Study Desk

The sons of Joseph said, "The hill country is not enough for us. But all the Canaanites who live in the valley have iron war-wagons. Both those in Beth-shean and its towns and those in the valley of Jezreel have them."

The hill country will be yours. It is full of trees, but you will clear it. All of it will be yours. For you will drive out the Canaanites, even if they have iron war-wagons and much strength."

But the city's fields and towns had been given to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his own.

You have not left your brothers alone even to this day. But you have been careful to do what the Lord your God has told you.

Moses had given land in Bashan to the half-family group of Manasseh. But Joshua gave land west of the Jordan to the other half of the family among their brothers. Joshua prayed that good would come to them when he sent them away to their homes.

Now if the land you have been given is unclean, cross over into the Lord's land. There stands the meeting tent of the Lord. Take land for yourselves among us. But do not go against the Lord, or against us, by building an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.

But it will be something special to be seen between us and you and our children after us. It will show that we are to serve the Lord before Him with our burnt gifts, our gifts of animals and our peace gifts. Then your children will not say to our children in the future, "You have nothing to do with the Lord."'

We thought that if they say this to us or our children in the future we can say, ‘See the altar we have made like the altar of the Lord which our fathers made. It is not for burnt gifts or killing animals in worship. But it is something special to see between us and you.'

But hold on to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.

Every good promise the Lord your God made to you has come true. But in the same way, He will keep His promises to punish you. He will punish you until He has destroyed you from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Mount Seir to Esau for his own. But Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.

But when they cried out to the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians. He brought the sea upon them and covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the desert for a long time.

But I would not listen to Balaam. So he had to pray for good to come to you. And I saved you from his hand.

If you think it is wrong to serve the Lord, choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods your fathers worshiped on the other side of the river, or choose the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."

Adoni-bezek tried to run away, but they went after him and caught him. They cut off his thumbs and big toes.

But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. So the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

So he showed them the way into the city. They destroyed the city with the sword. But they let the man and all his family go free.

But the men of Manasseh did not take for their own Bethshean and its towns or Taanach and its towns. They did not drive out the people of Dor and its towns, or of Ibleam and its towns, or of Megiddo and its towns. So the Canaanites stayed in that land.

When Israel became strong, they made the Canaanites work for them. But they did not drive all of them out.

Naphtali did not drive out the people of Beth-shemesh or the people of Beth-anath. But they lived among the Canaanites, the people of the land. The people of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were made to work for them.