When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son.

Now the leader of the clan of the Gershonites was Eliasaph son of Lael.

Those numbered from the Gershonites, by their families and by their clans,

those of them numbered by their families, by their clans, were 2,630.

Ahi son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was the leader of the family.

Jeuz, Sakia, and Mirmah. These were his sons; they were family leaders.

Jehoiada chose two wives for him who gave him sons and daughters.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son

For there are three that testify,

The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

(for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.

Moreover, because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power

However, only to your ancestors did he show his loving favor, and he chose you, their descendants, from all peoples – as is apparent today.

When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them.

So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had solemnly promised to their ancestors, and they conquered it and lived in it.

That entire generation passed away; a new generation grew up that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel.

The Lord was furious with Israel. He said, “This nation has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors by disobeying me.

Joshua left those nations to test Israel. I wanted to see whether or not the people would carefully walk in the path marked out by the Lord, as their ancestors were careful to do.”

They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses.