King James Version · Entering the land
Joshua 1
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Now after the of the it came to pass, that spake unto the son of , ’ minister, saying, my servant is ; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the . Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto . From and this even unto the great river, the river , all the land of the , and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with , so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all , which my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of shall not depart out of thy ; but thou shalt therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for thy is with thee whithersoever thou goest. 10Then commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which your giveth you to possess it. And to the , and to the , and to half the tribe of , spake , saying, Remember the word which the commanded you, saying, your hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall in the land which gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the of valour, and help them; Until have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have the land which your giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which ’s servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising. And they answered , saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. According as we hearkened unto in all things, so will we unto thee: only thy be with thee, as he was with . Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy , and will not unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to : only be strong and of a good courage.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. 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.