Study Desk

Joshua prayed that good would come to them, and sent them away. Then they went to their homes.

The sons of Reuben and Gad and the half-family group of Manasseh returned home. They left the people of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and went to their own land of Gilead. They had taken this land by the word of the Lord through Moses.

The sons of Reuben and Gad and the half-family group of Manasseh came to the Jordan River. Before they crossed the Jordan, they built a very large altar on the Canaan side of the Jordan.

They came to the people of Reuben and Gad and the half-family group of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, and said to them,

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.'

Phinehas the religious leader and the leaders of the people, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, were pleased when they heard the words of the people of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh.

Then Phinehas the son of the religious leader Eleazar and the leaders left the people of Reuben and Gad. They returned from the land of Gilead to the people of Israel in the land of Canaan. And they told them what had happened.

The news pleased the people of Israel, and they gave thanks to God. They said no more about going against them in war, to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and Gad were living.

know for sure that the Lord your God will stop driving these nations away from you. And they will be a net and a trap to you. They will be a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you are destroyed from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

Then Joshua gathered all the families of Israel to Shechem. He called for the leaders of Israel, the heads of the families and those who judged between what is right or wrong. And they showed themselves before God.

Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers lived on the other side of the River. There was Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor. And they worshiped other gods.

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.

I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the east side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them to you. You took their land for your own when I destroyed them in front of you.

I sent the hornets ahead of you. They drove out the people and the two kings of the Amorites from in front of you. You did not do it by your sword or bow.

Then Joshua said to the people, "You have spoken for yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord." And they said, "We have spoken for ourselves."

Judah went up, and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands. They killed 10,000 men at Bezek.

They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they won the war against the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

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

Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off had to gather their food under my table. Now God has paid me for what I have done." So they brought him to Jerusalem and there he died.

Then the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it. They destroyed it with the sword and set the city on fire.