Study Desk

"But you refused to go into the land. You refused to obey the Lord your God.

"But you didn't trust the Lord your God then either.

But he was always in front, going ahead to find a place for you to camp. At night, he was in the fire that showed you where to go. And during the day, he was in the cloud.

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.

You thought your little children would be taken by your enemies. But those children, who are still too young to know right from wrong, will go into the land. I will give it to them. Your children will take the land for their own.

But you—you must turn around, take the road to the Red Sea and go back into the desert.'

"Then you said, ‘Moses, we sinned against the Lord , but now we will do what the Lord our God commanded us before—we will go and fight.' "Then each of you put on your weapons. You thought it would be easy to go and take the hill country.

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!'

"I spoke to you, but you did not listen. You refused to obey the Lord 's command. You thought you could use your own power, so you went up into the hill country.

Then you came back crying to the Lord for help, but the Lord refused to listen to you.

The Anakites were part of the Rephaites. People thought the Emites were also Rephaites, but the people of Moab called them Emites.

There were many Rephaites, and they were very strong and tall like the Anakites. But the Lord helped the Ammonites destroy them. The Ammonites took that land and live there now.

God did the same thing for Esau's people. In the past the Horites lived in Seir. But Esau's people destroyed the Horites, and Esau's descendants still live there today.

God did the same thing for some people from Crete. The Avvites lived in the towns around Gaza, but the Cretans destroyed them, took the land, and live there now.)

"But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us pass through his country. The Lord your God had made him very stubborn and ready to fight. The Lord did this so that he could help you defeat King Sihon. And today we know that is what happened.

But the Lord our God gave him to us. We defeated King Sihon, his sons, and all his people.

But you did not go near the land that belongs to the people of Ammon. You did not go near the shores of the Jabbok River or the cities of the hill country. You did not go near any place that the Lord our God would not let us have.

But we kept all the cattle and the valuable things from the cities for ourselves.

(The people from Sidon call Mount Hermon, Sirion, but the Amorites called it Senir.)

"At that time I gave those tribes this command: ‘The Lord your God has given you the land on this side of the Jordan River to live in. But now your fighting men must take their weapons and lead the other Israelite tribes across the river.