and sojourner in your camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water—
12 That you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into His oath which He makes with you today,
13 That He may establish you this day as a people for Himself, and that He may be to you a God as He said to you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
14 It is not with you only that I make this sworn covenant
15 But with future Israelites who do not stand here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are here with us this day.
16 You know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we came through the midst of the nations you crossed.
17 And you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them.
18 Beware lest there should be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose [mind and] heart turns away this day from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a [poisonous] root that bears gall and wormwood,
19 And lest, when he hears the words of this curse and oath, he flatters and congratulates himself in his [mind and] heart, saying, I shall have peace and safety, though I walk in the stubbornness of my [mind and] heart [bringing down a hurricane of destruction] and sweep away the watered land with the dry.
20 The Lord will not pardon him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall settle on him; the Lord will blot out his very name from under the heavens.
21 And the Lord will single him out for ruin and destruction from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,
22 So that the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who shall come from a distant land, shall say, when they see the plagues of this land and the diseases with which the Lord has made it sick—
23 The whole land is brimstone and salt and a burned waste, not sown or bearing anything, where no grass can take root, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and wrath—
24 Even all the nations shall say, Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?
25 Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.
26 For they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they knew not and that He had not given to them.
27 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses that are written in this book.
28 And the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger and in wrath and in great indignation and cast them into another land, as it is this day.
29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all of the words of this law.


CHAPTER 30

AND WHEN all these things have come upon you, the blessings and the curses which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you,
2 And shall return to the Lord your God and obey His voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your [mind and] heart and with all your being,
3 Then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion upon you and will gather you again from all the nations where He has scattered you.
4 Even if any of your dispersed are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and from there will He bring you.
5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will do you good and multiply you above your fathers.
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with all your being, that you may live.
7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses upon your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecute you.
8 And you shall return and obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments which I command you today.
9 And the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in every work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, of your cattle, of your land, for good; for the Lord will again delight in prospering you, as He took delight in your fathers,
10 If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with all your being.
11 For this commandment which I command you this day is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off.
12 It is not [a secret laid up] in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?
14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your mind and in your heart, so that you can do it.
15 See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil.
16 [If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which] I command you today, to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land into which you go to possess.
17 But if your [mind and] heart turn away and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,
18 I declare to you today that you shall surely perish, and you shall not live long in the land which you pass over the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live
20 And may love the Lord your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.


CHAPTER 31

AND MOSES went on speaking these words to all Israel:
2 And he said to them, I am 120 years old this day; I can no more go out and come in. And the Lord has said to me, You shall not go over this Jordan.
3 The Lord your God will Himself go over before you, and He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. And Joshua shall go over before you, as the Lord has said.
4 And the Lord will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them.
5 And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you.
6 Be strong, courageous, and firm; fear not nor be in terror before them, for it is the Lord your God Who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you.
7 And Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong, courageous, and firm, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to possess it.
8 It is the Lord Who goes before you; He will [march] with you; He will not fail you or let you go or forsake you; [let there be no cowardice or flinching, but] fear not, neither become broken [in spirit—depressed, dismayed, and unnerved with alarm].
9 And Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.
10 And Moses commanded them, At the end of every seven years, at the set time of the year of release [of debtors from their debts], at the Feast of Booths,
11 When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses [for His sanctuary], you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
12 Assemble the people—men, women, and children, and the stranger and the sojourner within your towns—that they may hear and learn [reverently] to fear the Lord your God and be watchful to do all the words of this law,
13 And that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn [reverently] to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you go over the Jordan to possess.
14 And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, your days are nearing when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, that I may give him his charge. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.
15 And the Lord appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the Tent.
16 And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers, and this people will rise up and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them; and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.
17 Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them. And they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?
18 And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done in turning to other gods.
19 And now write this song for yourselves and teach it to the Israelites; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the Israelites.
20 For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise and scorn Me and break My covenant.
21 And when many evils and troubles have befallen them, this [sacred] song will confront them as a witness, for it will never be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants. For I know their strong desire and the purposes which they are forming even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore to give them.
22 Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the Israelites. [Deut. 32:1-43.]
23 And [the Lord] charged Joshua son of Nun, Be strong and courageous and firm, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land which I swore to give them, and I will be with you.
24 And when Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book to the very end,
25 He commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
26 Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.
27 For I know your rebellion and stubbornness; behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death!
28 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
29 For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.
30 And Moses spoke in the hearing of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:

 

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / March Index​

March 23 / Deuteronomy 32–34


CHAPTER 32

GIVE EAR, O heavens, and I [Moses] will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 My message shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the light rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb.
3 For I will proclaim the name [and presence] of the Lord. Concede and ascribe greatness to our God.
4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are law and justice. A God of faithfulness without breach or deviation, just and right is He.
5 They [Israel] have spoiled themselves. They are not sons to Him, and that is their blemish—a perverse and crooked generation!
6 Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not He your Father Who acquired you for His own, Who made and established you [as a nation]?
7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations. Ask your father and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the Israelites.
9 For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob (Israel) is the lot of His inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, in the howling void of the wilderness; He kept circling around him, He scanned him [penetratingly], He kept him as the pupil of His eye.
11 As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions. [Luke 13:34.]
12 So the Lord alone led him; there was no foreign god with Him.
13 He made Israel ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the increase of the field; and He made him suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock,
14 Butter and curds of the herd and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and he-goats, with the finest of the wheat; and you drank wine of the blood of the grape.
15 But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat and kicked. You became fat, you grew thick, you were gorged and sleek! Then he forsook God Who made him and forsook and despised the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God—to gods whom they knew not, to new gods lately come up, whom your fathers never knew or feared.
18 Of the Rock Who bore you you were unmindful; you forgot the God Who travailed in your birth.
19 And the Lord saw it and He spurned and rejected them, out of indignation with His sons and His daughters.
20 And He said, I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 They have moved Me to jealousy with what is not God; they have angered Me with their idols. So I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people; I will anger them with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 And I will heap evils upon them; I will spend My arrows upon them.
24 They shall be wasted with hunger and devoured with burning heat and poisonous pestilence; and the teeth of beasts will I send against them, with the poison of crawling things of the dust.
25 From without the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers shall be terror, destroying both young man and virgin, the sucking child with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said, I would scatter them afar and I would have made the remembrance of them to cease from among men,
27 Had I not feared the provocation of the foe, lest their enemies misconstrue it and lest they should say, Our own hand has prevailed; all this was not the work of the Lord.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.
29 O that they were wise and would see through this [present triumph] to their ultimate fate!
30 How could one have chased a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had delivered them up?
31 For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies themselves judge this.
32 For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of [poisonous] gall, their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the [furious] venom of serpents, and the pitiless poison of vipers.
34 Is not this laid up in store with Me, sealed up in My treasuries?
35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, in the time when their foot shall slide; for the day of their disaster is at hand and their doom comes speedily.
36 For the Lord will revoke sentence for His people and relent for His servants’ sake when He sees that their power is gone and none remains, whether bond or free.
37 And He will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection!
39 See now that I, I am He, and there is no god beside Me; I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand.
40 For I lift up My hand to heaven and swear, As I live forever,
41 If I whet My lightning sword and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will wreak vengeance on My foes and recompense those who hate Me.
42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired heads of the foe.
43 Rejoice [with] His people, O you nations, for He avenges the blood of His servants, and vengeance He inflicts on His foes and clears guilt from the land of His people.
44 And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea (Joshua) son of Nun.
45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
46 He said to them, Set your [minds and] hearts on all the words which I command you this day, that you may command them to your children, that they may be watchful to do all the words of this law.
47 For it is not an empty and worthless trifle for you; it is your [very] life. By it you shall live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess.
48 And the Lord said to Moses that same day,
49 Get up into this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan which I give to the Israelites for a possession.
50 And die on the mountain which you ascend and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,
51 Because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin and because you did not set Me apart as holy in the midst of the Israelites.
52 For you shall see the land opposite you at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I give the Israelites.


