2 Samuel 2:1 Later, David inquired of the Lord: “Should I go to one of the towns of Judah?” Yahveh answered him, “Go.” Then David asked, “Where should I go?” “To Hebron,” Yahveh replied.
2 Samuel 2:2 So David went there with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.
2 Samuel 2:3 In addition, David brought the men with him, each with his family, and they settled in the towns near Hebron.
2 Samuel 2:4 Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David: “It was the men of Jabesh-Gilead who buried Saul.”
2 Samuel 2:5 David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said to them, “Yahveh bless you because you had shown this kindness to Saul your lord when you buried him.
2 Samuel 2:6 Now, may Yahveh show kindness and faithfulness to you, and I will also show the same goodness to you because you have done this deed.
2 Samuel 2:7 Therefore, be strong and valiant, for though Saul your lord is dead, the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”
2 Samuel 2:8 Abner, son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, and moved him to Mahanaim.
2 Samuel 2:9 He made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin– over all Israel.
2 Samuel 2:10 Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he became king over Israel; he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.
2 Samuel 2:11 David ruled over the house of Judah in Hebron for seven years and six months.
2 Samuel 2:12 Abner, son of Ner, and soldiers of Ish-bosheth, son of Saul, marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
2 Samuel 2:13 So Joab, son of Zeruiah and David’s soldiers, marched out and met them by the pool of Gibeon. The two groups took up positions on opposing sides of the pool.
2 Samuel 2:14 Then Abner said to Joab, “Let the boys get up and compete in front of us.” “Let them get up,” Joab replied.
2 Samuel 2:15 So they got up and were counted off — twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from David’s soldiers.
2 Samuel 2:16 Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponent’s side so that they all died together. That is why this place in Gibeon is named Field of Blades.
2 Samuel 2:17 The battle that day was extremely severe, and David’s soldiers defeated Abner and the men of Israel.
2 Samuel 2:18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was a fast runner, like one of the wild gazelles.
2 Samuel 2:19 He chased Abner and did not turn to the right or the left in his pursuit of him.
2 Samuel 2:20 Abner glanced back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” “It is me,” Asahel said.
2 Samuel 2:21 Abner said to him, “Turn to your right or left, seize one of the boys, and take whatever you can get from him.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him.
2 Samuel 2:22 Once again, Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I ever look your brother Joab in the face?”
2 Samuel 2:23 But Asahel refused to turn away, so Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear. The spear went through his body, and he fell and died right there. As they all came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died, they stopped,
2 Samuel 2:24 but Joab and Abishai chased Abner. By sunset, they had gone as far as the hill of Ammah, which is opposite Giah, on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
2 Samuel 2:25 The Benjaminites gathered behind Abner, formed a unit, and took their stand on top of a hill.
2 Samuel 2:26 Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the people to stop pursuing their brothers?”
2 Samuel 2:27 “As God lives,” Joab replied, “If you had not spoken up, the people wouldn’t have stopped pursuing their brothers until morning.”
2 Samuel 2:28 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the people stopped; they no longer pursued Israel or continued to fight.
2 Samuel 2:29 So Abner and his men marched through the Arabah all that night. They crossed the Jordan, marched all morning, and arrived at Mahanaim.
2 Samuel 2:30 When Joab had turned back from pursuing Abner, he gathered all the troops. In addition to Asahel, nineteen of David’s soldiers were missing,
2 Samuel 2:31 but they had struck down 360 of the Benjaminites and Abner’s men.
2 Samuel 2:32 Afterward, they carried Asahel to his father’s tomb in Bethlehem and buried him. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at dawn.
1 Samuel 6:1 When the ark of Yahveh had been in Philistine territory for seven months,
1 Samuel 6:2 the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners and pleaded, “What should we do with the ark of Yahveh? Tell us how we can send it back to its place.”
1 Samuel 6:3 They replied, “If you send the ark of Israel’s God away, do not send it without an offering. Send back a guilt offering to him, and you will be healed. Then the reason his hand hasn’t been removed from you will be revealed.”
1 Samuel 6:4 They asked, “What guilt offering should we send back to him?” And they answered, “Five gold tumors and five gold mice corresponding to the number of Philistine rulers, since there was one plague for both you and your rulers.
1 Samuel 6:5 Make images of your tumors and of your mice that are destroying the land. Give glory to Israel’s God, and perhaps he will stop oppressing you, your gods, and your land.
1 Samuel 6:6 Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? When he afflicted them, didn’t they send Israel away, and Israel left?
1 Samuel 6:7 “Now then, prepare one new cart and two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.
1 Samuel 6:8 Take the ark of Yahveh, place it on the cart, and put the gold objects that you’re sending him as a guilt offering in a box beside the ark. Send it off and let it go its way.
