Joshua

No. 1 Joshua 15:42-47
The book of Joshua picks up after the exodus and the forty years in the desert. Israel finally crosses into the land God had promised Abraham, and Joshua, Moses's successor, leads them in. Once the fighting...
No. 34 Joshua 19:32-39
The book of Joshua ends by dividing the land among the tribes, one allotment at a time. This is the sixth lot, drawn for Naphtali, in the north around the Sea of Galilee, which the text calls Chinnereth. The...
No. 50 Joshua 23:1-5
The book of Joshua has moved from crossing the Jordan, through the fighting, to the long division of the land among the tribes. Now Joshua is old, the wars are over, and he calls Israel's leaders together to...
No. 89 Joshua 6:20-27
Israel has crossed the Jordan, and Jericho is the first city in its path. For six days the army has circled the walls in silence, once a day, with priests and the ark. On the seventh day they circle seven...
No. 138 Joshua 21:34-40
The tribes have received their allotments, and one tribe has not. Levi, set apart for the sanctuary, gets no territory of its own. Instead the other tribes give up towns from inside their own borders, and this...
No. 264 Joshua 3:1-5
Israel is camped on the bank of the Jordan, about to cross into the land after forty years of waiting. This passage is the pause right before, the instructions given while the whole nation stands at the...
No. 284 Joshua 9:7-13
This passage is the con at the heart of the Gibeonite story. The Gibeonites are a local Canaanite people, close neighbors of Israel, and they are terrified of being destroyed like the cities before them. So...
No. 296 Joshua 22:21-25
Israel has come to the brink of civil war over a misunderstanding, and this passage is the moment the misunderstanding is finally explained. The two and a half tribes who settled east of the Jordan had built a...
No. 428 Joshua 8:1-8
This is Israel's second attempt on the city of Ai, and that is the whole point. The first attempt had been a humiliating disaster. They had marched up confidently, been routed, lost men, and fled, and the...
No. 429 Joshua 7:1-9
This is the account of Israel's stunning defeat at the small city of Ai, and it comes right after the miraculous victory at Jericho, which makes it all the more jarring. There was hidden sin in the camp, a man...
No. 446 Joshua 2:14-24
This is the resolution of the Rahab story. Rahab, a prostitute living in the wall of Jericho, has hidden the two Israelite spies from the king's men, because she has come to believe that their God is the true...
No. 538 Joshua 18:1-7
Israel has entered the promised land, the major campaigns are over, and the text says plainly that the land was subdued before them. The great obstacle is gone. And yet seven of the tribes have still not gone...
No. 590 Joshua 19:40-51
The long work of dividing the promised land among the tribes is finally finished, tribe by tribe, lot by lot, down to the last territory for Dan. And then, at the very end, comes a small detail that says a...
No. 596 Joshua 7:16-21
Israel has just been defeated at Ai because someone violated God's command and took plunder that was devoted to destruction. Joshua narrows the search by lot, tribe by tribe, family by family, until it falls...
No. 693 Joshua 19:10-16
The book of Joshua spends chapter after chapter deeding out the land, tribe by tribe, in the form of boundary lines and town lists. This is the third lot, drawn for Zebulun, a small tribe in the low hills of...
No. 711 Joshua 17:1-12
This is Manasseh's share of the land, and two very different things happen in it. The tribe descends from Joseph's firstborn, and part of it had already taken Gilead and Bashan east of the Jordan. As the...
No. 723 Joshua 8:30-35
With Jericho and Ai behind them, Joshua stops the campaign to do something Moses had commanded long before. On Mount Ebal he builds an altar of uncut stones, stones no iron tool has touched, offers sacrifices,...
No. 778 Joshua 10:1-6
In the chapter before this, the Gibeonites had tricked Joshua into a peace treaty, pretending to be travelers from far away when they were really neighbors. Now that deception has consequences none of them saw...
No. 829 Joshua 24:14-18
At the very end of his life, Joshua gathers all Israel at Shechem for one last charge, and he will not let them stay comfortably undecided. Fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and truth, he says, and put...
No. 841 Joshua 19:1-9
When the land is divided among the tribes, Simeon draws the second lot, and something unusual happens with it. Simeon does not get a territory of its own on the edges of the map. Its inheritance falls right in...
No. 903 Joshua 21:1-16
The land has been divided among the tribes, and now the Levites come forward. They have no territory of their own, so under the command God gave through Moses, the other tribes give them cities to live in with...
No. 994 Joshua 4:20-24
Israel has just crossed the Jordan on dry ground, and Joshua sets up twelve stones taken from the riverbed at Gilgal. He explains their purpose. In time to come, when your children ask, what do these stones...
