^12 (A)The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”

¹³ And behold, ^(A)the Lord stood above it^[a] and said, ^(B)“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. ^(C)The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.

⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(A)“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁴ and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you ^(A)for an everlasting possession.’

^3 (A)Sojourn in this land, and ^(B)I will be with you and will bless you, for ^(C)to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish ^(D)the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. ^4 (E)I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And ^(F)in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,

Nehemiah's Final Reforms

13 On that day ^(A)they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written ^(B)that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, ² for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³ As soon as the people heard the law, ^(C)they separated from Israel all ^(D)those of foreign descent.

⁴ Now before this, ^(E)Eliashib the priest, who ^(F)was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to ^(G)Tobiah, ⁵ prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, ^(H)which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. ⁶ While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for ^(I)in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes ^(J)king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king ⁷ and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, ^(K)preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. ⁸ And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. ⁹ Then I gave orders, and they ^(L)cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

¹⁰ I also found out that ^(M)the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each ^(N)to his field. ^11 (O)So I confronted the officials and said, ^(P)“Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. ¹² Then all Judah brought ^(Q)the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. ¹³ And ^(R)I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, ^(S)for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. ^14 (T)Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

¹⁵ In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses ^(U)on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, ^(V)which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And ^(W)I warned them on the day when they sold food. ¹⁶ Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! ^17 (X)Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, ^(Y)profaning the Sabbath day? ^18 (Z)Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster^[a] on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

¹⁹ As soon as it ^(AA)began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. ^21 (AB)But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the Levites ^(AC)that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. ^(AD)Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

²³ In those days also I saw the Jews ^(AE)who had married women ^(AF)of Ashdod, ^(AG)Ammon, and ^(AH)Moab. ²⁴ And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. ^25 (AI)And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. ^(AJ)And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. ^26 (AK)Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? ^(AL)Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was ^(AM)beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. ²⁷ Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and ^(AN)act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”

²⁸ And one of the sons of ^(AO)Jehoiada, the son of ^(AP)Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of ^(AQ)Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. ^29 (AR)Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood ^(AS)and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

^30 (AT)Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; ³¹ and I provided ^(AU)for the wood offering ^(AV)at appointed times, and for the firstfruits.

^(AW)Remember me, O my God, for good.

The Fall of Jericho

6 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. ² And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, ^(A)I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. ³ You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. ⁴ Seven priests shall bear seven ^(B)trumpets of ^(C)rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and ^(D)the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵ And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat,^[a] and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” ⁶ So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord.” ⁷ And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let ^(E)the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”

⁸ And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. ⁹ The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the ^(F)rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. ¹⁰ But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” ¹¹ So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

¹² Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and ^(G)the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. ¹⁴ And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶ And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. ¹⁷ And the city and all that is within it shall be ^(H)devoted to the Lord for destruction.^[b] Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she ^(I)hid the messengers whom we sent. ¹⁸ But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel ^(J)a thing for destruction and ^(K)bring trouble upon it. ¹⁹ But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” ²⁰ So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and ^(L)the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. ²¹ Then they ^(M)devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

⁸ and ^(A)I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and ^(B)to bring them up out of that land to a ^(C)good and broad land, a land ^(D)flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^(E)the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

^3 (A)God Almighty^[a] bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴ May he give ^(B)the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of ^(C)the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!”