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Daily Bible Reading
March 14 - Straight Thru the Bible
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Joshua 24
Chapter 24
Joshua Reviews Israel's History
1 Then (C1)Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officers; and they presented themselves before God.2 Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates River, namely, (C1)Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.3 'Then (C1)I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and (C2)multiplied his (F1)descendants and gave him (C3)Isaac.4 'To Isaac I gave (C1)Jacob and Esau, and (C2)to Esau I gave Mount Seir, to possess it; but (C3)Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.5 'Then (C1)I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt (F1)by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out.6 'So I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and (C1)you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the (F1)Red Sea.7 'But when they cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And (C1)you lived in the wilderness for a long time.8 'Then (C1)I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; but I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land when I eliminated them before you.9 'Then (C1)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel, and he sent messengers and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.10 'But I (C1)was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I saved you from his hand.11 '(C1)You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and (C2)the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Therefore (C3)I handed them over to you.12 'Then I (C1)sent the hornet before you and it (F1)drove out the two kings of the Amorites from you—(C2)not by your sword nor your bow.13 'And (C1)I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.'
"We Will Serve the LORD"
14 "Now, therefore, (F1)(C1)fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and (F2)truth; and do away with the gods which your fathers served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.15 "But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or (C1)the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
16 The people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we would abandon the LORD to serve other gods;17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and did these great signs in our sight and watched over us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.18 "The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."
19 Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, (C1)for He is a holy God. He is (C2)a jealous God; (C3)He will not forgive your wrongdoing or your sins.20 "(C1)If you abandon the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and destroy you after He has done good to you."21 And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD."22 So Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that (C1)you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses."23 "Now then, do away with the foreign gods which are in your midst, and (C1)incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."24 And (C1)the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and (F1)obey His voice."25 (C1)So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.26 And Joshua (C1)wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.27 Then Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, (C1)this stone shall be a witness against us, because it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke (F1)to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God."28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.
Joshua's Death and Burial
29 Now it came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being 110 years old.30 And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in (C1)Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.
31 (C1)Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who (F1)survived Joshua, and had known every deed of the LORD which He had done for Israel.
32 Now (C1)they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land (C2)which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred (F1)pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph's sons.33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of his son (C1)Phinehas, which was given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.
Judges 1-2
Chapter 1
Jerusalem Is Captured
1 Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel (C1)inquired of the LORD, saying, "Who shall go up first for us (C2)against the Canaanites, to fight against them?"2 The LORD said, "(C1)Judah shall go up; behold, I have handed the land over to him."3 Then Judah said to his brother Simeon, "Go up with me into (F1)the territory allotted me, and let's fight the Canaanites; and (F2)I in turn will go with you into (F3)the territory allotted you." So Simeon went with him.4 Judah went up, and (C1)the LORD handed over to them the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and they (F1)defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.5 They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they (F1)defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him, and cut off his (F1)thumbs and big toes.7 And Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; (C1)as I have done, so God has repaid me." So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8 Then the sons of Judah fought against (C1)Jerusalem and captured it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.9 Afterward, the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, and in the (F1)Negev, and in the lowland.10 (C1)So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (the name of Hebron was previously Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
Capture of Other Cities
11 Then (C1)from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (the name of Debir was previously Kiriath-sepher).12 And Caleb said, "Whoever attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him my daughter Achsah as a wife."13 Now (C1)Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as a wife.14 Then (C1)it happened that when she came to him, she incited him to ask her father for a field. Then later, she dismounted from (F1)her donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What (F2)do you want?"15 She said to him, "Give me a blessing: since you have given me the land of the (F1)Negev, give me springs of water also." So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
16 Now the (F1)descendants of (C1)the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the (C2)city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of (C3)Arad; and they went and lived with the people.17 Then Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called (C1)Hormah.18 And Judah took (C1)Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.19 Now the LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not (F1)drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had (C1)iron chariots.20 Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, (C1)as Moses had (F1)promised; and he drove out from there (C2)the three sons of Anak.21 (C1)But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the (C2)Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
22 Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.23 The house of Joseph had men spy out Bethel ((C1)the name of the city previously was Luz).24 And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, "Please show us the entrance to the city, and (C1)we will treat you kindly."25 So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, (C1)but they let the man and all his family go free.26 Then the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city, and named it Luz, (F1)which is its name to this day.
Places Not Conquered
27 (C1)But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so (C2)the Canaanites persisted in living in this land.28 And it came about, when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor; but they did not drive them out completely.
29 And (C1)Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of (F1)Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.
31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or of Rehob.32 So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.
34 Then the Amorites (F1)forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley;35 yet the Amorites persisted in living on Mount Heres, in Aijalon and Shaalbim; but when the (F1)power of the house of Joseph (F2)grew strong, they became forced labor.36 The border of the Amorites ran from the (C1)ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
Chapter 2
Israel Rebuked
1 Now (C1)the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to (C2)Bochim. And he said, "(C3)I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, '(C4)I will never break My covenant with you,2 and as for you, (C1)you shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; (C2)you shall tear down their altars.' But you have not (F1)obeyed Me; what is this thing that you have done?3 "Therefore I also said, '(C1)I will not drive them out from you; but they will (F1)become (C2)like thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.'"4 Now when the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people raised their voices and wept.5 So they named that place (F1)Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the LORD.
Joshua Dies
6 (C1)When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went, each one to his inheritance, to take possession of the land.7 The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who (F1)survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel.8 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110.9 And they buried him in the territory of (C1)his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.10 All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who (C1)did not know the LORD, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.
Israel Serves the Baals
11 Then the sons of Israel did (C1)evil in the sight of the LORD and (F1)served the (C2)Baals,12 and (C1)they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed other gods from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them; so they provoked the LORD to anger.13 They abandoned the LORD and (C1)served Baal and the Ashtaroth.14 (C1)Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He handed them over to plunderers, and they plundered them; and (C2)He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand (F1)against their enemies.15 Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for (F1)evil, as the LORD had spoken and (C1)just as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.
16 (C1)Then the LORD raised up judges (F1)who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they (F1)committed infidelity with other gods and bowed down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way (C1)in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do the same as their fathers.18 And when the LORD raised up judges for them, (C1)the LORD was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD was (C2)moved to pity by their groaning because of those who tormented and oppressed them.19 But it came about, when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their obstinate ways.20 (C1)So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, "Because this nation has violated My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice,21 (C1)I in turn will no longer drive out from them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,22 in order to (C1)test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it as their fathers (F1)did, or not."23 So the LORD allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not hand them over to Joshua.
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995,2020 by The Lockman Foundation
