World English Bible · Entering the land
Joshua 1
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Now after the of the , spoke to the son of , ' servant, saying, " my servant is . Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the . I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told . From and this even to the great river, the river , all the land of the , and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with , so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you. "Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to the land which I to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all which my servant commanded you. Don't turn from it to or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of shall not depart from your , but you shall on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed, for your is with you wherever you go." 10Then commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through the middle of the camp, and command the people, saying, 'Prepare food; for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which your gives you to possess.'" spoke to the , and to the , and to the half-tribe of , saying, "Remember the word which the commanded you, saying, ' your gives you rest, and will give you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall live in the land which gave you beyond ; but you shall pass over before your brothers armed, all the of valor, and shall help them until has given your brothers rest, as he has given you, and they have also the land which your gives them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, which the gave you beyond toward the sunrise.'" They answered , saying, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. as we listened to in all things, so will we listen to you. Only may your be with you, as he was with . Whoever rebels against your , and doesn't listen to your words in all that you command him shall himself be put to . Only be strong and courageous."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Entering the land, 1250 BC to 1200 BC ›
Israel crossing into Canaan and contending with fortified city-states, each with its own king, in a land Egypt had recently dominated and was now losing its grip on.
- The collapse
- The whole eastern Mediterranean is coming apart. Within about fifty years the Hittite empire falls, its capital burns, the Mycenaean palaces are destroyed, Ugarit is wiped out mid-correspondence, and Egypt is fighting for its life against seaborne invaders. Nobody fully knows why. Drought, earthquake, migration, and the failure of interlocking trade are all in the explanation.
- Egypt
- Still strong enough to record a victory over a people called Israel on a stone monument around 1207 BC, the earliest mention of the name outside the Bible. But Egyptian control of Canaan is slipping, and within a generation it is gone.
- Canaan
- Not a country but dozens of walled towns, each with its own king, its own god, and its own quarrel with the next valley. This is why the book of Joshua reads as a list of kings rather than a war with a nation.
- Further afield
- Iron is beginning to replace bronze across the region, partly because the tin trade that made bronze possible has broken down. The Olmec are building San Lorenzo. The Zhou are about to overthrow the Shang in China.