Old/New Testament

The Israelites take the land of Canaan

1 After Joshua had died, the Israelites asked the Lord, ‘Which of our tribes should be the first to attack the Canaanites?’ ² The Lord replied, ‘Judah should attack first. I will give the land to them, to take for themselves.’^[a]

³ The men of Judah's tribe said to their cousins, the men of Simeon's tribe, ‘Join with us to fight against the Canaanites. Help us to take the land that God has given to our tribe. Then we will help you to take the land that belongs to your tribe.’ So the men of Simeon's tribe joined with the men of Judah's tribe.

⁴ They attacked the Canaanites and the Perizzites at Bezek. The Lord helped them to win against 10,000 Canaanite and Perizzite fighters. ⁵ In the battle, they found King Adoni-Bezek and they attacked him there. ⁶ The king ran away, but the Israelites caught him. They cut off his thumbs and his big toes.

⁷ King Adoni-Bezek said, ‘God has punished me because I did the same thing to 70 other kings. I cut off their thumbs and big toes. I made them pick up bits of food to eat under my table.’ The Israelites took King Adoni-Bezek back to Jerusalem. He died there.

⁸ Judah's army then attacked Jerusalem. They took the city for themselves. They killed the people who lived there and they burnt down the buildings.

⁹ Then they went to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negev and in the low hills in the west. ¹⁰ They attacked the people who lived in Hebron. They won the fight against the clans of Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. Hebron was called Kiriath Arba at that time.

¹¹ Then they went to attack the people who lived in Debir. It was called Kiriath Sepher at that time. ¹² Caleb said, ‘If a brave man attacks and takes Kiriath Sepher, he can marry my daughter, Acsah.’ ¹³ Othniel attacked the city and he took it. He was the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz. So Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to Othniel, to be his wife.

¹⁴ After this, Acsah told Othniel that they should ask her father to give them some land. She went to see her father, Caleb. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What would you like me to do for you?’

¹⁵ She replied, ‘Please be kind and give me a special gift. You have given me some land in the Negev desert. Now please give me a place with springs so that I have water for the land.’ So Caleb gave her some land with springs, on high land and on low land.

¹⁶ The Kenites were descendants of Moses' wife's father. They left Jericho with Judah's people to live in the region of Arad, in the Negev desert.

¹⁷ Then Judah's men joined with their cousins, Simeon's men, to attack the Canaanites who lived in Zephath. They completely destroyed the city. They gave it a new name, ‘Hormah’.^{[b] 18} Judah's men also took for themselves the cities of Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron, as well as the land around those cities.

¹⁹ The Lord helped the men of Judah so that they took the towns in the hill country for themselves. But they could not win against the people who lived on the lower land near the sea. Those people had iron chariots to help them fight.

²⁰ Caleb received Hebron for his family, as Moses had promised him.^[c] Caleb had chased out the three clans of Anak who lived there.

²¹ The men of Benjamin's tribe could not chase out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. As a result, the Jebusites continue to live in Jerusalem with the people of Benjamin.

²² The men of Joseph's tribes attacked Bethel.^[d] The Lord helped them to do this. ²³ Bethel had been called Luz. They sent some men to look secretly at the city. ²⁴ Those men saw a man who was leaving the city. They said to him, ‘If you show us how our soldiers can get into the city, we will keep you safe.’ ²⁵ So the man showed them a secret entrance to the city.

The men of Joseph's tribes killed all the people in the city. But they kept the man and his family safe. ²⁶ He went to the land of the Hittites. He built a city there. He called it Luz, and that is still its name.

²⁷ But the men of Manasseh's tribe could not chase out the people of these five cities: Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam and Megiddo. The Canaanites who lived there were strong. So they continued to live in those cities and the regions around them. ²⁸ When the Israelites had a strong army, they made the Canaanites do hard work for them. But they could never chase the Canaanites away completely.

²⁹ The men of Ephraim's tribe could not chase out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. Those Canaanites continued to live among the people of Ephraim in Gezer.