CHAPTER 33

THIS IS the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the Israelites before his death.
2 He said, The Lord came from Sinai and beamed upon us from Seir; He flashed forth from Mount Paran, from among ten thousands of holy ones, a flaming fire, a law, at His right hand.
3 Yes, He loves [the tribes] His people; all those consecrated to Him are in Your hand. They followed in Your steps; they [accepted Your word and] received direction from You,
4 When Moses commanded us a law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
5 [The Lord] was King in Jeshurun (Israel) when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.
6 Let [the tribe of] Reuben live and not die out, but let his men be few.
7 And this he [Moses] said of Judah: Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people! With his hands he contended for himself; but may You be a help against his enemies.
8 And of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Your Urim [by which the priest sought God’s will for the nation] are for Your pious one [Aaron on behalf of the tribe], whom You tried and proved at Massah, with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah; [Num. 20:1-13.]
9 [Aaron] who said of his father and mother, I do not regard them; nor did he acknowledge his brothers or openly recognize his own children. For the priests observed Your word and kept Your covenant [as to their limitations].
10 [The priests] shall teach Jacob Your ordinances and Israel Your law. They shall put incense before You and whole burnt offerings upon Your altar.
11 Bless, O Lord, [Levi’s] substance, and accept the work of his hands; crush the loins of his adversaries, and of those who hate him, that they arise no more.
12 Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him; He covers him all the day long, and makes His dwelling between his shoulders.
13 And of Joseph he said: Blessed by the Lord be his land, with the precious gifts of heaven from the dew and from the deep that couches beneath,
14 With the precious things of the fruits of the sun and with the precious yield of the months,
15 With the chief products of the ancient mountains and with the precious things of the everlasting hills,
16 With the precious things of the earth and its fullness and the favor and goodwill of Him Who dwelt in the bush. Let these blessings come upon the head of Joseph, upon the crown of the head of him who was separate and prince among his brothers. [Exod. 3:4.]
17 Like a firstling young bull his majesty is, and his horns like the horns of the wild ox; with them he shall push the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth. And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
18 And of Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, in your interests abroad, and you, Issachar, in your tents [at home].
19 They shall call the people unto Mount [Carmel]; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness, for they shall suck the abundance of the seas and the treasures hid in the sand.
20 And of Gad he said: Blessed is He Who enlarges Gad! Gad lurks like a lioness, and tears the arm, yes, the crown of the head.
21 He selected the best land for himself, for there was the leader’s portion reserved; yet he came with the chiefs of the nation, and the righteous will of the Lord he performed, and His ordinances with Israel. [Num. 32:29-33.]
22 Of Dan he said: Dan is a lion’s whelp that leaps forth from Bashan.
23 Of Naphtali he said: O Naphtali, satisfied with favor and full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the Sea [of Galilee] and [its warm, sunny climate like] the south.
24 Of Asher he said: Blessed above sons is Asher; let him be acceptable to his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil.
25 Your castles and strongholds shall have bars of iron and bronze, and as your day, so shall your strength, your rest and security, be.
26 There is none like God, O Jeshurun [Israel], Who rides through the heavens to your help and in His majestic glory through the skies.
27 The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He drove the enemy before you and thrust them out, saying, Destroy!
28 And Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone in a land of grain and new wine; yes, His heavens drop dew.
29 Happy are you, O Israel, and blessing is yours! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the Shield of your help, the Sword that exalts you! Your enemies shall come fawning and cringing, and submit feigned obedience to you, and you shall march on their high places.

CHAPTER 34

AND MOSES went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land—from Gilead to Dan,
2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah to the western [Mediterranean] sea,
3 And the South (the Negeb) and the plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palm Trees, as far as Zoar.
4 And the Lord said to him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants. I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.
5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord,
6 And He buried him in the valley of the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor, but no man knows where his tomb is to this day.
7 Moses was 120 years old when he died; his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. [Deut. 31:2.]
8 And the Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; so the Israelites listened to him and did as the Lord commanded Moses.
10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,
11 [None equal to him] in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,
12 And in all the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel.

 

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / March Index​

March 24 / Joshua 1–4

CHAPTER 1

AFTER THE death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ minister, [Deut. 34:4-8.]
2 Moses My servant is dead. So now arise [take his place], go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, the Israelites.
3 Every place upon which the sole of your foot shall tread, that have I given to you, as I promised Moses.
4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon to the great river Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites [Canaan]—and to the Great [Mediterranean] Sea on the west shall be your territory.
5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
6 Be strong (confident) and of good courage, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
7 Only you be strong and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.
9 Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
11 Pass through the camp and command the people, Prepare your provisions, for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.
12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said,
13 Remember what Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God is giving you [of these two and a half tribes a place of] rest and will give you this land [east of the Jordan].
14 Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall dwell in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan, but all your mighty men of valor shall pass on before your brethren [of the other tribes] armed, and help them [possess their land]
15 Until the Lord gives your brethren rest, as He has given you, and they also possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, the land Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on the sunrise side of the Jordan.
16 They answered Joshua, All you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.
17 As we hearkened to Moses in all things, so will we hearken to you; only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses.
18 Whoever rebels against your commandment and will not hearken to all you command him shall be put to death. Only be strong, vigorous, and of good courage.


CHAPTER 2

JOSHUA SON of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as scouts, saying, Go, view the land, especially Jericho. And they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there.
2 It was told the king of Jericho, Behold, there came men in here tonight of the Israelites to search out the country.
3 And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out the land.
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, Yes, two men came to me, but I did not know from where they had come.
5 And at gate closing time, after dark, the men went out. Where they went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.
6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order there.
7 So the men pursued them to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone, the city’s gate was shut.
8 Before the two men had lain down, Rahab came up to them on the roof,
9 And she said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.
10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the [east] side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.
11 When we heard it, our hearts melted, neither did spirit or courage remain any more in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. [Heb. 11:31.]
12 Now then, I pray you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a sure sign,
13 And save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all they have, and deliver us from death.
14 And the men said to her, Our lives for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the [town] wall so that she dwelt in the wall.
16 And she said to them, Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers have returned; and afterward you may go your way.
17 The men said to her, We will be blameless of this oath you have made us swear. [The responsibility is now yours.]
18 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall bring your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household into your house.
19 And if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless; but if a hand is laid upon anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.
20 But if you tell this business of ours, we shall be guiltless of your oath which you made us swear.
21 And she said, According to your words, so it is. Then she sent them away and they departed; and she bound the scarlet cord in the window.
22 They left and went to the mountain and stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned, who had searched all along the way without finding them.
23 So the two men descended from the mountain, passed over [the Jordan], and came to Joshua son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them.
24 They said to Joshua, Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands; for all the inhabitants of the country are faint because of us.

CHAPTER 3

JOSHUA ROSE early in the morning and they removed from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the Israelites, and lodged there before passing over.
2 After three days the officers went through the camp,
3 Commanding the people: When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being borne by the Levitical priests, set out from where you are and follow it.
4 Yet a space must be kept between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure; come not near it, that you may [be able to see the ark and] know the way you must go, for you have not passed this way before.
5 And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves [that is, separate yourselves for a special holy purpose], for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
6 Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant and pass over before the people. And they took it up and went on before the people.
7 The Lord said to Joshua, This day I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, so they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
8 You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.
9 Joshua said to the Israelites, Come near, hear the words of the Lord your God.
10 Joshua said, Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you and that He will surely drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.
11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan!
12 So now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.
13 When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan coming down from above shall be cut off and they shall stand in one heap.
14 So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,
15 And when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were in the brink of the water—for the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest—
16 Then the waters which came down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt [Dead] Sea, were wholly cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. [Ps. 114.]
17 And while all Israel passed over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.


