World English Bible · Entering the land
Joshua 7
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But the committed a trespass in the ; for , the son of Carmi, the son of , the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the . Therefore burned against the . sent men from to , which is beside Beth , on the east side of , and spoke to them, saying, "Go up and spy out the land." The men went up and spied out . They returned to , and said to him, "Don't let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike . Don't make all the people to toil there, for there are only of them." So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of . The men of struck about thirty-six men of them. They chased them from before the even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The of the people melted, and became like water. tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on before ark , he and the ; and they put on their heads. said, "Alas, , why have you brought this people over at all, to us into the hand of the , to cause us to ? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond ! Oh, , what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their ? For and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?" said to , "Get up! Why have you fallen on your like that? Israel has . Yes, they have even transgressed my which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken some of the , and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff. Therefore the can't stand before their . They turn their backs before their , because they have become devoted for . I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the from among you. Get up! the people, and say, ' yourselves for tomorrow, for , the of Israel, says, "There is a devoted thing among you, Israel. You cannot stand before your until you take away from among you." In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. It shall be that the tribe which selects shall come near by families. The family which selects shall come near by households. The household which selects shall come near man by man. It shall be, that he who is taken with shall be burned with , he and all that he has, because he has transgressed , and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.'" So rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes. The tribe of Judah was selected. He brought near the family of Judah, and he selected the family of the . He brought near the family of the man by man, and was selected. He brought near his household man by man, and , the son of Carmi, the son of , the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected. said to , "My son, please give to , the of Israel, and make to him. Tell me now what you have done! Don't hide it from me!" answered , and said, "I have truly against , the of Israel, and this is what I have done. When I saw among the plunder a beautiful robe, two hundred of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty , then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it." 22So sent , and they ran to the tent. Behold, it was hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. 23They took them from the middle of the tent, and brought them to and to all the . They laid them down before . , and all Israel with him, took the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. said, "Why have you troubled us? will trouble you today." All Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with and stoned them with stones. They over him a great heap of stones that to this day. turned from the fierceness of his . Therefore the name of that place was called "The valley of Achor" to this day.
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.