³⁰ The men of Zebulun's tribe could not chase away the people who lived in Kitron and Nahalol. But they made the Canaanites who lived among them do hard work for them.

³¹ The men of Asher's tribe could not chase out the Canaanites who lived in Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek and Rehob. ³² Because of this, Asher's people continued to live among the Canaanites.

³³ The men of Naphtali's tribe could not chase out the Canaanites who lived in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath. They too continued to live among the Canaanites in the land. But the Canaanites who lived in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath had to do hard work for the Israelites.

³⁴ The Amorites were too strong for the men of Dan's tribe. So Dan's people had to live in the hill country. The Amorites would not let them live in the low land. ³⁵ The Amorites were also strong enough to keep Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim for themselves. But when the Israelite army became stronger, they made the Amorites do hard work for them. ³⁶ The border of the Amorites' land went from Scorpion Hill and it continued beyond Sela.

The Israelites do not obey God

2 The angel of the Lord went from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, ‘I have brought you out from Egypt. I brought you here to this land that I promised to give to your ancestors. I said that I would always do for you what I promised in my Covenant. ² I told you not to make any agreement with the people who live in this land. I told you to destroy the altars where they worship their gods. But you have not done as I told you. Why have you not obeyed me? ³ So now I tell you, I will not chase the Canaanites away so that you can take their land. Instead, they will cause trouble for you. Their false gods will cause you to turn away from me.’

⁴ When the Lord's angel had said this, the Israelites began to weep loudly. ⁵ They called that place Bokim.^[e] They offered sacrifices to the Lord there.

Joshua dies

⁶ Joshua sent the people away. Each Israelite tribe went to take the part of the land that would belong to them.^{[f] 7} The Israelites continued to serve the Lord while Joshua and the old men were still alive. Joshua and those men had seen the great things that the Lord had done to help Israel.

⁸ Then the Lord's servant Joshua, the son of Nun, died at 110 years old. ⁹ The people buried him in the land that had been given to his family. That was at Timnath Heres, in Ephraim's hill country, on the north side of Gaash mountain.

A new generation turns away from the Lord

¹⁰ All the people of Joshua's generation died. The younger people no longer served the Lord. They themselves had not seen the great things that he had done to help Israel. ¹¹ The Israelites did things that the Lord saw were evil. They worshipped the idols of Baal. ¹² They turned away from the Lord God that their ancestors had worshipped. He was the one who had brought them safely out of Egypt. Instead, they served the false gods of the people who lived near them. They worshipped those gods and the Lord became very angry. ¹³ They turned away from the Lord and they worshipped the idols of Baal and Ashtoreth instead.

¹⁴ The Lord was very angry with the Israelites and he punished them. He sent robbers to attack them and take their animals and their food. He put them under the power of their enemies who lived around them. They were not strong enough to fight against their enemies. ¹⁵ When the Israelites went to fight against their enemies, the Lord turned against them. He punished them, as he said he would do. So the Israelites were in great trouble.

God chooses leaders for his people

¹⁶ After that, the Lord chose judges to lead his people. These leaders rescued the Israelites from their enemies who were robbing them. ¹⁷ But the people did not obey their leaders. They refused to serve the Lord faithfully. Instead, they worshipped false gods. They did not live in the way that their ancestors had lived. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord's commands, but they refused to obey him.

¹⁸ Every time that the Lord chose a judge to lead them, the Lord helped the leader to rescue them from their enemies. While the leader was still alive, the Lord was kind to them. When the Israelites called out to the Lord for help, he was sorry for them. He saw the cruel things that their enemies were doing to give them pain.

¹⁹ But when the leader died, the people would stop serving the Lord. They would do even more wicked things than their fathers had done. They would serve false gods and they would worship them. They refused to stop doing the wicked things that they wanted to do.

²⁰ Because of this, the Lord became very angry with the Israelites. He said, ‘This nation of my people has not obeyed the covenant that I made with their ancestors. ²¹ So I will not chase out the nations that are still living in the land. They are the people who were still there when Joshua died. ²² I will use those nations to test the Israelites. I will see if my people will live carefully, in the way that I have shown them. That is the way that their ancestors lived.’

