Holman Christian Standard Bible (74 page)

16
 The people replied, “We will certainly not abandon the
Lord
to worship other gods!
17
 For the
Lord
our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us all along the way we went and among all the peoples whose lands we traveled through.
18
 The
Lord
drove out before us all the peoples, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will worship the
Lord
, because He is our God.”

19
 But Joshua told the people, “You will not be able to worship Yahweh, because He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not remove your transgressions and sins. 
20
 If you abandon the
Lord
and worship foreign gods, He will turn against you, harm you, and completely destroy you, after He has been good to you.”

21
 “No! ” the people answered Joshua. “We will worship the
Lord
.”

22
 Joshua then told the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you yourselves have chosen to worship Yahweh.”

“We are witnesses,” they said.

23
 “Then get rid of the foreign gods that are among you and offer your hearts to the
Lord
, the God of Israel.”

24
 So the people said to Joshua, “We will worship the
Lord
our God and obey Him.”

25
 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people at Shechem and established a statute and ordinance for them.
26
 Joshua recorded these things in the book of the law of God; he also took a large stone and set it up there under the oak next to the sanctuary of the
Lord
.
27
 And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone — it will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the
Lord
said to us, and it will be a witness against you, so that you will not deny your God.”
28
 Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

Burial of Three Leaders

29
 After these things, the
Lord
's servant, Joshua son of Nun, died at the age of 110.
30
 They buried him in his allotted territory at Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.
31
 Israel worshiped Yahweh throughout Joshua's lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua and who had experienced all the works Yahweh had done for Israel.

32
 Joseph's bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the parcel of land Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for 100
qesitahs
. It was an inheritance for Joseph's descendants.

33
 And Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

Judges

Judges

Judah's Leadership against the Canaanites

1
After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the
Lord
, “Who will be the first to fight for us against the Canaanites? ”

2
 The
Lord
answered, “Judah is to go. I have handed the land over to him.” 

3
 Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Come with me to my territory, and let us fight against the Canaanites. I will also go with you to your territory.” So Simeon went with him.

4
 When Judah attacked, the
Lord
handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They struck down 10,000 men in Bezek. 
5
 They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek, fought against him, and struck down the Canaanites and Perizzites.

6
 When Adoni-bezek fled, they pursued him, seized him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 
7
 Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I have done.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8
 The men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.
9
 Afterward, the men of Judah marched down to fight against the Canaanites who were living in the hill country, the
•Negev
, and the Judean foothills. 
10
 Judah also marched against the Canaanites who were living in Hebron (Hebron was formerly named Kiriath-arba ). They struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. 
11
 From there they marched against the residents of Debir (Debir was formerly named Kiriath-sepher).

12
 Caleb said, “Whoever strikes down and captures Kiriath-sepher, I will give my daughter Achsah to him as a wife.”
13
 So Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's youngest brother, captured it, and Caleb gave his daughter Achsah to him as his wife.

14
 When she arrived, she persuaded Othniel to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want? ”
15
 She answered him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me springs of water also.” So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs.

16
 The descendants of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, had gone up with the men of Judah from the City of Palms to the Wilderness of Judah, which was in the Negev of Arad. They went to live among the people.

17
 Judah went with his brother Simeon, struck the Canaanites who were living in Zephath, and
•completely
destroyed the town. So they named the town Hormah. 
18
 Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory. 
19
 The
Lord
was with Judah and enabled them to take possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the people who were living in the valley because those people had iron chariots.

20
 Judah gave Hebron to Caleb, just as Moses had promised. Then Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak who lived there. 

Benjamin's Failure

21
 At the same time the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites have lived among the Benjaminites in Jerusalem to this day. 

Success of the House of Joseph

22
 The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel, and the
Lord
was with them.
23
 They sent spies to Bethel (the town was formerly named Luz ).
24
 The spies saw a man coming out of the town and said to him, “Please show us how to get into town, and we will treat you well.” 
25
 When he showed them the way into the town, they put the town to the sword but released the man and his entire family.
26
 Then the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a town, and named it Luz. That is its name to this day.

Failure of the Other Tribes

27
 At that time Manasseh failed to take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the residents of Dor and its villages, or the residents of Ibleam and its villages, or the residents of Megiddo and its villages; the Canaanites refused to leave this land. 
28
 When Israel became stronger, they made the Canaanites serve as forced labor but never drove them out completely. 

29
 At that time Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived among them in Gezer.

30
 Zebulun failed to drive out the residents of Kitron or the residents of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced labor.

31
 Asher failed to drive out the residents of Acco or of Sidon, or Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob.
32
 The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, because they failed to drive them out.

33
 Naphtali did not drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh or the residents of Beth-anath. They lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, but the residents of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served as their forced labor.

34
 The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to go down into the valley.
35
 The Amorites refused to leave Har-heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. When the house of Joseph got the upper hand, the Amorites were made to serve as forced labor.
36
 The territory of the Amorites extended from the Ascent of Akrabbim, that is from Sela upward.

Judges

Pattern of Sin and Judgment

2
The Angel of the
Lord
 went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your fathers. I also said: I will never break My covenant with you.
2
 You are not to make a covenant with the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done?
3
 Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap for you.” 
4
 When the Angel of the
Lord
had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.
5
 So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the
Lord
.

Joshua's Death

6
 Joshua sent the people away, and the Israelites went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. 
7
 The people worshiped the
Lord
throughout Joshua's lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the
Lord
's great works He had done for Israel.

8
 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the
Lord
, died at the age of 110.
9
 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10
 That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the
Lord
 or the works He had done for Israel.

11
 The Israelites did what was evil in the
Lord
's sight. They worshiped the
•Baals
 
12
 and abandoned the
Lord
, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They infuriated the
Lord
, 
13
 for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the
•Ashtoreths
. 

14
 The
Lord
's anger burned against Israel, and He handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies.
15
 Whenever the Israelites went out, the
Lord
 was against them and brought disaster on them, just as He had promised and sworn to them. So they suffered greatly.

16
 The
Lord
raised up judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders,
17
 but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the
Lord
's commands. They did not do as their fathers did.
18
 Whenever the
Lord
raised up a judge for the Israelites, the
Lord
was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The
Lord
was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them.
19
 Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their fathers, going after other gods to worship and bow down to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate ways.

20
 The
Lord
's anger burned against Israel, and He declared, “Because this nation has violated My covenant that I made with their fathers and disobeyed Me,
21
 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 
22
 I did this to test Israel and to see whether they would keep the
Lord
's way by walking in it, as their fathers had.” 
23
 The
Lord
left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.

Judges

The
Lord
Tests Israel

3
These are the nations the
Lord
left in order to test Israel, since the Israelites had fought none of these in any of the wars with Canaan. 
2
 This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before. 
3
 These nations included: the five rulers of the Philistines and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath. 
4
 The
Lord
left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the
Lord
's commands He had given their fathers through Moses. 
5
 But they settled among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
6
 The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.