King James Version · Entering the land
Joshua 23
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And it came to pass a long time after that had given rest unto Israel from all their round about, that waxed old and stricken in age. And called for all Israel, and for their , and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age: And ye have seen all that your hath done unto all these nations because of you; for your is he that hath fought for you. Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that , to be an for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have , even unto the great sea westward. And your , he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as your hath promised unto you. Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of of , that ye turn not aside therefrom to or to the left; That ye come not among these nations, these that among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to by them, neither them, nor bow yourselves unto them: But cleave unto your , as ye have done unto this day. For hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand: for your , he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love your . Else if ye do in any go back, and cleave unto of these nations, even these that among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: Know for a certainty that your will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and in your eyes, until ye from off this good land which your hath given you. And, behold, this day I am going of all the earth: and ye know in all your and in all your , that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which your spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which your promised you; so shall bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which your hath given you. When ye have transgressed of your , which he commanded you, and have gone and other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the of be kindled against you, and ye shall quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.
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.