²³ So the Lord let some of the Canaanite nations continue to live in the land. He did not chase them all away. He did not put them all under Joshua's power.

3 The Lord allowed some nations to stay in Canaan. He would use them to test the Israelites who had not yet fought wars in Canaan. ² He wanted to teach the young men of Israel how to fight their enemies, because they had not fought battles before. ³ The nations who remained were:

⁴ These nations were still there to test the Israelites. The Lord wanted to know if his people would obey his commands. Those were the commands that he had told Moses to give to the ancestors of the Israelites.

⁵ So the Israelites lived among those other nations, the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁶ Some Israelites married young women from these nations. They also let their daughters marry Canaanite men. As a result, the Israelites started to worship the Canaanite gods.^[g]

Othniel

⁷ The Israelites forgot to serve the Lord their God. They did things that he saw were evil. They worshipped idols of Baal and Asherah. ⁸ The Lord was very angry with the Israelites. He let King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim attack them. They were under his power for eight years.

⁹ Then the Israelites called out to the Lord for help. So he chose Othniel to be their leader. He was the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. Othniel rescued them from their enemies. ¹⁰ The Lord's Spirit gave Othniel power to lead Israel. Othniel led them to fight against King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram. The Lord helped Othniel to win the battle against the king. ¹¹ As a result, the land of Israel had peace for 40 years. Then Kenaz's son Othniel died.

Ehud

¹² Once again the Israelites did things that the Lord saw were evil. Because of this, the Lord gave Eglon, the king of Moab, power over Israel. ¹³ King Eglon made an agreement with the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join together to attack Israel. They attacked Jericho, ‘The City of Palm Trees’, and they took it for themselves. ¹⁴ The Israelites were under King Eglon's power for 18 years.

¹⁵ Again the Israelites called out to the Lord for help. He chose Ehud to be their leader. He was the son of Gera, from Benjamin's tribe. Ehud's strong hand was his left hand. The Israelites sent him to pay their taxes to King Eglon of Moab.

¹⁶ Ehud made a short sword that was sharp on both sides.^[h] He tied it to the top of his right leg and he hid it under his coat. ¹⁷ He took the money to give to King Eglon, who was a very fat man. ¹⁸ After Ehud had given the money to the king, he sent back home the men who had carried it. ¹⁹ But when Ehud reached the stone idols at Gilgal, he turned round to go back to the king. He said to King Eglon, ‘I have a secret message for you, sir!’ So the king said, ‘Leave us alone.’ All his servants went out. ²⁰ The king was now sitting alone in his cool room on the roof of the palace. Ehud went near to the king and he said, ‘I have a message from God for you.’ The king started to get up from his chair. ²¹ Then Ehud used his left hand to take the sword from his right leg. He pushed it deep into the king's stomach. ²² The king's fat covered the whole sword, even its handle. Its point came out through the king's back. Ehud did not pull out the sword. He left it there. ²³ Ehud went out of the room and he locked the doors. Then he escaped from the palace.

²⁴ The king's servants came up to the room on the roof. They saw that the doors were locked. They thought that the king was using the toilet inside. ²⁵ They waited for a long time and they started to worry. But the king still did not open the doors of his room. So they took the key and they opened the doors. Then they saw their master, the king! He was lying on the floor and he was dead.

²⁶ While the servants were waiting outside the king's room, Ehud had escaped. He went past the stone idols, and he ran to Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived there in the hill country of Ephraim, he made a loud noise with a trumpet. He led the Israelites down from the hills. ²⁸ He said to them, ‘Follow me! The Lord will put your enemy, the Moabites, under your power!’ The Israelites followed him to the Jordan River, near the border of Moab. They would not let anyone go across the river. ²⁹ That day they killed about 10,000 Moabite soldiers. They were all strong, brave fighters, but none of them escaped. ³⁰ The Israelites won the fight against Moab that day. The land of Israel had peace for 80 years.