1 Samuel 6:9 Then watch: If it goes up the road to its homeland toward Beth-shemesh, it is Yahveh who has made this terrible trouble for us. However, if it doesn’t, we will know that it was not his hand that punished us– it was just something that happened to us by chance.”
1 Samuel 6:10 The men did this: They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and confined their calves in the pen.
1 Samuel 6:11 Then they put the ark of Yahveh on the cart, along with the box containing the gold mice and the images of their tumors.
1 Samuel 6:12 The cows went straight up the road to Beth-shemesh. They stayed on that one highway, mooing as they went; they never strayed to the right or to the left. The Philistine rulers were walking behind them to the territory of Beth-shemesh.
1 Samuel 6:13 The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed to see it.
1 Samuel 6:14 The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people of the city chopped up the cart and offered the cows as an ascending[1] offering to Yahveh.
1 Samuel 6:15 The Levites removed the ark of Yahveh, along with the box containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. That day the people of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to Yahveh.
1 Samuel 6:16 When the five Philistine rulers observed this, they returned to Ekron that same day.
1 Samuel 6:17 As a guilt offering to Yahveh, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
1 Samuel 6:18 The number of gold mice also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities of the five rulers, the fortified cities and the outlying villages. The large rock on which the ark of Yahveh was placed is still in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh today.
1 Samuel 6:19 God struck down the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of Yahveh. He struck down seventy persons. The people mourned because Yahveh struck them with a great slaughter.
1 Samuel 6:20 The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand in the presence of Yahveh this holy God? To whom should the ark go from here?”
1 Samuel 6:21 They sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of Yahveh. Come down and get it.”
Joshua 11:1 When King Jabin of Hazor happened to hear this news, he sent a message to King Jobab of Madon, the kings of Shimron and Achshaph,
Joshua 11:2 and the kings of the north in the hill country, the Arabah south of Chinnereth, the Judean foothills, and the Slopes of Dor to the west,
Joshua 11:3 the Canaanites in the east and west, the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, and Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
Joshua 11:4 They went out with all their armies – a crowd as numerous as the sand on the seashore – along with a vast number of horses and chariots.
Joshua 11:5 All these kings joined forces; they came and camped together at the Waters of Merom to attack Israel.
Joshua 11:6 Yahveh said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for at this time tomorrow I will cause all of them to be killed in front of Israel. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.”
Joshua 11:7 So Joshua and all his troops surprised them at the Waters of Merom and attacked them.
Joshua 11:8 Yahveh handed them over to Israel, and they struck them down, pursuing them as far as greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and to the east as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.
Joshua 11:9 Joshua treated them as Yahveh had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots.
Joshua 11:10 At that time, Joshua turned back, captured Hazor, and struck down its king with the sword because Hazor had formerly been the leader of all these kingdoms.
Joshua 11:11 They struck down everyone in it with the sword, setting them apart for destruction; he left no one breathing. Then he burned Hazor.
Joshua 11:12 Joshua captured all these kings and their cities and struck them down with the sword. He set them apart for destruction, as Moses Yahveh’s slave had commanded.
Joshua 11:13 However, Israel did not burn any of the cities that stood on their mounds except Hazor, which Joshua burned.
Joshua 11:14 The Israelites plundered all the spoils and cattle of these cities for themselves. But they struck down every person with the sword until they had annihilated them, leaving no one breathing.
Joshua 11:15 just like Yahveh had commanded his slave Moses, Moses commanded Joshua. That is what Joshua did, leaving nothing undone of all that Yahveh had commanded Moses.
Joshua 11:16 So Joshua took all this land – the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the foothills, the Arabah, and the hill country of Israel with its foothills – Joshua 11:17 from Mount Halak, which ascends to Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death.
Joshua 11:18 Joshua waged war with all these kings for a long time.
Joshua 11:19 No city made a peace treaty with the Israelites except the Hivites who inhabited Gibeon; all of them were taken in battle.
Joshua 11:20 You see, Yahveh intended to harden their hearts so that they would engage Israel in battle, be set apart for destruction without mercy, and be annihilated, just like Yahveh had commanded Moses.
Joshua 11:21 At that time, Joshua proceeded to exterminate the Anakim from the hill country—Hebron, Debir, Anab—all the hill country of Judah and Israel. Joshua set them apart for destruction with their cities.
Joshua 11:22 No Anakim were left in the land of the Israelites, except for some remaining in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
Joshua 11:23 So Joshua took the entire land, in keeping with all that Yahveh had told Moses. Joshua then gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. After this, the land had rest from war.
Joshua 11 quotes:
“Joshua 11 begins as Joshua 10 did (10:1). When Jabin king of Hazor hears of the destruction of Jericho, Ai, and the coalition of the five kings, he sends word to other kings (cf. 10:3—-4) in the region to make war on Joshua and Israel. As the king of Jerusalem rallied the kings of the south, so Jabin calls out the northern coalition forces. They respond with their might: They come out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots— a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore (11:4). The added dimension in the north is horses and chariots, which strike fear in the tribal forces from the highlands. Chariots were the ultimate fighting machines of that era, and only wealthy and powerful kings possessed them. These weapons reminded the tribes of their weaknesses.”