CHAPTER 4

WHEN ALL the nation had fully passed over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,
2 Take twelve men from among the people, one man out of every tribe,
3 And command them, Take twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm; carry them over with you and leave them at the place where you lodge tonight.
4 Then Joshua called the twelve men of the Israelites whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.
5 And Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of the Jordan, and take up every man of you a stone on his shoulder, as is the number of the tribes of the Israelites,
6 That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, What do these stones mean to you?
7 Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever.
8 And the Israelites did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord told Joshua, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.
9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
10 For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste.
11 When all the people had passed over, the ark of the Lord and the priests went over in the presence of the people.
12 And the sons of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the [other] Israelites, as Moses had bidden them;
13 About 40,000 [of these] prepared for war passed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for battle.
14 On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.
15 And the Lord said to Joshua,
16 Order the priests bearing the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.
17 So Joshua commanded the priests, Come up out of the Jordan.
18 And when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of their feet were lifted up to the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all its banks as they had before.
19 And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
20 And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.
21 And he said to the Israelites, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, What do these stones mean?
22 You shall let your children know, Israel came over this Jordan on dry ground.
23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over,
24 That all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you may reverence and fear the Lord your God forever.

 

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March 25 / Joshua 5–8

CHAPTER 5

WHEN ALL the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no spirit in them any more because of the Israelites.
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make knives of flint and circumcise the [new generation of] Israelites as before.
3 So Joshua made knives of flint and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.
4 And this is the reason Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they came out of Egypt.
5 Though all the people who came out were circumcised, yet all the people who were born in the wilderness on the way after Israel came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.
6 For the Israelites walked forty years in the wilderness till all who were men of war who came out of Egypt perished, because they did not hearken to the voice of the Lord; to them the Lord swore that He would not let them see the land which the Lord swore to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
7 So it was their uncircumcised children whom He raised up in their stead whom Joshua circumcised, because the rite had not been performed on the way.
8 When they finished circumcising all the males of the nation, they remained in their places in the camp till they were healed.
9 And the Lord said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. So the name of the place is called Gilgal [rolling] to this day.
10 And the Israelites encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.
11 And on that same day they ate the produce of the land: unleavened cakes and parched grain.
12 And the manna ceased on the day after they ate of the produce of the land; and the Israelites had manna no more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up, and behold, a Man stood near him with His drawn sword in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?
14 And He said, No [neither], but as Prince of the Lord’s host have I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, What says my Lord to His servant?
15 And the Prince of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, Loose your shoes from off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. [Exod. 3:5.]


CHAPTER 6

NOW JERICHO [a fenced town with high walls] was tightly closed because of the Israelites; no one went out or came in.
2 And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho, its king and mighty men of valor, into your hands.
3 You shall march around the enclosure, all the men of war going around the city once. This you shall do for six days.
4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns; and on the seventh day you shall march around the enclosure seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
5 When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn and you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the enclosure shall fall down in its place and the people shall go up [over it], every man straight before him.
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.
7 He said to the people, Go on! March around the enclosure, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.
8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns passed on before the Lord and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.
9 The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, the priests blowing the trumpets as they went.
10 But Joshua commanded the people, You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, nor shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout!
11 So he caused the ark of the Lord to go around the city once; and they came into the camp and lodged in the camp.
12 Joshua rose early in the morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.
13 And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord passed on, blowing the trumpets continually; and the armed men went before them and the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, the priests blowing the trumpets as they went.
14 On the second day they compassed the city enclosure once and returned to the camp. So they did for six days.
15 On the seventh day they rose early at daybreak and marched around the city as usual, only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
16 And the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.
17 And the city and all that is in it shall be devoted to the Lord [for destruction]; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.
18 But you, keep yourselves from the accursed and devoted things, lest when you have devoted it [to destruction], you take of the accursed thing, and so make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it.
19 But all the silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord; they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.
20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they raised a great shout, and [Jericho’s] wall fell down in its place, so that the [Israelites] went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
21 Then they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
22 But Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, Go into the harlot’s house and bring out the woman and all she has, as you swore to her.
23 So the young men, the spies, went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred and set them outside the camp of Israel.
24 And they burned the city with fire and all that was in it; only the silver, the gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.
25 So Joshua saved Rahab the harlot, with her father’s household and all that she had; and she lives in Israel even to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
26 Then Joshua laid this oath on them, Cursed is the man before the Lord who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up its gates. [I Kings 16:34.]
27 So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.


CHAPTER 7

BUT THE Israelites committed a trespass in regard to the devoted things; for Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the things devoted [for destruction]. And the anger of the Lord burned against Israel.
2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, Go up and spy out the land. So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, Let not all the men go up; but let about two thousand or three thousand go up and attack Ai; do not make the whole army toil up there, for they of Ai are few.
4 So about three thousand Israelites went up there, but they fled before the men of Ai.
5 And the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and slew them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
6 Then Joshua rent his clothes and lay on the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
7 Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all only to give us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan!
8 O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned to flee before their enemies!
9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?
10 The Lord said to Joshua, Get up! Why do you lie thus upon your face?
11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. They have taken some of the things devoted [for destruction]; they have stolen, and lied, and put them among their own baggage.
12 That is why the Israelites could not stand before their enemies, but fled before them; they are accursed and have become devoted [for destruction]. I will cease to be with you unless you destroy the accursed [devoted] things among you.
13 Up, sanctify (set apart for a holy purpose) the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: There are accursed things in the midst of you, O Israel. You can not stand before your enemies until you take away from among you the things devoted [to destruction].
14 In the morning therefore, you shall present your tribes. And the tribe which the Lord takes shall come by families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come by persons.
15 And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be [killed and his body] burned with fire, he and all he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he has done a shameful and wicked thing in Israel. [Josh. 7:25.]
16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.
17 He brought near the family of Judah, and the family of the Zerahites was taken; and he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken.
18 He brought near his household man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
19 And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make confession to Him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.
20 And Achan answered Joshua, In truth, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this have I done:
21 When I saw among the spoils an attractive mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.
22 So Joshua sent messengers, who ran to the tent, and behold, the spoil was hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath.
23 And they took them from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and laid them out before the Lord.
24 And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, and the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them to the Valley of Achor.
25 And Joshua said, Why have you brought trouble on us? The Lord will trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned him and those with him with stones, and afterward burned their bodies with fire.
26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor or Troubling to this day.


CHAPTER 8

AND THE Lord said to Joshua, Fear not nor be dismayed. Take all the men of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that its spoil and its cattle [this time] you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city behind it.
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; [he] chose thirty thousand mighty men of strength and sent them forth by night.
4 And he commanded them, Behold, you shall lie in wait against the city behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
5 And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us, as the first time, we will flee before them
6 Till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, They are fleeing from us as before. So we will flee before them.
7 Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 When you have taken the city, you shall set it afire; as the Lord commanded, you shall do. See, I have commanded you.
9 So Joshua sent them forth, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10 Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the men, and went up with the elders of Israel before the warriors to Ai.
11 And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of [it], with a ravine between them and Ai.
12 And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.
13 So they stationed all the army—the main encampment that was north of the city and their men in ambush behind and on the west of the city—and Joshua went that night into the midst of the ravine.
14 When the king [and people] of Ai saw it, they hastily rose early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle [at a time and place appointed] before the Arabah . But he did not know of the ambush against him behind the city.
15 And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten by them, and fled toward the wilderness.
16 So all the people in Ai were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. Leaving the city open, they pursued Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand. So Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city.
19 The men in the ambush arose quickly out of their place and ran when he stretched out his hand; and they entered the city and took it, and then hastened and set it afire.
20 When the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to the heavens, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. Then the Israelites who fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city went up, they turned again and slew the men of Ai.
22 And the others came forth out of the city against them [of Ai], so that they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And [the Israelites] smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field and in the wilderness into which they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the sword until they were consumed, then all the Israelites returned to Ai and smote it with the sword.
25 And all that fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, including all the men of Ai.
26 For Joshua drew not back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He commanded Joshua.
28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap of ruins for ever, even a desolation to this day.
29 And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset, Joshua commanded and they took the body down from the tree and cast it at the entrance of the city gate and raised a great heap of stones over it that is there to this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
31 As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man has lifted up an iron tool; and they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 And there, in the presence of the Israelites, [Joshua] wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses.
33 And all Israel, sojourner as well as he who was born among them, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before that they should bless the Israelites.
34 Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, all that is written in the Book of the Law.
35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and little ones, and the foreigners who were living among them.

