You must dispossess the inhabitants of the land and live in it, for I have given you the land to possess it.

When Joshua dismissed the people, the Israelites went to their allotted portions of territory, intending to take possession of the land.

You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky. You brought them to the land you had told their ancestors to enter in order to possess.

Rely on the Lord! Obey his commands! Then he will permit you to possess the land; you will see the demise of evil men.

You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly.

The Lord said to me, “Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession.”

Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications.

For you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess and inhabit it.

When the Lord your God eliminates the nations from the place where you are headed and you dispossess them, you will settle down in their land.

and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I assigned Mount Seir, while Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

I brought you up from the land of Egypt; I led you through the wilderness for forty years so you could take the Amorites’ land as your own.

Look, I am about to empower the Babylonians, that ruthless and greedy nation. They sweep across the surface of the earth, seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them.

So I have said to you: You yourselves will possess their land and I myself will give it to you for a possession, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God who has set you apart from the other peoples.

Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you.

It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

“Go through the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your supplies, for within three days you will cross the Jordan River and begin the conquest of the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to you.’”

So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long do you intend to put off occupying the land the Lord God of your ancestors has given you?

They said, “Come on, let’s attack them, for we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic, but don’t hesitate to invade and conquer the land.

You provided bread from heaven for them in their time of hunger, and you brought forth water from the rock for them in their time of thirst. You told them to enter in order to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.