Study Desk

Joshua answered them, "If you have too many people, go up to the wooded area in the hill country and clear that land for a place to live. That land now belongs to the Perizzites and the Rephaites. But if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go take that land."

The people of Joseph said, "It is true that the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for us. But the Canaanites living there have powerful weapons—they have iron chariots! And they control Jezreel Valley, Beth Shean, and all the small towns in that area."

You will take these mountains. It is a forest, but you can cut down the trees and make it a good place to live. You can take it from the Canaanites and force them to leave. You can defeat them, even if they are strong and have iron chariots."

But at this time there were still seven tribes of Israel that had not yet received their land.

But you should describe the land and divide it into seven parts. Bring the map to me, and we will throw lots to let the Lord our God decide how to divide the land among the tribes.

But the people of Dan had trouble taking their land. There were strong enemies there and the people of Dan could not easily defeat them. So the people of Dan went to the northern part of Israel and fought against Laish. They defeated Laish and killed the people who lived there. So the people of Dan lived in the town of Laish. They changed the name to Dan because that was the name of the father of their tribe.

But the fields and the small towns around the city of Kiriath Arba belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh.

But remember—continue to obey the law that the Lord 's servant Moses gave you. You must love the Lord your God and obey his commands. You must continue to follow him and serve him the very best that you can."

But the other Israelites who were still at Shiloh heard about the altar that these three tribes built. They heard that the altar was at the border of Canaan at the place called Geliloth. It was near the Jordan River on Israel's side.

"‘If your land is not a good place to worship God, come over to the Lord 's land. This is where the Lord 's Tent is. You can have some of the land and live here. But don't turn against the Lord or against us by building another altar. We already have the altar of the Lord our God at the Meeting Tent.

"‘Remember how Achan son of Zerah refused to obey the command about things that must be destroyed. That one man broke God's law, but all the Israelites were punished. Achan died because of his sin, but also many other people died.'"

But that is not why we built it. We built it because we were afraid that in the future your descendants might not accept us as part of God's people. So your children might say to our children, ‘You people have no reason to worship the Lord , the God of Israel.

"So we decided to build this altar. But we did not plan to use it for burning offerings and sacrifices.

Remember that I told you that your people could have the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. I promised to give you that land, but you don't control it yet. I have taken the land away from those nations, but they are still living there.

But the Lord your God will force the people living there to leave. You will take that land. The Lord will force them to leave, just as he promised.

the Lord your God will not help you defeat your enemies. They will become like a trap for you. They will cause you pain—like smoke and dust in your eyes. And you will be forced to leave this good land. The Lord your God gave you this land. But you can lose it if you don't obey this command.

Every good promise that the Lord your God made to us has come true. But in the same way, the Lord will make his other promises come true: If you do wrong, bad things will happen to you. You will be forced to leave this good land that the Lord your God has given to you.

But I took your father Abraham out of the land on the other side of the River. I led him through the land of Canaan and gave him many children. I gave Abraham his son Isaac.

Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, east of the Jordan River. Those people fought against you, but I allowed you to defeat them. I gave you the power to destroy them, and you took control of that land.

but I refused to listen to Balaam's prayer. So he asked me to bless you, and I saved you from the enemy.