No. 1034 Joshua 4:1-7
The whole nation has crossed the Jordan on dry ground, and God's first instruction is to build a memorial. Take twelve men, one from each tribe, and have each of them lift a stone from the middle of the...
No. 1052 Joshua 15:48-54
This is part of the long allotment of the tribe of Judah, a list of towns in the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, Dannah, and on through eleven cities here and nine there, each with its surrounding...
No. 1065 Joshua 11:6-14
This is one of the hardest kinds of passage in scripture, the conquest of Canaan. God tells Joshua not to fear the coalition of northern kings, promising to deliver them, and instructs him to hamstring their...
No. 1089 Joshua 21:17-26
This continues the list of towns given to the Levites, scattered among the other tribes. Among the priestly cities from Benjamin is Anathoth; among the cities of the Kohathites from Ephraim is Shechem, a city...
No. 1216 Joshua 24:8-13
Near the end of his life, Joshua rehearses for Israel everything God has done. In this section, God speaks in the first person: I brought you into the land, I gave your enemies into your hand, I would not...
No. 1227 Joshua 4:8-14
As Israel crosses the Jordan on dry ground, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stand in the middle of the riverbed, and the text stresses that they stood firm there until everything was finished,...
No. 1253 Joshua 14:6-15
As the land is being divided, old Caleb comes to Joshua with a claim. He recalls how, forty-five years earlier, he and Joshua were sent to spy out the land, and while the other ten spies made the people's...
No. 1267 Joshua 7:22-26
Israel has been defeated at Ai, and God has revealed that the cause is hidden sin: someone has taken the devoted things from Jericho, which were to be destroyed. The lot falls on Achan, who confesses that he...
No. 1274 Joshua 21:41-45
With the land divided and the Levite cities assigned, the account pauses for a summary of overwhelming faithfulness. The LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their fathers; they took possession...
No. 1349 Joshua 10:12-17
In the middle of a great battle, as the LORD is delivering the Amorites into Israel's hand, Joshua does something astonishing. He speaks to the LORD, and then, in the sight of all Israel, he addresses the sun...
No. 1369 Joshua 23:12-16
Joshua, near the end of his life, gathers Israel for a final charge. He warns them plainly: if you turn back and cling to the remaining nations, intermarrying and mingling with them, they will become a snare...
No. 1412 Joshua 2:1-13
Joshua sends two spies into Jericho, and they lodge in the house of Rahab, a prostitute. When the king's men come demanding she hand them over, Rahab hides the spies under the flax on her roof and sends the...
No. 1640 Joshua 16:1-10
This passage records the inheritance given to the tribe of Ephraim, the descendants of Joseph, marking out its borders through the hill country. And it ends with a telling admission: they did not drive out the...
No. 1662 Joshua 24:24-28
The people have declared to Joshua, we will serve the LORD our God, and we will obey his voice. Joshua makes a covenant with them that day and records the words in the book of the law of God. Then he takes a...
No. 1725 Joshua 13:17-22
This passage lists the towns of the inheritance given to Reuben, the cities of the plain that had belonged to Sihon king of the Amorites, whom Israel defeated. And among the record of the fallen, one name...
No. 1764 Joshua 13:1-16
Joshua has grown old, and God speaks plainly to him: you are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed. God lists the regions still unconquered, the Philistine...
No. 1847 Joshua 10:28-33
This passage records Joshua's campaign against the southern cities of Canaan, one after another, Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, and the king of Gezer who came to help. City by city, the account tells of conquest...
No. 1848 Joshua 11:15-23
As Joshua's long campaign of conquest comes to its end, the account gives him a striking commendation: as the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing...
No. 1860 Joshua 12:17-24
This passage is a list, the roll of the kings Joshua and Israel defeated in taking the land: the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; the king of Aphek, the king of Madon, the king of Hazor, of...
No. 1895 Joshua 15:33-41
This passage is a list of towns in the lowland country given to the tribe of Judah: Eshtaol, Zorah, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, Lachish, Makkedah, and many more, counted out in groups with their villages. It is a...
No. 1906 Joshua 19:17-23
As the land is divided among the tribes, the fourth lot falls to Issachar. The passage lists the towns of its inheritance, Jezreel, Shunem, and the rest, sixteen cities with their villages, reaching to Mount...
No. 1947 Joshua 9:14-21
Deceived by the Gibeonites, who pretended to be travelers from a distant land, the leaders of Israel make a covenant with them and swear by the LORD to let them live, without asking counsel from God. Three...