Shamgar

³¹ After this, Anath's son Shamgar became Israel's leader. One time, he used a stick with a sharp point to kill 600 Philistines.^[i] He rescued the Israelites from their enemies, as Ehud had done.

The Devil tries to make Jesus do wrong things

4 Then Jesus returned from the Jordan River.^[a] He was full of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness. ² He stayed there for 40 days and he did not eat anything. During this time the Devil tried to cause Jesus to do wrong things.^[b] At the end of 40 days, Jesus was very hungry.

³ The Devil said to Jesus, ‘If you are the Son of God, speak to this stone. Tell it to become bread.’

⁴ ‘No!’ Jesus replied, ‘The Bible says that food alone cannot cause people to live.’^[c]

⁵ After that, the Devil led Jesus up to a high place. In one moment, he showed Jesus all the countries in the whole world. ⁶ He said to Jesus, ‘I will let you rule the whole world. I will give you power over all these things. That power all belongs to me. So I can give it to anyone that I choose. ⁷ You must bend down low and worship me. Then I will give you power over the whole world.’^[d]

⁸ ‘No!’ Jesus replied, ‘The Bible says,

⁹ The Devil now took Jesus to Jerusalem. He took him to stand on the highest part of the temple. Then he said to Jesus, ‘If you are the Son of God, jump down from here to the ground. ¹⁰ You know that the Bible says:

¹² ‘No!’ Jesus replied. ‘The Bible says,

¹³ In those ways, the Devil tried to make Jesus do many wrong things. When he had finished this, he left Jesus alone. He waited for another chance.

Jesus goes to Nazareth

¹⁴ Then Jesus returned to Galilee. The Holy Spirit continued to give him power. Everyone who lived near there heard the news about him. ¹⁵ He taught people in the Jewish meeting places.^[h] Everyone said good things about him.

¹⁶ Jesus went to Nazareth, the town where he had grown up. On the Jewish day of rest, he went to their meeting place.^[i] This was what he usually did. He stood up to read aloud from the Bible.^[j]

¹⁷ They gave him the scroll that had the messages of God's prophet Isaiah. Jesus opened the scroll. He found the place where Isaiah wrote:

¹⁸ ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is on me.

He has chosen me to tell good news to poor people.

He has sent me to tell people who are in prison, “You can go free!”

I must say to people that cannot see, “See again!”

I must cause people that are like slaves to become free.

¹⁹ I must tell everyone, “This is the year when God will be kind to his people.” ’^[k]

²⁰ When Jesus had read this to the people, he closed the scroll. He gave it back to an officer of the meeting place. Then he sat down to teach the people. Everyone in the meeting place was looking carefully at him.

²¹ Jesus said to them, ‘Today this message has become true. It has happened while you were listening.’

²² Everyone was talking about Jesus. They were surprised at the good way in which he spoke. They said to each other, ‘We know that he is only Joseph's son.’

²³ Jesus then said to them, ‘Now you will tell me the proverb, “Doctor, make yourself well!” You will also say, “We have heard that you did many surprising things in Capernaum. This is your home town, so do the same things here!” ²⁴ I tell you this: People do not accept a prophet of God who comes from their own town.

²⁵ What I tell you is true. There were many widows in the country of Israel when Elijah was alive. At that time, it did not rain for three and a half years. So people were very hungry in all the country. ²⁶ But God did not send Elijah to help a widow in Israel. Instead, God sent Elijah to the country called Sidon. There he helped a widow in a place called Zarephath.^[l]

²⁷ Here is another example: When God's prophet Elisha was alive, there were many people in Israel with a bad disease of the skin. But God did not make any of them well. Instead, he made a man well who was from the country called Syria. That man was called Naaman.’^[m]

²⁸ The people in the meeting place heard what Jesus said.^[n] They became very angry. ²⁹ They stood up and they made him leave the town. They took him to the top of the hill outside the town. They wanted to throw him over the edge to the bottom. ³⁰ But Jesus walked through the middle of the crowd and he went away.