Harris J. Gordon et al. Joshua Judges Ruth. Hendrickson Publishers ; Paternoster Press 2000. p. 68.
“This chapter reports Joshua’s campaign in the northern part of the country (verses 1-15). The narrative is very brief and leaves the impression that the whole territory was conquered quickly and easily.”
Bratcher Robert G and Barclay Moon Newman. A Handbook on the Book of Joshua. United Bible Societies 1992. p. 157.
Joshua 5:1 When all the Amorite kings across the Jordan to the west and all the Canaanite kings near the sea heard that Yahveh had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted. Their breath stopped continually because of the Israelites.
Joshua 5:2 At that time, Yahveh said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite men again.”
Joshua 5:3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelite men at Gibeath-haaraloth.
Joshua 5:4 This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males – all the men of war – had died in the wilderness along the way after they had come out of Egypt.
Joshua 5:5 Though all the people who came out were circumcised, none of the people born in the open country along the way had been circumcised after they had come out of Egypt.
Joshua 5:6 You see, the Israelites wandered in the open country forty years until all the nation’s men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they disobeyed Yahveh. So Yahveh vowed never to let them see the land he had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Joshua 5:7 He raised their sons in their place; it was these Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised since they had not been circumcised along the way.
Joshua 5:8 After the entire nation had been circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they recovered.
Joshua 5:9 Yahveh then said to Joshua, “Today I have peeled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” Therefore, that place is still called Gilgal today.
Joshua 5:10 While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.
Joshua 5:11 The day after Passover they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.
Joshua 5:12 And the day after they ate from the produce of the land, the manna stopped. Since there was no more manna for the Israelites, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
Joshua 5:13 When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked, “Are you for us or our enemies?”
Joshua 5:14 “Neither,” he replied. “I have now come as commander of Yahveh’s army.” Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in worship and asked him, “What does my lord want to say to his slave?”
Joshua 5:15 The commander of Yahveh’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is sacred.”[1] And Joshua did that.
“Joshua 5 names not nations in the land but rather enemy kings of the western bank who fall into two categories, Amorites and Canaanites (Phoenicians in the LXx). Amorites inhabit the highlands west of the Jordan, and Canaanites live in cities of the coastal plains. The demoralizing of the enemy provides another sign that God has given the land to Joshua and the people. Still, God’s support and victory in battle demand that the tribes prepare liturgically and religiously for battle.”
Harris J. Gordon et al. Joshua Judges Ruth. Hendrickson Publishers ; Paternoster Press 2000. p. 40.
“This chapter provides an interlude before the conquest of Jericho. It narrates three events: (1) the circumcision of all male Israelites (verses 2-9); (2) the celebration of Passover (verses LOS 17) 2s and (3) the appearance of the commander of the LORD’s army.”
Bratcher Robert G and Barclay Moon Newman. A Handbook on the Book of Joshua. United Bible Societies 1992. p. 60.
Deuteronomy 31:1 Then Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel,
Deuteronomy 31:2 saying, “I am now 120 years old; I am no longer able to continue to go out and come in. Yahveh has told me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’
Deuteronomy 31:3 Yahveh your God is the one who will cross ahead of you. He will exterminate these nations before you, and you will drive them out. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, as Yahveh has said.
Deuteronomy 31:4 Yahveh will do to them just what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and their land when he exterminated them.
Deuteronomy 31:5 Yahveh will give them over to your face, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and tough; don’t be terrified of their faces. You see, Yahveh, your God is the one who will go with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.”
Deuteronomy 31:7 Moses then summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and tough, because you will go with this people into the land Yahveh swore to give to their fathers. You will enable them to take possession of it.
Deuteronomy 31:8 Yahveh is the one who will go before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
Deuteronomy 31:9 Moses wrote down this instruction, and he gave it to the priests, sons of Levi, who carried the ark of Yahveh’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.
Deuteronomy 31:10 Moses commanded them, and this is what he said: “At the end of every seven years, at the same time in the year of debt revoking, during the Festival of Huts,
Deuteronomy 31:11 when all Israel assembles in the presence of Yahveh your God at the place he chooses, you are to read this instruction aloud before all Israel.
Deuteronomy 31:12 Collect the people – men, women, dependents, and the guests within your city gates– so that they may listen and learn to fear Yahveh your God and be careful to do all the words of this instruction.
Deuteronomy 31:13 Then their children who do not know the instruction will listen and learn to fear Yahveh your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of.”