 

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March 26 / Joshua 9–11

CHAPTER 9

WHEN ALL the kings beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the lowland and all along the coast of the Great [Mediterranean] Sea toward Lebanon, the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites heard this,
2 They gathered together with one accord to fight Joshua and Israel.
3 But when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,
4 They worked cunningly, and went pretending to be ambassadors and took [provisions and] old sacks on their donkeys and wineskins, old, torn, and mended,
5 And old and patched shoes on their feet and wearing old garments; and all their supply of food was dry and moldy.
6 And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, We have come from a far country; so now, make a covenant with us.
7 But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps you live among us; how then can we make a covenant with you?
8 They said to Joshua, We are your servants. And Joshua said to them, Who are you? From where have you come?
9 They said to him, From a very far country your servants have come because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard the fame of Him, and all that He did in Egypt,
10 And all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.
11 So our elders and all the residents of our country said to us, Take provisions for the journey and go to meet [the Israelites] and say to them, We are your servants; and now make a covenant with us.
12 This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we set out to go to you; but now behold, it is dry and has become moldy.
13 These wineskins (bottles) which we filled were new, and behold, they are torn; and our garments and our shoes have become old because of the very long journey.
14 So the [Israelite] men partook of their food and did not consult the Lord.
15 Joshua made peace with them, covenanting with them to let them live, and the assembly’s leaders swore to them.
16 Then three days after they had made a covenant with [the strangers, the Israelites] heard that they were their neighbors and that they dwelt among them.
17 And the Israelites set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.
18 But the Israelites did not slay them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, [to spare them]. And all the assembly murmured against the leaders.
19 But all the leaders said to all the assembly, We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, so now we may not touch them.
20 This we will do to them: we will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.
21 And the leaders said to them, Let them live [and be our slaves]. So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the assembly, just as the leaders had said of them.
22 Joshua called the men and said, Why did you deceive us, saying, We live very far from you, when you dwell among us?
23 Now therefore you are cursed, and of you there shall always be slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.
24 They answered Joshua, Because it was surely told your servants that the Lord your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the land’s inhabitants from before you. So we feared greatly for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.
25 And now, behold, we are in your hand; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.
26 So he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the Israelites, so that they did not kill them.
27 But Joshua then made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, in the place which He should choose.


CHAPTER 10

WHEN ADONI-ZEDEK king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it, doing to Jericho and its king as he had done to Ai and its king, and how the residents of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,
2 He feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.
3 So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying,
4 Come up to me and help me, and let us smite Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the Israelites.
5 Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon—gathered their forces and went up with all their armies and encamped before Gibeon to fight against it.
6 And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, Do not relax your hand from your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.
7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the warriors with him and all the mighty men of valor.
8 And the Lord said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hand; there shall not a man of them stand before you.
9 So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having gone up from Gilgal all night.
10 And the Lord caused [the enemies] to panic before Israel, who slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and chased them along the way that goes up to Beth-horon and smote them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
11 As they fled before Israel, while they were descending [the pass] to Beth-horon, the Lord cast great stones from the heavens on them as far as Azekah, killing them. More died because of the hailstones than the Israelites slew with the sword.
12 Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, be silent and stand still at Gibeon, and you, moon, in the Valley of Ajalon!
13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation took vengeance upon their enemies. Is not this written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.
14 There was no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel.
15 Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.
16 Those five kings fled and hid themselves in the cave of Makkedah.
17 And it was told Joshua, The five kings are hidden in the cave at Makkedah.
18 Joshua said, Roll great stones to the cave’s mouth, and set men to guard them.
19 But do not stay. Pursue your enemies and fall upon their rear; do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand.
20 When Joshua and the Israelites had ended slaying them until they were wiped out and the remnant remaining of them had entered into fortified cities,
21 All the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace; none moved his tongue against any of the Israelites.
22 Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave and bring out those five kings to me from the cave.
23 They brought the five kings out of the cave to him—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon.
24 When they brought out those kings to Joshua, [he] called for all the Israelites and told the commanders of the men of war who went with him, Come, put your feet on the necks of these kings. And they came and put their feet on the [kings’] necks.
25 Joshua said to them, Fear not nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage. For thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom you fight.
26 Afterward Joshua smote and slew them and hanged their bodies on five trees, and they hung on the trees until evening.
27 At sunset Joshua ordered and they took the bodies down from the trees and cast them into the cave where the kings had hidden and laid great stones on the cave’s mouth, which remain to this very day.
28 Joshua took Makkedah that day and smote it and its king with the sword and utterly destroyed everyone in it. He left none remaining. And he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho. [Josh. 6:21.]
29 Then Joshua and all Israel went from Makkedah to Libnah and attacked Libnah.
30 And the Lord gave it also and its king into Israel’s hands, and Joshua smote it with the sword, and all the people in it. He left none remaining in it. And he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.
31 And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, to Lachish and encamped against it and attacked it.
32 And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hands of Israel, and Joshua took it on the second day and smote it with the sword, and all the people in it, as he had done to Libnah.
33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua smote him and his people—until he had left none remaining.
34 From Lachish Joshua and all Israel went on to Eglon, laid siege to it, and attacked it.
35 And they took it that day and smote it with the sword and utterly destroyed all who were in it that day, as he had done to Lachish.
36 Then Joshua with all Israel went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they attacked it
37 And took it and smote it with the sword, and its king and all its towns and everyone in it. He left none remaining, as he had done to Eglon, and utterly destroyed it and all its people.
38 And Joshua and all Israel with him returned to Debir and attacked it.
39 And he took it, with its king and all its towns, and they smote them with the sword and utterly destroyed everyone in it. He left none remaining. As he had done to Hebron and to Libnah and its king, so he did to Debir and its king.
40 So Joshua smote all the land, the hill country, the South, the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded. [Deut. 20:16.]
41 And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea even to Gaza, and all the country of Goshen even to Gibeon.
42 Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.
43 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.


CHAPTER 11

WHEN JABIN king of Hazor heard of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the kings of Shimron and Achshaph,
2 And to the kings who were in the north in the hill country and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth and in the lowland and in the heights of Dor on the west;
3 To the Canaanites in the east and west; to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country; and to the Hivites below [Mount] Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
4 And they went out with all their hosts, much people, like the sand on the seashore in number, with very many horses and chariots.
5 And all these kings met and came and encamped together at the Waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
6 But the Lord said to Joshua, Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow by this time I will give them up all slain to Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.
7 So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the Waters of Merom and fell upon them.
8 And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who smote them and chased them [toward] populous Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of Mizpah; they smote them until none remained.
9 And Joshua did to them as the Lord had commanded him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
10 And Joshua at that time turned back and took Hazor and smote its king with the sword; for Hazor previously was the head of all those kingdoms.
11 They smote all the people in it with the sword, utterly destroying them; none were left alive, and he burned Hazor with fire.
12 And Joshua took all the cities of those kings and all the kings and smote them with the sword, utterly destroying them, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. [Deut. 20:16.]
13 But Israel burned none of the cities that stood [fortified] on their mounds—except Hazor only, which Joshua burned.
14 And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock the Israelites took for their booty; but every man they smote with the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none who breathed.
15 As the Lord had commanded Moses His servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did; he left nothing undone of all that the Lord commanded Moses.
16 So Joshua took all that land: the hill country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah , the hill country of Israel and its lowland,
17 From Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and slew them.
18 Joshua had waged war a long time [at least five years] with all those kings.
19 Not a city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites, the people of Gibeon; all the others they took in battle.
20 For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, that [Israel] might destroy them utterly, and that without favor and mercy, as the Lord commanded Moses.
21 Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim [large in stature] from the hill country: from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah and the hill country of Israel. Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities.
22 None of the Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites; only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod [of Philistia] did some remain.
23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their allotments by tribes. And the land had rest from war.

