World English Bible · Entering the land
Joshua 9
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When all the kings who were beyond , in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of , the , the , the , the , the , and the , heard of it they gathered themselves together to fight with and with Israel, with one accord. But when the inhabitants of heard what had done to and to , they also resorted to a ruse, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks on their donkeys, and old, torn-up and bound up wineskins, and old and patched on their feet, and wore old garments. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. They went to at the camp at , and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country. Now therefore make a with us." The men of Israel said to the , "What if you live among us? How could we make a with you?" They said to , "We are your servants." said to them, "Who are you? Where do you come from?" They said to him, "Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of your ; for we have heard of his fame, all that he did in , and all that he did to the two kings of the who were beyond , to king of and to king of , who was at . Our and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, 'Take supplies in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them. Tell them, "We are your servants. Now make a with us."' This our bread we took hot for our supplies out of our houses on the day we went out to go to you; but now, behold, it is dry, and has become moldy. 13These wineskins, which we filled, were new; and behold, they are torn. These our garments and our have become old because of the very long journey." The men sampled their provisions, and didn't ask from . made peace with them, and made a with them, to let them live. The princes of to them. At the end of three days after they had made a with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. The traveled and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were , , , and . The didn't strike them, because the princes of had to them by , the of Israel. All murmured against the princes. But all the princes said to all , "We have to them by , the of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them. We will do this to them, and let them live; lest be on us, because of the which we to them." The princes said to them, "Let them live." So they became wood cutters and drawers of water for all , as the princes had spoken to them. called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, "Why have you deceived us, saying, 'We are very far from you,' when you live among us? Now therefore you are , and some of you will never fail to be , both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my ." They answered , and said, "Because your servants were certainly told how your commanded his servant to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore we were very afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. Now, behold, we are in your hand. Do to us as it seems good and right to you to do." 26He did so to them, and them out of the hand of the , so that they didn't kill them. That day made them wood cutters and drawers of water for and for to this day, in the place which he should choose.
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.