No. 2034 Joshua 10:18-22
In the heat of the battle, five enemy kings flee and hide in a cave. Joshua orders large stones rolled over the cave's mouth and guards set, but he gives a pointed command: do not stay there. Pursue your...
No. 2071 Joshua 21:27-33
As the land is divided among the tribes, the Levites receive their portion, and it is unlike the others. They are given no territory of their own, but cities scattered throughout the tribes, with their...
No. 2157 Joshua 8:24-29
Israel takes the city of Ai and destroys it. But this victory came only on the second attempt. The first time Israel went up against Ai, they were defeated and fled, though the city was small and they were...
No. 2244 Joshua 13:23-28
As the land is divided among the tribes, Reuben and Gad receive their inheritance east of the Jordan, in the territory that had belonged to Sihon and Og. This land they had asked for, back in the wilderness,...
No. 2269 Joshua 6:1-5
As Israel faces the fortified city of Jericho, God gives Joshua a plan that makes no military sense. The army is to march around the city once a day for six days, with seven priests blowing trumpets before the...
No. 2304 Joshua 12:12-16
The book of Joshua pauses to record a roll of the kings Israel defeated in taking the land: the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; the king of Debir, one; the king of Hormah, one; and on the list...
No. 2373 Joshua 23:6-11
Joshua, near the end of his life, gathers Israel for a charge. Be very courageous, he says, to keep everything written in the law, and do not turn from it to the right hand or the left. Do not mix with the...
No. 2400 Joshua 13:29-33
Joshua's land-distribution reaches the half-tribe of Manasseh east of the Jordan, sixty cities in Bashan, the old kingdom of Og. Then a single verse breaks the pattern: to the tribe of Levi, Moses gave no...
No. 2420 Joshua 15:55-63
The long survey of Judah's towns runs on, village after village through the hill country and the wilderness, down to En Gedi by the Salt Sea. Then the chapter ends on a confession: as for the Jebusites who...
No. 2468 Joshua 17:13-18
The tribes of Joseph come to Joshua with a complaint: you gave us only one portion, and we are a large people. Joshua's answer is not more land handed over, but a challenge: if you are so numerous, go up into...
No. 2543 Joshua 11:1-5
When the northern kings hear that Israel is winning, they band together. Jabin of Hazor summons king after king, and they pour out a combined army described as many as the sand on the seashore, with a great...
No. 2733 Joshua 22:26-34
The tribes settling east of the Jordan built a large altar by the river, and the western tribes, fearing idolatry, gathered for war before anyone had asked a single question. Here the eastern tribes finally...
No. 2815 Joshua 20:1-9
God tells Joshua to set apart the cities of refuge that Moses had commanded, places where a person who killed another accidentally could flee from the avenger of blood. The manslayer runs to the city, states...
No. 2848 Joshua 1:6-11
God commissions Joshua after the death of Moses, and three times over presses the same charge: be strong and courageous. Keep the whole law and do not turn from it. Let this book of the law not depart from...
No. 2876 Joshua 3:6-17
Israel is to cross the Jordan at flood stage, and the priests carrying the ark go first, straight toward the water. God tells Joshua, today I will begin to magnify you, that they may know I am with you as I...
No. 2965 Joshua 6:15-19
On the seventh day Israel marches around Jericho seven times, the priests blow the trumpets, and Joshua tells the people to shout, for the LORD has given them the city. The city is devoted to destruction, but...
No. 2994 Joshua 6:6-14
The plan for taking Jericho is strange. Seven priests with rams'-horn trumpets go before the ark, armed men before and behind, and the whole company marches once around the city, the trumpets sounding but the...
No. 3079 Joshua 5:9-15
At Gilgal the LORD says he has rolled away the reproach of Egypt, and Israel keeps the Passover and eats the produce of the land. The very next day the manna stops, for now they eat the fruit of Canaan. Then,...
No. 3120 Joshua 8:18-23
The LORD tells Joshua to stretch out the javelin in his hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand. As he does, the ambush he has set springs up, rushes into the city, and sets it on fire. The men of...
No. 3215 Joshua 22:1-5
With the conquest done, Joshua summons the eastern tribes, Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh, and sends them home with high praise: you have kept all that Moses commanded, and have not deserted your brothers...
No. 3236 Joshua 5:1-8
When the kings of Canaan hear how the LORD dried up the Jordan before Israel, their hearts melt with fear. And at that very moment, God gives Joshua a surprising command: make flint knives and circumcise the...
No. 3249 Joshua 14:1-5
The land of Canaan is divided among the tribes by lot, as the LORD commanded through Moses, each tribe receiving its inheritance. But one tribe receives no territory at all: the Levites are given no portion of...