Deuteronomy 31:14 Yahveh said to Moses, ” Notice the time of your death is now approaching. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the conference[1] tent so that I may command him.” When Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the conference tent,
Deuteronomy 31:15 Yahveh appeared at the tent in a column[2] of cloud, and the cloud stood at the entrance to the tent.
Deuteronomy 31:16 Yahveh said to Moses, “Notice you are about to lie down with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will abandon me and break the covenant I have established with them.
Deuteronomy 31:17 My nose will burn at them on that day; I will abandon them and hide my face from them so that they will become easy prey. Many troubles and afflictions will come to them. On that day, they will say, ‘Haven’t these troubles come to us because our God is no longer with us? ‘
Deuteronomy 31:18 I will certainly hide my face on that day because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.
Deuteronomy 31:19 Therefore, write down this song for yourselves and teach it to the Israelites; place it on their lips so that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 31:20 When I bring them into the land I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising me and breaking my covenant.
Deuteronomy 31:21 And when many troubles and afflictions come to them, this song will testify against them, because their descendants will not have forgotten it. You see, I know what they are prone to do, even before I bring them into the land I swore to give them.”
Deuteronomy 31:22 So Moses wrote down this song on that day and taught it to the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 31:23 Yahveh commanded Joshua, son of Nun, and this is what he said, “Be strong and tough, because you will bring the Israelites into the land I swore to them, and I will be with you.”
Deuteronomy 31:24 When Moses had finished writing down on a scroll every single word of this instruction,
Deuteronomy 31:25 he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of Yahveh’s covenant, and this is what he said:
Deuteronomy 31:26 “Take this book of the instruction and place it beside the ark of the covenant of Yahveh your God so that it may stay there as a witness against you.
Deuteronomy 31:27 You see, I know how rebellious and hard-necked you are. Notice, if you are rebelling against Yahveh now, while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after I am dead!
Deuteronomy 31:28 Collect all your tribal elders and officers before me so that I may speak these words directly to them and call sky and land as witnesses against them.
Deuteronomy 31:29 For I know that after my death you will become completely corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. Disaster will come to you in the future because you will do what is evil in Yahveh’s sight, angering him with what your hands have made.”
Deuteronomy 31:30 Then Moses recited aloud every single word of this song to the entire collected assembly of Israel:
“The structure of chapter 31 provides important insight into its meaning. Within Deuteronomy’s larger structure, it begins the final section (chs. 31 – 34) as a frame to chapters 1 – 3. In this respect, it importantly reminds all Israel at the outset of the Lord’s intent to go ahead of his people and destroy the nations which they will encounter across the Jordan, as he did to Sihon and Og on the eastern side of the Jordan. Yet Israel must be strong and courageous in carrying out this task (v. 6). At the same time, Moses’ imminent death (vv. 2, 16) and Joshua’s succession and encouragement (cf. 1:38 and 3:28), using the same terms/language given to Israel, are located at important junctures within the chapter (vv. 7–8, 14 and 23). At the structural heart of the chapter (vv. 14–23), the Lord appears at the Tent of Meeting to speak of Moses’ imminent death and Joshua’s commission. Israel will prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land that they are entering, and thus break the covenant. This will lead to Yahweh hiding his face from them (vv. 17– 18). The response to this situation is a written song, which will serve as a perpetual witness against Israel in time to come (vv. 19–22). On either side of this centrepiece is the written law first given to the priests, the sons of Levi, to be read publicly every seven years at the Feast of Tabernacles to an assembly of all the people, in four categories: men, women, children and aliens (vv. 9–13). Then at verses 24–29, the written Book of the Law is given to the Levites to place beside the ark of the covenant, as a passive witness against Israel, anticipating their future rebellion and corruption. This leads to a second assembly (v. 28) of all the elders and officials (possibly also four in number; cf. 29:10[ET]), echoing the gravity of the assembly at Horeb (cf. 4:10), as a counterpart to verse 12. They gather as Israel’s responsible leaders, in view of certain future failure and the danger of replicating the sin of the golden calf episode (vv. 27 and 29). In the meantime, the Lord, through Moses, will speak these words to them, which probably means the words of the song to follow in verse 30, and at the same time he calls upon the third witness of heaven and earth against their inevitable apostasy, thus fulfilling the maximum requirement of the law (17:6; 19:15).”
Woods, Edward J.. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 5) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
“The approaching decease of Moses, which has already been anticipated (see 1:37–38 and 3:23–29), now becomes the central focus for the remaining chapters of the book.1 Moses is aware of his approaching death, and in the light of that fact he once again encourages the people in their faith and takes care of some final practical matters relating to the covenant community. First he encourages the people as a whole (vv. 1–6), and then, in the presence of the people, he encourages Joshua in particular, who would soon be assuming the role of leadership (vv. 7–8).”
Craigie, Peter C.. The Book of Deuteronomy(The New International Commentary on the Old Testament) (p. 369). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
jeffersonvann 