Study Desk

The Lord made the Jordan River a border between us and you people of Reuben and Gad. You cannot worship the Lord .' So we feared that your children might make our children stop worshiping the Lord .

This altar is proof to you and us and to all our children who will come after us that we worship the Lord with our whole burnt offerings, grain, and fellowship offerings. This was so your children would not say to our children, ‘You are not the Lord 's.'

So Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, said, "Now we know the Lord is with us and that you didn't turn against him. Now the Israelites will not be punished by the Lord ."

They were pleased and thanked God. So they decided not to fight the people of Reuben and Gad and destroy those lands.

So you must be careful to love the Lord your God.

So the people called out to the Lord . And I brought darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea to cover them. You yourselves saw what I did to the army of Egypt. After that, you lived in the desert for a long time.

but I refused to listen to Balaam. So he asked for good things to happen to you! I saved you and brought you out of his power.

Then he forced out all the people living in these lands, even the Amorites. So we will serve the Lord , because he is our God."

Joshua said to all the people, "See this stone! It will remind you of what we did today. It was here the Lord spoke to us today. It will remind you of what happened so you will not turn against your God."

The men of Judah said to the men of Simeon, their relatives, "Come and help us fight the Canaanites for our land. If you do, we will go and help you fight for your land." So the men of Simeon went with them.

Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, captured the city, so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel to be his wife.

Acsah answered him, "Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in southern Canaan, also give me springs of water." So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

The men of Judah and the men of Simeon, their relatives, defeated the Canaanites who lived in Zephath. They completely destroyed the city, so they called it Hormah.

So the man showed them the way into the city. The men of Joseph attacked with swords the people in Bethel, but they let the man and his family go free.

The people of Ephraim did not force out all of the Canaanites living in Gezer. So the Canaanites continued to live in Gezer with the people of Ephraim.

The people of Naphtali did not force out the people of the cities of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath. So they continued to live with the Canaanites in those cities, and the Canaanites worked as slaves.

So they named the place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord .

So they did what the Lord said was wrong, and they worshiped the Baal idols.

The Lord was angry with the people of Israel, so he handed them over to robbers who took their possessions. He let their enemies who lived around them defeat them; they could not protect themselves.

When the Israelites went out to fight, they always lost, because the Lord was not with them. The Lord had sworn to them this would happen. So the Israelites suffered very much.