Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel.

Then he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. You will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

“The following tribes must stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

The Lord will greatly multiply your children, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he promised your ancestors he would give you.

The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils – from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger all about?”

Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you.

But I will certainly hide myself at that time because of all the wickedness they will have done by turning to other gods.

He enabled him to travel over the high terrain of the land, and he ate of the produce of the fields. He provided honey for him from the cliffs, and olive oil from the hardest of rocks,

Of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Urim belong to your godly one, whose authority you challenged at Massah, and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah.

Meanwhile the king’s men tried to find them on the road to the Jordan River near the fords. The city gate was shut as soon as they set out in pursuit of them.

There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a duplicate of the law written by Moses.

The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. The whole community criticized the leaders,

We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.”

These kings came out with their armies; they were as numerous as the sand on the seashore and had a large number of horses and chariots.

Joshua and his whole army caught them by surprise at the Waters of Merom and attacked them.

But Israel did not burn any of the cities located on mounds, except for Hazor; it was the only one Joshua burned.

Their territory started from Aroer (on the edge of the Arnon Valley), included the city in the middle of the valley, the whole plain of Medeba as far as Dibon,

Their territory included Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half of Ammonite territory as far as Aroer near Rabbah.