The Steadfast Love of God Endures

To the choirmaster. A Maskil^[a] of David, when ^(A)Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

Conquest of Southern Canaan

²⁹ Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Makkedah to ^(A)Libnah and fought against Libnah. ³⁰ And the Lord gave it also and its king into the hand of Israel. And he struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it; he left none remaining in it. And he did to its king ^(B)as he had done to the king of Jericho.

³¹ Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to ^(C)Lachish and laid siege to it and fought against it. ³² And the Lord gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he captured it on the second day and struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it, as he had done to Libnah.

³³ Then Horam king of ^(D)Gezer came up to help Lachish. And Joshua struck him and his people, until he left none remaining.

³⁴ Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to ^(E)Eglon. And they laid siege to it and fought against it. ³⁵ And they captured it on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword. And he devoted every person in it to destruction that day, as he had done to Lachish.

³⁶ Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to ^(F)Hebron. And they fought against it ³⁷ and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king and its towns, and every person in it. He left none remaining, as he had done to Eglon, and devoted it to destruction and every person in it.

³⁸ Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned back to ^(G)Debir and fought against it ³⁹ and he captured it with its king and all its towns. And they struck them with the edge of the sword and devoted to destruction every person in it; he left none remaining. Just as he had done to Hebron and to Libnah and its king, so he did to Debir and to its king.

⁴⁰ So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negeb and the lowland ^(H)and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, ^(I)but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded. ⁴¹ And Joshua struck them from ^(J)Kadesh-barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of ^(K)Goshen, as far as Gibeon. ⁴² And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, ^(L)because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel. ^43 (M)Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

Conquests in Northern Canaan

11 When Jabin, king of Hazor, heard of this, he ^(N)sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, ² and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the ^(O)Arabah south of ^(P)Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and ^(Q)in Naphoth-dor on the ^(R)west, ³ to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the ^(S)Jebusites in the hill country, and the ^(T)Hivites under ^(U)Hermon in the land of ^(V)Mizpah. ⁴ And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number ^(W)like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. ⁵ And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

⁶ And the Lord said to Joshua, ^(X)“Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel. You shall ^(Y)hamstring their horses and burn their ^(Z)chariots with fire.” ⁷ So Joshua and all his warriors came ^(AA)suddenly against them by the waters of Merom and fell upon them. ⁸ And the Lord gave them into the hand of Israel, who struck them and chased them as far as ^(AB)Great Sidon and ^(AC)Misrephoth-maim, and eastward as far as the Valley of ^(AD)Mizpeh. And they struck them until he left none remaining. ⁹ And Joshua did to them ^(AE)just as the Lord said to him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

¹⁰ And Joshua turned back at that time and captured ^(AF)Hazor and struck its king with the sword, for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms. ¹¹ And they struck with the sword all who were in it, devoting them to destruction;^{[a] (AG)}there was none left that breathed. And he burned Hazor with fire. ¹² And all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua captured, and struck them with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction, ^(AH)just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. ¹³ But none of the cities that stood on mounds did Israel burn, except Hazor alone; that Joshua burned. ¹⁴ And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the people of Israel took for their plunder. But every person they struck with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed. ^15 (AI)Just as the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, ^(AJ)so Moses commanded Joshua, ^(AK)and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord had commanded Moses.

¹⁶ So Joshua took all that land, ^(AL)the hill country and all the Negeb and ^(AM)all the land of Goshen ^(AN)and the lowland ^(AO)and the Arabah ^(AP)and the hill country of Israel and its lowland ^17 (AQ)from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as ^(AR)Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below ^(AS)Mount Hermon. And he captured ^(AT)all their kings and struck them and put them to death. ¹⁸ Joshua made war ^(AU)a long time with all those kings. ¹⁹ There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except ^(AV)the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. ²⁰ For it was the Lord's doing ^(AW)to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, ^(AX)just as the Lord commanded Moses.

²¹ And Joshua came at that time and cut off ^(AY)the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. ²² There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, ^(AZ)in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain. ²³ So Joshua took the whole land, ^(BA)according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. ^(BB)And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel ^(BC)according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

Paul Appeals to Caesar

25 Now three days after Festus had arrived in ^(A)the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. ² And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews ^(B)laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, ³ asking as a favor against Paul^[a] that he summon him to Jerusalem—because ^(C)they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. ⁴ Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. ⁵ “So,” said he, “let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him.”

⁶ After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on ^(D)the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷ When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him ^(E)that they could not prove. ⁸ Paul argued in his defense, “Neither ^(F)against ^(G)the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor ^(H)against Caesar have I committed any offense.” ⁹ But Festus, ^(I)wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?” ¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar's ^(J)tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. ¹¹ If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. ^(K)I appeal to Caesar.” ¹² Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”

Paul Before Agrippa and Bernice

¹³ Now when some days had passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Festus. ¹⁴ And as they stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying, ^(L)“There is a man left prisoner by Felix, ¹⁵ and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews laid out their case ^(M)against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. ^16 (N)I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up anyone ^(O)before the accused met the accusers face to face and had opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him. ^17 (P)So when they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on ^(Q)the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought. ¹⁸ When the accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such evils as I supposed. ¹⁹ Rather they ^(R)had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about ^(S)a certain Jesus, who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. ²⁰ Being at a loss how to investigate these questions, I ^(T)asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding them. ²¹ But ^(U)when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of ^(V)the emperor, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.” ²² Then ^(W)Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” said he, “you will hear him.”

²³ So on the next day ^(X)Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. ²⁴ And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man about whom ^(Y)the whole Jewish people petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, ^(Z)shouting that he ought not to live any longer. ²⁵ But I found that ^(AA)he had done nothing deserving death. And ^(AB)as he himself appealed to ^(AC)the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him. ²⁶ But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, after we have examined him, I may have something to write. ²⁷ For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him.”