Study Desk

The Israelites kept for themselves the livestock and goods captured in the city, as the Lord had told Joshua.

He hanged the king of Ai from a tree and left his body there until evening. At sundown Joshua gave orders for the body to be removed, and it was thrown down at the entrance to the city gate. They covered it with a huge pile of stones, which is still there today.

The Israelites, with their leaders, officers, and judges, as well as the foreigners among them, stood on two sides of the Lord 's Covenant Box, facing the levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim and the other half with their backs to Mount Ebal. The Lord 's servant Moses had commanded them to do this when the time came for them to receive the blessing.

Our leaders and all the people that live in our land told us to get some food ready for a trip and to go and meet you. We were told to put ourselves at your service and ask you to make a treaty with us.

Let them live, but they will have to cut wood and carry water for us." This was what the leaders suggested.

Because you did this, God has condemned you. Your people will always be slaves, cutting wood and carrying water for the sanctuary of my God."

But at the same time he made them slaves, to cut wood and carry water for the people of Israel and for the Lord 's altar. To this day they have continued to do this work in the place where the Lord has chosen to be worshiped.

The sun stood still and the moon did not move until the nation had conquered its enemies. This is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stood still in the middle of the sky and did not go down for a whole day.

Joshua conquered all these kings and their territory in one campaign because the Lord , Israel's God, was fighting for Israel.

The Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them. By this time tomorrow I will have killed all of them for Israel. You are to cripple their horses and burn their chariots."

The people of Israel took all the valuables and livestock from these cities and kept them for themselves. But they put every person to death; no one was left alive.

The territory extended from Mount Halak in the south near Edom, as far as Baalgad in the north, in the valley of Lebanon south of Mount Hermon. Joshua was at war with the kings of this territory for a long time, but he captured them all and put them to death.

Joshua captured the whole land, as the Lord had commanded Moses. Joshua gave it to the Israelites as their own and divided it into portions, one for each tribe. So the people rested from war.

Now then, divide this land among the other nine tribes and half of the tribe of Manasseh, for them to possess as their own."

It included all the cities of the plateau and the whole kingdom of the Amorite king Sihon, who had ruled at Heshbon. Moses defeated him, as well as the rulers of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. All of them had ruled the land for King Sihon.

Moses had already assigned the land east of the Jordan to the other two and one-half tribes. (The descendants of Joseph were divided into two tribes: Manasseh and Ephraim.) However, Moses gave the Levites no portion of the territory. Instead, they received cities to live in, with fields for their cattle and flocks.

and am just as strong today as I was when Moses sent me out. I am still strong enough for war or for anything else.

On the wedding day Othniel urged her to ask her father for a field. She got down from her donkey, and Caleb asked her what she wanted.

Even when the Israelites became stronger, they did not drive out all the Canaanites, but they did force them to work for them.

Joshua answered, "If there are so many of you and the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, then go into the forests and clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim."