Study Desk

Then ^(C1)Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates River, namely, ^(C1)Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.

'Then ^(C1)I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and ^(C2)multiplied his ^(F1)descendants and gave him ^(C3)Isaac.

'To Isaac I gave ^(C1)Jacob and Esau, and ^(C2)to Esau I gave Mount Seir, to possess it; but ^(C3)Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

'Then ^(C1)I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt ^(F1)by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out.

'So I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ^(C1)you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the ^(F1)Red Sea.

'But when they cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And ^(C1)you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

'Then ^(C1)I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; but I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land when I eliminated them before you.

'Then ^(C1)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel, and he sent messengers and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.

'But I ^(C1)was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I saved you from his hand.

'^(C1)You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and ^(C2)the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Therefore ^(C3)I handed them over to you.

'Then I ^(C1)sent the hornet before you and it ^(F1)drove out the two kings of the Amorites from you—^(C2)not by your sword nor your bow.

'And ^(C1)I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.'