 

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March 27 / Joshua 12–14

CHAPTER 12

NOW THESE are the kings of the land whom the Israelites defeated and whose land they took possession of east of the Jordan, from the river Arnon to Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah eastward:
2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer on the edge of the Valley of the [river] Arnon, and from the middle of the valley as far as the river Jabbok, the boundary of the Ammonites, including half of Gilead;
3 And the Arabah to the Sea of Chinneroth eastward, and in the direction of Beth-jeshimoth, to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt [or Dead] Sea, southward to the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.
4 And Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and at Edrei,
5 And ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah and all of Bashan to the boundary of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and over half of Gilead to the boundary of Sihon king of Heshbon.
6 These Moses the servant of the Lord and the Israelites defeated; and Moses the servant of the Lord gave their land for a possession to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. [Num. 21; 32:33; Deut. 2; 3.]
7 These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the Israelites defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir. Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their allotments,
8 In the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, on the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negeb—the lands of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites:
9 The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;
10 The king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;
11 The king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;
12 The king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;
13 The king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;
14 The king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;
15 The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
16 The king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;
17 The king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;
18 The king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;
19 The king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;
20 The king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;
21 The king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;
22 The king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
23 The king of Dor in the heights of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one;
24 The king of Tirzah, one. In all, thirty-one kings.

CHAPTER 13

NOW JOSHUA was old and gone far in years [over 100], and the Lord said to him, You have grown old and are gone far in years, and very much of the land still remains to be possessed.
2 This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurites:
3 From the Shihor [River] which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, all of it counted as Canaanite; there are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, and those of the Avvites;
4 In the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah, which belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of the Amorites,
5 And the land of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon toward the east, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to the gate of Hamath.
6 As for all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians, I will Myself drive them out from before the Israelites; only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.
7 So now divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
8 With the other half-tribe of Manasseh, the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them:
9 From Aroer on the edge of the Valley of the [river] Arnon, and the city in the midst of the valley, and all the tableland of Medeba as far as Dibon;
10 And all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the Ammonites;
11 And Gilead, and the region of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah—
12 All the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei and alone was left of the Rephaim [giants]; for these Moses had defeated and driven out.
13 Yet the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell among [them] still.
14 Only to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the sacrifices made by fire to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as He said to him.
15 And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the Reubenites according to their families:
16 Their territory was from Aroer on the edge of the Valley of the [river] Arnon, and the city in the midst of the valley, and all the tableland by Medeba;
17 With Heshbon and all its cities which are on the plain; Dibon, Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon,
18 Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,
19 Kiriathaim, Sibmah, and Zereth-shahar on the hill of the valley,
20 Beth-peor, Pisgah’s slopes, and Beth-jeshimoth,
21 All the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, whom Moses defeated along with the leaders of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the princes of Sihon who lived in the land.
22 Balaam son of Beor, the soothsayer, the Israelites also killed with the sword among the rest of their slain. [Num. 31:16.]
23 And the border of the Reubenites was the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites according to their families, with their cities and villages.
24 Moses gave an inheritance also to the tribe of the Gadites according to their families.
25 Their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer east of Rabbah;
26 And from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the territory of Debir;
27 And in the valley, Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the realm of Sihon king of Heshbon, with the Jordan as a boundary, to the lower end of the Sea of Chinnereth east of the Jordan.
28 This is the inheritance of the Gadites according to their families, with their cities and villages.
29 And Moses gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh; it was allotted to them according to their families.
30 Their region extended from Mahanaim through all Bashan, the entire kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, sixty cities,
31 And half of Gilead, and Ashtaroth and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan; these were allotted to the people of Machir son of Manasseh for half of the Machirites according to their families.
32 These are the inheritances which Moses distributed in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan east of Jericho.
33 But to the tribe of Levi, Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as He told them.

CHAPTER 14

THESE ARE the inheritances in the land of Canaan distributed to the Israelites by Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of their tribes.
2 Their inheritance was by lot, as the Lord commanded Moses, for the nine and one-half tribes.
3 For Moses had given an inheritance to the two and one-half tribes beyond the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them,
4 For the people of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no part was given in the land to the Levites except cities in which to live, with their pasturelands for their livestock and for their possessions.
5 As the Lord commanded Moses, so the Israelites did, and they divided the land.
6 Then the people of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning me and you in Kadesh-barnea.
7 Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to scout out the land. And I brought him a report as it was in my heart.
8 But my brethren who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.
9 And Moses swore on that day, Surely the land on which your feet have walked shall be an inheritance to you and your children always, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. [Deut. 1:35, 36.]
10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while the Israelites wandered in the wilderness; and now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old.
11 Yet I am as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so is my strength now for war and to go out and to come in.
12 So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke that day. For you heard then how the [giantlike] Anakim were there and that the cities were great and fortified; if the Lord will be with me, I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.
13 Then Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.
14 So Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.
15 The name of Hebron before was Kiriath-arba [city of Arba]. This Arba was the greatest of the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.

 

