King James Version · Entering the land
Joshua 22
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Then called the , and the , and the half tribe of , And said unto them, Ye have kept all that the commanded you, and have in all that I commanded you: Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the of your . And now your hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which the gave you on the other side Jordan. But take diligent heed to do the and , which the charged you, to love your , and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his , and to cleave unto him, and to him with all and with all your . So them, and sent them away: and they went unto their tents. Now to the one half of the tribe of had given possession in : but unto the other half thereof gave among their brethren on this side Jordan westward. And when sent them away also unto their tents, then he them, And he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your with your brethren. And the children of and the children of Gad and the half tribe of returned, and departed from the out of , which is in the land of , to go unto the country of , to the land of their possession, whereof they were , according to the word of by the hand of . And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of , the children of and the children of Gad and the half tribe of built there an by Jordan, a great to see to. And the heard say, Behold, the children of and the children of Gad and the half tribe of have built an over against the land of , in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the . And when the heard of it, the whole of the gathered themselves together at , to go up to war against them. And the sent unto the children of , and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of , into the land of , the son of the priest, And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel. And they came unto the children of , and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of , unto the land of , and they spake with them, saying, Thus saith the whole of , What trespass is this that ye have committed against the of Israel, to turn away this day from following , in that ye have builded you an , that ye might rebel this day against ? Is the of too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in of , But that ye must turn away this day from following ? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against , that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole of Israel. Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be , then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of , wherein ’s dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against , nor rebel against us, in building you an beside the of our . Did not the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the thing, and fell on all of Israel? and that man not alone in his . Then the children of and the children of Gad and the half tribe of answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel, of gods, of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in against , ( us not this day,) That we have built us an to turn from following , or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat , or if to offer thereon, let himself require it; And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with of Israel? For hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of and children of Gad; ye have no part in : so shall your children make our children cease from fearing . 26Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an , not for burnt offering, nor for : But that it may be a between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the of before him with our burnt offerings, and with our , and with our ; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in . Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say again, Behold the pattern of the of , which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for ; but it is a between us and you. forbid that we should rebel against , and turn this day from following , to build an for burnt offerings, for meat , or for , beside the of our that is before his . And when the priest, and the princes of and heads of the thousands of Israel which were with him, heard the words that the children of and the children of Gad and the children of spake, it pleased them. And the son of the priest said unto the children of , and to the children of Gad, and to the children of , This day we perceive that is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against : now ye have the out of the hand of . And the son of the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of , and from the children of Gad, out of the land of , unto the land of , to the , and brought them word again. And the thing pleased the ; and the , and did not intend to go up against them in battle, to destroy the land wherein the children of and Gad dwelt. And the children of and the children of Gad called the Ed: for it shall be a between us that is .
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.