Deuteronomy 1:41-44

Unsuccessful Conquest of Canaan

1:41 Then you responded to me and admitted, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will now go up and fight as the Lord our God has told us to do.” So you each put on your battle gear and prepared to go up to the hill country. 1:42 But the Lord told me: “Tell them this: ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you and you will be defeated by your enemies.’” 1:43 I spoke to you, but you did not listen. Instead you rebelled against the Lord ¹  and recklessly went up to the hill country. 1:44 The Amorite inhabitants of that area ²  confronted ³  you and chased you like a swarm of bees, striking you down from Seir as far as Hormah. ⁴ 

Joshua 17:16-18

17:16 The descendants of Joseph said, “The whole hill country ⁵  is inadequate for us, and the Canaanites living down in the valley in Beth Shean and its surrounding towns and in the Valley of Jezreel have chariots with iron-rimmed wheels.” ⁶  17:17 Joshua said to the family ⁷  of Joseph – to both Ephraim and Manasseh: “You have many people and great military strength. You will not have just one tribal allotment. 17:18 The whole hill country ⁸  will be yours; though it is a forest, you can clear it and it will be entirely yours. ⁹  You can conquer the Canaanites, though they have chariots with iron-rimmed wheels and are strong.”

Joshua 17:1

17:1 The tribe of Manasseh, Joseph’s firstborn son, was also allotted land. ¹⁰  The descendants of Makir, Manasseh’s firstborn and the father of Gilead, received land, for they were warriors. ¹¹  They were assigned Gilead and Bashan. ¹² 

Joshua 4:10

4:10 Now the priests carrying the ark of the covenant were standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people was accomplished, in accordance with all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people went across quickly,

Joshua 1:1

The Lord Commissions Joshua

1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:

¹ tn Heb “the mouth of the Lord.” See note at 1:26.

² tn Heb “in that hill country,” repeating the end of v. 43.

³ tn Heb “came out to meet.”

⁴ sn Hormah is probably Khirbet el-Meshash, 5.5 mi (9 km) west of Arad and 7.5 mi (12 km) SE of Beer Sheba. Its name is a derivative of the verb חָרָם (kharam, “to ban; to exterminate”). See Num 21:3.

⁵ tn The Hebrew text has simply “the hill country,” which must here include the hill country of Ephraim and the forest regions mentioned in v. 15.

⁶ tn Heb “and there are iron chariots among all the Canaanites who live in the land of the valley, to those who are in Beth Shean and its daughters and to those who are in the Valley of Jezreel.” Regarding the translation “chariots with iron-rimmed wheels” see Y. Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands, 255 and R. Drews, “The ‘Chariots of Iron’ of Joshua and Judges,” JSOT 45 (1989): 15-23.

⁷ tn Heb “house.”

⁸ tn The Hebrew text has simply “the hill country,” which must here include the hill country of Ephraim and the forest regions mentioned in v. 15.

⁹ tn Heb “and its limits will be yours.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and the lot belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph.”

¹¹ tn Heb “to Makir, the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, for he was a man of war.”

¹² tn Heb “Gilead and Bashan belonged to him.”