World English Bible · Entering the land
Joshua 24
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gathered all the tribes of Israel to , and called for the , for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before . said to all the people, ", the of Israel, says, 'Your fathers lived of old time beyond , even , of , and of . They other gods. I took your from beyond , and led him throughout all the land of , and multiplied his , and gave him . I gave to and : and I gave to Mount , to possess it. and his children went down into . "'I sent and , and I plagued , according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. I brought your fathers out of : and you came to the sea. The pursued your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to . When they cried out to , he put between you and the , and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in . You lived in many days. "'I brought you into the land of the , that lived beyond . They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand. You their land, and I destroyed them from before you. Then the son of , king of , arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called the son of to you, but I would not listen to ; therefore he you still. So I you out of his hand. "'You went over , and came to . The men of fought against you, the , the , the , the , the , the , and the ; and I them into your hand. I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the ; not with your , nor with your bow. I 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.' "Now therefore , and him in sincerity and in truth. the gods which your fathers beyond , in ; and . If it seems evil to you to , choose today whom you will ; whether the gods which your fathers that were beyond , or the gods of the , in whose land you ; but as for me and my house, we will ." The people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake , to other gods; for it is our who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of , from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all in which we went, and among all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed. drove out from before us all the peoples, even the who lived in the land. Therefore we also will ; for he is our ." said to the people, "You can't , for he is a . He is . He will not forgive your nor your . If you forsake , and foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good." The people said to , "No, but we will ." said to the people, "You are against yourselves that you have chosen yourselves, to him." They said, "We are ." "Now therefore the foreign gods which are among you, and incline to , the of Israel." The people said to , "We will our , and we will listen to his voice." So made a with the people that day, and made for them a and an in . wrote these words in the book of of ; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by of . said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a against us, for it has heard all words which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a against you, lest you deny your ." So sent the people away, each to his own . After these things, the son of , the , , being one hundred ten years old. They in the border of his in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of , on the north of the mountain of Gaash. Israel all the days of , and all the days of the who outlived , and had known all the work of , that he had worked for Israel. They buried the bones of , which the brought up out of , in , in the parcel of ground which bought from the sons of of for a hundred pieces of silver. They became the of the children of . the son of . They in the hill of his son, which was given him in the hill country of .
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.