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March 28 / Joshua 15–17


CHAPTER 15

THE LOT for the tribe of Judah according to its families reached southward to the boundary of Edom, to the Wilderness of Zin at its most southern part.
2 And their south boundary was from the end of the Salt [Dead] Sea, from the bay that faces southward;
3 It went out south of the ascent of Akrabbim, passed along to Zin, and went up south of Kadesh-barnea, along by Hezron, up to Addar, and turned about to Karka,
4 Passed along to Azmon, went out by the Brook of Egypt, and ended at the sea. This was their southern frontier.
5 The eastern boundary was the Salt [Dead] Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan. The northern boundary was from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan;
6 And the boundary went up to Beth-hogla and passed along north of Beth-arabah and [it] went up to the [landmark] Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
7 And the boundary went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, which is opposite the ascent to Adummim on the south side of the valley; and it passed on to the waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel.
8 Then the boundary went up by the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom] at the southern shoulder of the Jebusite [city]—that is, Jerusalem; and the boundary went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the Valley of Hinnom on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.
9 Then the boundary extended from the top of the mountain to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah and went on to the cities of Mount Ephron; then it bent round to Baalah, that is, Kiriath-jearim.
10 And the boundary went around west of Baalah to Mount Seir, passed along to the northern side of Mount Jearim, which is Chesalon, went down to Beth-shemesh, and then passed on by Timnah.
11 And the boundary went out to the shoulder of the hill north of Ekron, then bent round to Shikkeron, and passed along to Mount Baalah, and went out to Jabneel. Then the boundary ended at the sea.
12 And the west boundary was the Great Sea with its coastline. This is the boundary round about the people of Judah according to their families.
13 And to Caleb son of Jephunneh, [Joshua] gave a part among the people of Judah, as the Lord commanded [him]; it was Kiriath-arba, which is Hebron, [named for] Arba the father of Anak.
14 And Caleb drove from there the three sons of Anak—Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai—the descendants of Anak.
15 He went up from there against the people of Debir. Debir was formerly named Kiriath-sepher.
16 Caleb said, He who smites Kiriath-sepher and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.
17 And Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.
18 When Achsah came to Othniel, she got his consent to ask her father for a field. Then she returned to Caleb and when she lighted off her donkey, Caleb said, What do you wish?
19 Achsah answered, Give me a present. Since you have set me in the [dry] Negeb, give me also springs of water. And he gave her the [sloping field with] upper and lower springs.
20 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Judah according to their families.
21 The cities of the tribe of Judah in the extreme south toward the boundary of Edom were: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,
22 Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah,
23 Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan,
24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,
25 Hazor-hadattah, Kerioth-hezron (Hazor),
26 Amam, Shema, Moladah,
27 Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet,
28 Hazar-shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah,
29 Baalah, Iim, Ezem,
30 Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah,
31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon. All the cities were twenty-nine [later thirty-six] with their villages.
33 In the lowland: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,
34 Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah, Enam,
35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,
36 Shaaraim, Adithaim, and Gederah and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages.
37 Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad,
38 Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel,
39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,
40 Cabbon, Lahmas, Chitlish,
41 Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages.
42 Libnah, Ether, Ashan,
43 Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib,
44 Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages.
45 Ekron, with its towns and villages.
46 From Ekron to the sea, all that lay beside Ashdod, with their villages;
47 Ashdod, with its towns and its villages; Gaza, with its towns and its villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt, and the Great [Mediterranean] Sea with its coastline.
48 In the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,
49 Dannah, Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir),
50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim,
51 Goshen, Holon, and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages.
52 Arab, Dumah, Eshan,
53 Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah,
54 Humtah, Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior; nine cities with their villages.
55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,
56 Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah,
57 Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah; ten cities with their villages.
58 Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor,
59 Maarath, Beth-anoth, and Eltekon; six cities with their villages.
60 Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim) and Rabbah; two cities with their villages.
61 In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah,
62 Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En-gedi; six cities with their villages.
63 But the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people of Judah could not drive out; so the Jebusites dwell with the people of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.


CHAPTER 16

THE ALLOTMENT for the people of Joseph went from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel;
2 Then it went from Bethel to Luz and passed on to Ataroth, the border of the Archites.
3 And it went down westward to the territory of the Japhletites as far as the outskirts of Lower Beth-horon, then to Gezer, and ended at the sea.
4 The descendants of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance.
5 The boundary of the Ephraimites according to their families was thus: on the east side their border was Ataroth-addar as far as Upper Beth-horon.
6 Then the boundary went from there to the sea; on the north was Michmethath; then on the east the boundary went out to Taanath-shiloh, and eastward to Janoah,
7 Then it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarah, touched Jericho, and ended at the Jordan [River].
8 The border went out from Tappuah westward to the brook Kanah and ended at the [Mediterranean] Sea. This is the inheritance of the Ephraimites by their families,
9 With the towns set apart for the Ephraimites within the inheritance of the Manassites, all those towns with their villages.
10 But they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, and they became slaves required to do forced labor.


CHAPTER 17

ALLOTMENT WAS made for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan because he was a man of war.
2 Allotment was also made for the other Manassites by their families—for the sons of Abiezer, of Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida, the male offspring of Manasseh son of Joseph by their families.
3 But Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons but only daughters; their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
4 They came before Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the leaders and said, The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance with our brethren. So according to the Lord’s command, Joshua gave them an inheritance among their father’s brethren.
5 So there fell ten portions to Manasseh besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan,
6 Because the [five] daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his [five] sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the other [half] of the Manassites.
7 The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethah east of Shechem; and the border went along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah.
8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the Ephraimites.
9 Then the boundary went down to the brook Kanah. The cities south of the brook lying among the cities of Manasseh belonged to Ephraim. But Manasseh’s boundary went on north of the brook and ended at the sea.
10 The land to the south was Ephraim’s and that to the north was Manasseh’s, and the sea was the boundary; on the north Asher was reached, and on the east Issachar.
11 Also Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher [these six towns], their inhabitants and their villages: Beth-shean, Ibleam, Dor, Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo.
12 Yet the sons of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land.
13 When the Israelites became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor but did not utterly drive them out.
14 The tribe of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, Why have you given [us] but one lot and one portion as an inheritance when [we] are a great [abundant] people, for until now the Lord has blessed [us]?
15 Joshua replied, If you are a great people, get up to the forest and clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the Ephraim hill country is too narrow for you.
16 The Josephites said, The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who dwell in the valley have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and in the Valley of Jezreel.
17 And Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, You are a great and numerous people and have great power; you shall not have only one lot
18 But the hill country shall be yours; though it is a forest, you shall clear and possess it to its farthest borders; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong.

 

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March 29 / Joshua 18–19

CHAPTER 18

AND THE whole congregation of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there; and the land was subdued before them.
2 And there remained among the Israelites seven tribes who had not yet divided their inheritance.
3 Joshua asked the Israelites, How long will you be slack to go in and possess the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?
4 Provide three men from each tribe, and I will send them to go through the land and write a description of it according to their [tribal] inheritances; then they shall return to me.
5 And they shall divide it into seven parts. Judah shall remain in its territory on the south and the house of Joseph shall remain in its territory on the north.
6 You shall describe the land in seven divisions, and bring the description here to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God.
7 But the Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance. Gad and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance east of the Jordan, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.
8 So the men arose and went, and Joshua charged them saying, Go and walk through the land and describe it and come again to me, and I will cast lots for you here before the Lord in Shiloh.
9 And the men went and passed through the land and described it by cities in seven portions in a book; and they came again to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh.
10 Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there [he] divided the land to the Israelites, to each [tribe] his portion.
11 And the lot of the Benjamites came up according to their families; and the territory of their lot fell between the tribes of Judah and Joseph.
12 On the north side their boundary began at the Jordan; then it went up to the shoulder of Jericho on the north and up through the hill country westward and ended at the Beth-aven wilderness.
13 Then the boundary passed over southward toward Luz, to the shoulder of Luz (that is, Bethel); then it went down to Ataroth-addar by the mountain that lies south of Lower Beth-horon.
14 The boundary extended from there, and turning about on the western side southward from the mountain that lies to the south opposite Beth-horon, it ended at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city of the tribe of Judah. This formed the western side [of Benjamin’s territory].
15 The southern side began at the edge of Kiriath-jearim, and the boundary went on westward to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.
16 Then the boundary went down to the edge of the mountain overlooking the Valley of Ben-hinnom [son of Hinnom], which is at the north end of the Valley of Rephaim; and it descended to the Valley of Hinnom, south of the shoulder of the Jebusites, and went on down to En-rogel.
17 Then it bent toward the north and went on to En-shemesh and on to Geliloth, which was opposite the ascent of Adummim, and went down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
18 And it went on to the north of the shoulder [of Beth]-Arabah and down to the Arabah.
19 Then the boundary passed along to the north of the shoulder of Beth-hoglah and ended at the northern bay of the Salt [Dead] Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the southern border.
20 And the Jordan was its boundary on the east side. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin by their boundaries round about, according to their families.
21 Now the cities of the tribe of Benjamin according to [their] families were: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,
22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,
24 Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities with their villages;
25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
26 Mizpah, Chephirah, Mozah,
27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,
28 Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite [city]—that is, Jerusalem—Gibeah, and Kiriath-[jearim]; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin according to their families.


