Study Desk

But your helper, Joshua son of Nun, will go into the land. Encourage Joshua, because he will lead the Israelites to take the land for their own.

But the Lord said to me, ‘Tell the people not to go up there and fight, because I will not be with them. Their enemies will defeat them!'

Don't fight them. I will not give you any of their land—not even a foot of it, because I gave the hill country of Seir to Esau to keep as his own.

You will be just across from the Ammonites. Don't bother them or fight with them, because I will not give you their land. They are descendants of Lot, and I have given that land to them.'"

Don't fear the kings of these lands, because the Lord your God will fight for you.'

"But the Lord was angry with me because of you and refused to listen to me. The Lord said to me, ‘That's enough! Don't say another word about this.

You must give instructions to Joshua. Encourage him. Make him strong, because Joshua must lead the people across the Jordan River. You can see the land, but Joshua will lead them into that land. He will help them take the land and live in it.'

"The Lord was angry with me because of you. He swore that I could not go across the Jordan River into the good land that the Lord your God is giving you.

because the Lord your God hates for his people to worship other gods. And he can be like a fire that destroys!

Don't worship or serve idols of any kind, because I am the Lord your God. I hate for my people to worship other gods. People who sin against me become my enemies. And I will punish them, and their children, their grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren.

Do this because you are the Lord 's own people. From all the people on earth, the Lord your God chose you to be his special people—people who belong only to him.

Why did the Lord love and choose you? It was not because you are such a large nation. You had the fewest of all people!

But the Lord brought you out of Egypt with great power and made you free from slavery. He freed you from the control of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Lord did this because he loves you and he wanted to keep the promise he made to your ancestors.

Don't be afraid of them, because the Lord your God is with you. He is a great and awesome God.

"You must obey all the commands that I give you today, because then you will live and grow to become a great nation. You will get the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors.

He humbled you and let you be hungry. Then he fed you with manna—something you did not know about before. It was something your ancestors had never seen. Why did the Lord do this? Because he wanted you to know that it is not just bread that keeps people alive. People's lives depend on what the Lord says.

Remember the Lord your God is the one who gives you power to do these things. He does this because he wants to keep the agreement that he made with your ancestors, as he is doing today!

"The Lord your God will force those nations out for you. But don't say to yourselves, ‘The Lord brought us to live in this land because we are such good people.' No, the Lord forced those nations out because they were evil, not because you were good.

You are going in to take their land, but not because you are good and live right. You are going in, and the Lord your God is forcing those people out because of the evil way they lived. And the Lord wants to keep the promise he made to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Lord your God is giving you that good land to live in, but you should know that it is not because you are good. The truth is that you are very stubborn people!