for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses. ¹ 

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. ¹ 

One of you makes a thousand run away, ¹  for the Lord your God fights for you ²  as he promised you he would. ³ 

One time Acsah ¹  came and charmed her father ²  so that she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”

We swear we have done this because we were worried that ¹  in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel? ² 

Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. ¹  For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, ²  a land rich in ³  milk and honey.

They said to Joshua, “It was carefully reported to your subjects ¹  how the Lord your God commanded Moses his servant to assign you the whole land and to destroy all who live in the land from before you. Because of you we were terrified ²  we would lose our lives, so we did this thing.

I refused to respond to Balaam; he kept ¹  prophesying good things about ²  you, and I rescued you from his power. ³ 

Joshua prayed, ¹  “O, Master, Lord! Why did you bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us?

and that day made them woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the Lord at the divinely chosen site. (They continue in that capacity to this very day.) ¹ 

But the men ¹  of Manasseh were unable to conquer these cities; the Canaanites managed ²  to remain in those areas.

Not one of the Lord’s faithful promises to the family of Israel ¹  was left unfulfilled; every one was realized. ² 

The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the Lord so we can ¹  worship ²  other gods!

We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.” ¹ 

So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had solemnly promised to their ancestors, ¹  and they conquered ²  it and lived in it.

The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.’ ¹  In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying ²  the Lord.

If you have no desire ¹  to worship ²  the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, ³  whether it be the gods whom your ancestors ⁴  worshiped ⁵  beyond the Euphrates, ⁶  or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family ⁷  will worship ⁸  the Lord!”