CHAPTER 19

THE SECOND lot fell to Simeon, to the tribe of the Simeonites according to their families; and their inheritance lay within that of the people of Judah.
2 And they had for their inheritance: Beersheba or Sheba, Moladah,
3 Hazarshual, Balah, Ezem,
4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,
5 Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah,
6 Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; [making] thirteen cities and their villages;
7 Ain [with] Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan; [making] four cities and their villages;
8 And all the villages around these cities as far as Baalath-beer, or Ramah of the Negeb. This was the possession of the Simeonites according to their families.
9 Out of the part assigned to the Judahites was the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon, for the portion of the tribe of Judah was too large for them. Therefore the tribe of Simeon had its inheritance in the midst of Judah’s inheritance.
10 The third lot came up for the tribe of Zebulun according to their families. The border of its inheritance extended to Sarid.
11 Then its boundary went up westward and on to Maralah and reached to Dabbesheth and to the brook east of Jokneam.
12 And it turned from Sarid eastward to the border of Chisloth-tabor and it went out to Daberath and on up to Japhia,
13 Then passed eastward to Gath-hepher [Jonah’s birthplace] and to Eth-kazin, and went on to Rimmon bending toward Neah.
14 The boundary circled on the north to Hannathon, ending at the Valley of Iphtah-el.
15 Included were Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem; twelve cities with their villages.
16 This is the inheritance of the people of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages.
17 The fourth lot fell to Issachar, to its people according to their families.
18 Their territory included: Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem,
19 Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath,
20 Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez,
21 Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez.
22 The boundary reached to Tabor, Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh, and ended at the Jordan; sixteen cities with their villages.
23 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar according to their families, the cities and their villages.
24 The fifth lot fell to the tribe of Asher according to their families.
25 Their territory included: Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,
26 Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal; and on the west it touched Carmel and Shihor-libnath.
27 Then it turned eastward to Beth-dagon, touching Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah-el northward to Beth-emek and Neiel, and continued in the north to Cabul,
28 Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, even to populous Sidon.
29 Then the boundary turned to Ramah, reaching to the fortified city of Tyre; and it turned to Hosah, and ended at the sea—Mahalab, Achzib,
30 Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob; twenty-two cities with their villages.
31 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages.
32 The sixth lot fell to the tribe of Naphtali according to their families.
33 Their boundary ran from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim and Adami-nekeb and Jabneel as far as Lakkum; and it ended at the Jordan.
34 Then the boundary turned westward to Aznoth-tabor and went from there to Hukkok, touching Zebulun on the south, Asher on the west, and Judah on the east at the Jordan.
35 The fortified cities included Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,
36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,
37 Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,
38 Yiron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities and their villages.
39 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali according to their families, the cities and their villages.
40 And the seventh lot fell to the tribe of Dan according to their families.
41 The territory of their inheritance included: Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,
42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,
43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron,
44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath,
45 Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon,
46 Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the territory before Joppa.
47 The territory of the tribe of Dan had to be extended [because of the crowding in of the Amorites and Philistines]; so the sons of Dan went up to fight against Leshem (Laish) and took it and smote it with the sword and possessed it and dwelt there, and they called Leshem (Laish) Dan after Dan their [forefather]. [Judg. 1:34; 18:7-10, 27.]
48 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages.
49 When they had finished dividing the land for inheritance by their boundaries, the Israelites gave an inheritance among them to Joshua son of Nun.
50 According to the word of the Lord they gave him the city for which he asked—Timnath-serah in the hills of Ephraim. And he built the city and dwelt in it.
51 These are the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of Israel distributed by lot in Shiloh before the Lord at the door of the Tent of Meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / March Index​

March 30 / Joshua 20–22


CHAPTER 20

THE LORD said also to Joshua,
2 Say to the Israelites, Appoint among you cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,
3 That the slayer who kills anyone accidentally and unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. [Num. 35:10ff.]
4 He who flees to one of those cities shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city; they shall receive him to [the protection of] that city and give him a place to dwell among them.
5 If the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he killed his neighbor unintentionally, having had no hatred for him previously.
6 And he shall dwell in that city until he has been tried before the congregation and until the death of him who is the high priest in those days. Then the slayer shall return to his own city from which he fled and to his own house.
7 And they set apart and consecrated Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
8 Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho they appointed Bezer in the wilderness tableland from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.
9 These cities were for all the Israelites and the stranger sojourning among them, that whoever killed a person unintentionally might flee there and not be slain by the avenger of blood until he had been tried before the congregation.


CHAPTER 21

THEN THE heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites came to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Israelite tribes.
2 They said to them at Shiloh in Canaan, The Lord commanded through Moses that we should be given cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands (suburbs) for our cattle.
3 So the Israelites gave to the Levites out of their own inheritance, at the command of the Lord, these cities and their suburbs.
4 The [first] lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. So those Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin thirteen cities.
5 And the rest of the Kohathites received by lot from the families of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh ten cities.
6 The Gershonites received by lot from the families of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan thirteen cities.
7 The Merarites received according to their families from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun twelve cities.
8 The Israelites gave by lot to the Levites these cities with their pasturelands (suburbs), as the Lord commanded through Moses.
9 They gave from the tribes of Judah and Simeon the cities here mentioned by name,
10 Which went to the families of the descendants of Aaron, of the Kohathite branch of the Levites, for the lot fell to them first.
11 They gave them [the city of] Kiriath-arba, Arba being the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with its pasturelands round about it.
12 But the city’s fields and villages they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his own.
13 Thus to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the slayer, with its pasturelands (suburbs), and together with their suburbs, Libnah,
14 Jattir, Eshtemoa,
15 Holon, Debir,
16 Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh; nine cities, each with its suburbs, out of those two tribes.
17 Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon, Geba,
18 Anathoth, and Almon; four cities, each with its suburbs.
19 The cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen, with their suburbs.
20 The rest of the Kohathites belonging to the Levitical families were allotted cities out of the tribe of Ephraim.
21 To them were given, each with its pasturelands (suburbs), Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, as the city of refuge for the slayer, and Gezer,
22 And Kibzaim, and Beth-horon; four cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).
23 And out of the tribe of Dan, each with its pasturelands (suburbs), Eltekeh, Gibbethon,
24 Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon; four cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).
25 And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach, and [another] Gath-rimmon; two cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).
26 All the cities for the families of the remaining Kohathites were ten, with their pasturelands (suburbs).
27 And to the Gershonites of the families of the Levites they gave out of the other half-tribe of Manasseh the city of Golan in Bashan, as the city of refuge for the slayer, and Be-eshterah; two cities, each with its pasturelands.
28 Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion, Daberath,
29 Jarmuth, and En-gannim; four cities, each with its suburbs.
30 Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal, Abdon,
31 Helkath, and Rehob; four cities, each with its pasturelands.
32 And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee, city of refuge for the slayer, and Hammoth-dor, and Kartan; three cities, each with its suburbs.
33 All the cities of the Gershonite families were thirteen, with their pasturelands (suburbs).
34 And to the families of the Merarites, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun were given Jokneam, Kartah,
35 Dimnah, and Nahalal; four cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).
36 And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer, Jahaz,
37 Kedemoth, and Mephaath; four cities, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).
38 And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead, as the city of refuge for the slayer, and Mahanaim,
39 Heshbon, and Jazer; four cities in all, each with its pasturelands (suburbs).
40 So all the cities allotted to the Merarite families, that is, the remainder of the Levite families, were twelve cities.
41 The cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the Israelites were forty-eight cities in all, with their pasturelands (suburbs).
42 These cities all had their pasturelands (suburbs) around them.
43 And the Lord gave to Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and dwelt in it.
44 The Lord gave them rest round about, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies withstood them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands.
45 There failed no part of any good thing which the Lord had promised to the house of Israel; all came to pass.