No. 3262 Joshua 24:19-23
At the covenant renewal, when the people eagerly promise to serve the LORD, Joshua does a surprising thing: he pushes back. You cannot serve the LORD, he says, for he is a holy God, a jealous God, who will not...
No. 3292 Joshua 4:15-19
At the LORD's command, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant step up out of the Jordan riverbed, and the moment their feet reach dry ground, the waters that had stood piled up come rushing back and...
No. 3306 Joshua 1:12-18
The eastern tribes, Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh, had already received their land beyond the Jordan. Joshua now holds them to the promise they made through Moses: leave your families and flocks safe here,...
No. 3316 Joshua 15:13-18
Caleb, now old, still takes his mountain and drives out the giants, the sons of Anak, claiming the inheritance God had promised him. Then his daughter Achsah shows initiative of her own: given in marriage to...
No. 3355 Joshua 10:7-11
Joshua marches his army all night from Gilgal to relieve the besieged town of Gibeon, and the LORD says to him, do not fear them, for I have given them into your hand. And the victory, when it comes, is...
No. 3384 Joshua 15:19-32
After Achsah's request for springs of water is granted, the chapter settles into a long list of the cities of Judah's inheritance, town after town named in order. To us it reads as a dry catalog of unfamiliar...
No. 3539 Joshua 22:6-20
When the eastern tribes build a large altar by the Jordan on their way home, the rest of Israel jumps to a fearful conclusion, that their brothers are rebelling against God, and they gather for war. But before...
No. 3565 Joshua 12:1-6
This is a record of the kings Israel defeated and the lands they took, beginning with Sihon and Og, the formidable kings east of the Jordan conquered under Moses. It reads like a victory ledger, a summary of...
No. 3633 Joshua 12:7-11
This continues the record of the kings Israel defeated, now those west of the Jordan under Joshua, listed one by one: the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; and on through...
No. 3660 Joshua 19:24-31
This passage records the inheritance allotted to the tribe of Asher, its borders and its cities, town by town. Like the other tribal allotments, it might seem a dry list, but it represents a promise fulfilled.
No. 3669 Joshua 15:1-12
This describes in careful detail the borders of the tribe of Judah's inheritance, a large portion of the land, traced from the south all the way to the sea. To us it reads as a dry survey of boundaries, but to...
No. 3723 Joshua 9:1-6
As the kings of Canaan gather to fight Israel, the people of Gibeon take a different, cunning approach. They disguise themselves as travelers from a distant land, with worn-out sacks, patched sandals, and dry,...
No. 3816 Joshua 8:9-17
After Israel's earlier defeat at Ai, caused by hidden sin in the camp, the people have dealt with the sin and now return to take the city, this time following God's plan for an ambush. Joshua sets a hidden...
No. 3885 Joshua 9:22-27
When Joshua discovers that the Gibeonites deceived Israel into a treaty by pretending to come from a far country, he confronts them, and though they gained the covenant by a lie, Joshua does not break it....
No. 3980 Joshua 24:1-7
Near the end of his life, Joshua gathers all Israel and, before calling them to renew their commitment to God, does something significant: he recounts the whole story of God's faithfulness to them. Speaking in...
No. 4001 Joshua 10:34-43
This is one of the hard passages of the conquest, recording in stark terms the destruction of the Canaanite cities as Israel took the land. We read it soberly, across a great distance of time and...
No. 4111 Joshua 10:23-27
After a decisive victory, Joshua has the five defeated kings brought before him and tells his commanders to put their feet on the kings' necks, an ancient sign of complete victory. And he uses the moment to...
No. 4164 Joshua 18:24-28
This passage lists the cities given to the tribe of Benjamin as their inheritance, and among them, easy to miss, is a striking entry: the Jebusite city, that is, Jerusalem. The city that would one day be the...
No. 4189 Joshua 7:10-15
After Israel's shocking defeat at Ai, Joshua lies before God in dismay, and God tells him plainly why: Israel has sinned; someone has taken what was devoted to destruction and hidden it, and until that sin is...
No. 4213 Joshua 24:29-33
The book of Joshua closes with the death of Joshua, and with a telling summary of his influence: Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived him, who had known...
No. 4250 Joshua 18:8-23
As the land of Canaan is divided among the tribes, Joshua does not simply parcel it out by his own judgment. The land is surveyed, described in a book, and then the portions are assigned by casting lots before...
No. 4288 Joshua 1:1-5
Moses is dead, and the enormous task of leading Israel into the promised land now falls to Joshua. It is a daunting assignment, following Moses and facing fortified enemies. And into this moment God speaks the...