Joshua 21-24

Joshua 21

¹Then the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.

²They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The LORD commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for our livestock.”

³The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of the LORD, these cities with their pasture lands.

⁴The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.

⁵The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶The children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸The children of Israel gave these cities with their pasture lands by lot to the Levites, as the LORD commanded by Moses.

⁹They gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are mentioned by name:

¹⁰and they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot.

¹¹They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (also called Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its pasture lands around it.

¹²But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

¹³To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Libnah with its pasture lands,

¹⁴Jattir with its pasture lands, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands,

¹⁵Holon with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands,

¹⁶Ain with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth Shemesh with its pasture lands: nine cities out of those two tribes.

¹⁷Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands,

¹⁸Anathoth with its pasture lands, and Almon with its pasture lands: four cities.

¹⁹All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

²⁰The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹They gave them Shechem with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Gezer with its pasture lands,

²²Kibzaim with its pasture lands, and Beth Horon with its pasture lands: four cities.

²³Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands,

²⁴Aijalon with its pasture lands, Gath Rimmon with its pasture lands: four cities.

²⁵Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasture lands, and Gath Rimmon with its pasture lands: two cities.

²⁶All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with their pasture lands.

²⁷They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Be Eshterah with its pasture lands: two cities.

²⁸Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands,

²⁹Jarmuth with its pasture lands, En Gannim with its pasture lands: four cities.

³⁰Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands,

³¹Helkath with its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands: four cities.

³²Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, Hammothdor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands: three cities.

³³All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

³⁴To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands,

³⁵Dimnah with its pasture lands, and Nahalal with its pasture lands: four cities.

³⁶Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its pasture lands, Jahaz with its pasture lands,

³⁷Kedemoth with its pasture lands, and Mephaath with its pasture lands: four cities.

³⁸Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the man slayer, and Mahanaim with its pasture lands,

³⁹Heshbon with its pasture lands, Jazer with its pasture lands: four cities in all.

⁴⁰All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites. Their lot was twelve cities.

⁴¹All the cities of the Levites among the possessions of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasture lands.

⁴²Each of these cities included their pasture lands around them. It was this way with all these cities.

⁴³So the LORD gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it.

⁴⁴The LORD gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. The LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

⁴⁵Nothing failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

Joshua 22

¹Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh,

²and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you.

³You have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have performed the duty of the commandment of the LORD your God.

⁴Now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan.

⁵Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

⁶So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents.

⁷Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but Joshua gave to the other half among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them,

⁸and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much wealth to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the plunder of your enemies with your brothers.”

⁹The children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they owned, according to the commandment of the LORD by Moses.

¹⁰When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at.

¹¹The children of Israel heard this, “Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the region around the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the children of Israel.”

¹²When the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war.

¹³The children of Israel sent to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest.

¹⁴With him were ten princes, one prince of a fathers’ house for each of the tribes of Israel; and they were each head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel.

¹⁵They came to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying,

¹⁶“The whole congregation of the LORD says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following the LORD, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against the LORD?

¹⁷Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of the LORD,

¹⁸that you must turn away today from following the LORD? It will be, since you rebel today against the LORD, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

¹⁹However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of the LORD, in which the LORD’s tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us; but don’t rebel against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than the LORD our God’s altar.

²⁰Didn’t Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn’t perish alone in his iniquity.’”

²¹Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel,

²²“The Mighty One, God, the LORD, the Mighty One, God, the LORD, he knows; and Israel shall know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against the LORD (don’t save us today),

²³that we have built us an altar to turn away from following the LORD; or if to offer burnt offering or meal offering, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings, let the LORD himself require it.

²⁴“If we have not out of concern done this, and for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, “What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

²⁵For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.”’ So your children might make our children cease from fearing the LORD.

²⁶“Therefore we said, ‘Let’s now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice;

²⁷but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings;’ that your children may not tell our children in time to come, ‘You have no portion in the LORD.’

²⁸“Therefore we said, ‘It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say, “Behold the pattern of the LORD’s altar, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.”’

²⁹“Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD, and turn away today from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the LORD our God’s altar that is before his tabernacle!”

³⁰When Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well.

³¹Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against the LORD. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the LORD’s hand.”

³²Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again.

³³The thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the children of Gad lived.

³⁴The children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar “A Witness Between Us that the LORD is God.”

Joshua 23

¹After many days, when the LORD had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,

²Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to them, “I am old and well advanced in years.

³You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you; for it is the LORD your God who has fought for you.

⁴Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun.

⁵The LORD your God will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from out of your sight. You shall possess their land, as the LORD your God spoke to you.

⁶“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn away from it to the right hand or to the left;

⁷that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them;

⁸but hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.

⁹“For the LORD has driven great and strong nations out from before you. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day.

¹⁰One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is the LORD your God who fights for you, as he spoke to you.

¹¹Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God.

¹²“But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you;

¹³know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, 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“Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You 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 spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it.

¹⁵It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which the LORD your God spoke to you, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you,

¹⁶when you disobey the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then the LORD’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”

Joshua 24

¹Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

²Joshua said to all the people, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor. They served other gods.

³I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac.

⁴I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

⁵“‘I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out.

⁶I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea.

⁷When they cried out to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness many days.

⁸“‘I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land, and I destroyed them from before you.

⁹Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you,

¹⁰but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand.

¹¹“‘You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand.

¹²I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow.

¹³I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you didn’t build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn’t plant.’

¹⁴“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve the LORD.

¹⁵If it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond 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.”

¹⁶The people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;

¹⁷for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed.

¹⁸The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD; for he is our God.”

¹⁹Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.

²⁰If you forsake the LORD, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good.”

²¹The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.”

²²Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”

²³“Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

²⁴The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God, and we will listen to his voice.”

²⁵So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

²⁶Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

²⁷Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the LORD’s words which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God.”

²⁸So Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

²⁹After these things, Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred ten years old.

³⁰They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

³¹Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of the LORD, that he had worked for Israel.

³²They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

³³Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.