CHAPTER 22

THEN JOSHUA called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh,
2 And said to them, You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you.
3 You have not deserted your brethren [the other tribes] these many days to this day but have carefully kept the charge of the Lord your God.
4 But now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren, as He promised them; so now go, return to your homes in the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the [east] side of the Jordan.
5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you: to love the Lord your God and to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and to cling to and unite with Him and to serve Him with all your heart and soul [your very life].
6 So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their homes.
7 Now to one-half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua gave a possession on the west side of the Jordan among their brethren. So when Joshua sent them away to their homes, he blessed them,
8 And he said to them, Return with much riches to your tents and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.
9 So the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the [other] Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to go to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had been given possession by the command of the Lord through Moses.
10 And when they came to the region of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar great to behold.
11 And the [other] Israelites heard it said, Behold, the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the edge of the land of Canaan in the region [west] of the Jordan in the passage [belonging to us], the Israelites.
12 When the Israelites heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war on them.
13 And the [other] Israelites sent to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest,
14 And with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel; and each one was a head of a father’s house among the clans of Israel.
15 And they came to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them,
16 The whole congregation of the Lord says, What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that you have built yourselves an altar to rebel this day against the Lord?
17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed even now, although there came a plague [in which 24,000 died] in the congregation of the Lord, [Num. 25:1-9.]
18 That you must turn away this day from following the Lord? The result will be, since you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.
19 But now, if your land is unclean, pass over into the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernacle resides, and take for yourselves a possession among us. But do not rebel against the Lord or rebel against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.
20 Did not Achan son of Zerah commit a trespass in the matter of taking accursed things [devoted to destruction] and wrath fall on all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone in his perversity and iniquity. [Josh. 7.]
21 Then the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said to the heads of the clans of Israel,
22 The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows, and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in transgression against the Lord, spare us not today.
23 If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if we did so to offer on it burnt offerings or cereal offerings or peace offerings, may the Lord Himself take vengeance.
24 No! But we did it for fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?
25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no part in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease from fearing the Lord.
26 So we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice,
27 But to be a witness between us and you and between the generations after us, that we will perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings; lest your children say to our children in time to come, You have no portion in the Lord.
28 So we thought, if that should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we can reply, Behold the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but to be a witness between us and you.
29 Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings, for cereal offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God that is before His tabernacle.
30 And when Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation and heads of the clans of Israel who were with him heard the words that the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites spoke, it pleased them.
31 Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites, Today we know the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this trespass and treachery against the Lord; now you have saved the Israelites from the Lord’s hand.
32 Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the chiefs returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the [other] Israelites, and brought back word to them.
33 The report pleased the Israelites and they blessed God; and they spoke no more of going to war against them to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites dwelt.
34 The Reubenites and Gadites called the altar Ed [witness], saying, It shall be: A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / March Index​

March 31 / Joshua 23–Judges 1

Joshua 23
A LONG time after that, when the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies round about, and Joshua had grown old and advanced in years,
2 Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders, heads, judges, and officers, and said to them, I am old and advanced in years.
3 And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; for it is the Lord your God Who has fought for you. [Exod. 14:14.]
4 Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, with all the nations I have cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea on the west.
5 The Lord your God will thrust them out from before you and drive them out of your sight, and you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God promised you.
6 So be very courageous and steadfast to keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning not aside from it to the right hand or the left,
7 That you may not mix with these nations that remain among you, or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them.
8 But cling to the Lord your God as you have done to this day.
9 For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no man has been able to withstand you to this day.
10 One man of you shall put to flight a thousand, for it is the Lord your God Who fights for you, as He promised you.
11 Be very watchful of yourselves, therefore, to love the Lord your God.
12 For if you turn back and adhere to the remnant of these nations left among you and make marriages with them, you marrying their women and they yours,
13 Know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations from before you; but they shall be a snare and trap to you, and a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
14 And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. Know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one thing of them has failed.
15 But just as all good things which the Lord promised you have come to you, so will the Lord carry out [His] every [warning of] evil upon you, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
16 If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, if you serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land He has given you.


CHAPTER 24

THEN JOSHUA gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders of Israel and their heads, their judges, and their officers; they presented themselves before God.
2 Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt in olden times beyond the Euphrates River, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, and they served other gods.
3 And I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his offspring. I gave him Isaac,
4 And I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau. And I gave to Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it; and afterward I brought you out.
6 I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
7 When they cried to the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time [forty years]. [Josh. 5:6.]
8 I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land, and I destroyed them before you.
9 Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam son of Beor to curse you.
10 But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you; so I delivered you out of Balak’s hand. [Deut. 23:5.]
11 You went over the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I gave them into your hands.
12 I sent the hornet [that is, the terror of you] before you, which drove the two kings of the Amorites out before you; but it was not by your sword or by your bow. [Exod. 23:27, 28; Deut. 2:25; 7:20.]
13 I have given you a land for which you did not labor and cities you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat from vineyards and olive yards you did not plant.
14 Now therefore, [reverently] fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
16 The people answered, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods;
17 For it is the Lord our God Who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, Who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed.
18 And the Lord drove out before us all the people, the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.
19 And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.
20 If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.
21 And the people said to Joshua, No; but we will serve the Lord.
22 Then Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses.
23 Then put away, said he, the foreign gods that are among you and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.
24 The people said to Joshua, The Lord our God we will serve; His voice we will obey.
25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a great stone and set it up there under an oak that was in [the court of] the sanctuary of the Lord.
27 And Joshua said to all the people, See, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the Lord spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, lest [afterward] you lie (pretend) and deny your God.
28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.
29 After this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old.
30 They buried him at the edge of his inheritance in Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.
31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the works the Lord had done for Israel.
32 And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the portion of ground Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of money; and it became the inheritance of the Josephites.
33 And Eleazar son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah [on the hill] of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.


THE BOOK OF JUDGES

CHAPTER 1

AFTER THE death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?
2 And the Lord said, Judah shall go up; behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.
3 And Judah [the tribe] said to [the tribe of] Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my allotted territory, so that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your territory. So Simeon went with him.
4 Then Judah went up and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they smote 10,000 of them in Bezek.
5 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6 Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
7 Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off had to gather their food under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
8 And the men of Judah fought against [Jebusite] Jerusalem and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.
9 Afterward the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the hill country, in the South (the Negeb), and in the lowland.
10 And Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. The name of Hebron before was Kiriath-arba. And they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
11 From there [Judah] went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir before was Kiriath-sepher [city of books and scribes].
12 And Caleb said, Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and takes it, to him will I give Achsah, my daughter, as wife.
13 And Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; and he gave him Achsah, his daughter, as wife.
14 And when she came to [Othniel], she got his consent to ask her father for a [sloping] field. And she alighted off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, What do you want?
15 And she said to him, Give me a present; since you have set me in the land of the South (the Negeb), give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.
16 And the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the Judahites from the City of Palms (Jericho) into the Wilderness of Judah, which lies in the South (the Negeb) near Arad; and they went and dwelt with the people.
17 And [the tribe of] Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and utterly destroyed it. So the city was called Hormah [destruction].
18 Also Judah took Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron—each with its territory.
19 The Lord was with Judah, and [Judah] drove out the inhabitants of the hill country, but he could not drive out those inhabiting the [difficult] valley basin because they had chariots of iron.
20 Hebron was given to Caleb as Moses said, and he expelled from there the three sons of Anak. [Josh. 14:6, 9.]
21 But the Benjamites did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; the Jebusites dwell with the Benjamites in Jerusalem to this day.
22 The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them.
23 And the house of Joseph was sent to spy out Bethel. The name of the city formerly had been Luz.
24 And the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, Show us, we pray you, the way into the city and we will show you mercy.
25 When he showed them the entrance to the city, they smote the city with the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.
26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.
27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or of Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their villages, but the Canaanites remained in that land.
28 When Israel became strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor but did not utterly drive them out.
29 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or of Nahalol, but the Canaanites dwelt among them and were put to forced labor.
31 Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob;
32 But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.
33 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh or of Beth-anath, but dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; but the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
34 The Amorites forced the Danites back into the hill country, for they would not allow them to come down into the plain;
35 The Amorites remained fixed in Mount Heres [mountain of the sun], in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim; yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to forced labor.
36 And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock Sela and onward.