Deuteronomy 7 Cross References - ISV

¹ Instructions Regarding the Tribal Nations“When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, he will drive out many nations before you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations who are more numerous and stronger than you. ² So when the LORD your God delivers them to you and you have defeated them, then utterly destroy them. You are not to make any covenant with them nor be gracious to them. ³ You are not to intermarry with them. You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons, ⁴ because they will turn your children from me to serve other gods so that the LORD’s anger blazes against you and swiftly destroys you by fire. ⁵ This is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, break their pillars, cut down their ritual pillars, and burn their carved idols in fire, ⁶ because you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God chose you to be his people, his treasured possession from all the peoples on the face of the earth.”
⁷ The LORD Keeps His Covenant“It wasn’t because you were more numerous than other people of the earth that the LORD committed himself to you and chose you. In fact, you were the least numerous of all the peoples. ⁸ But the LORD loved you and kept his oath that he made to your ancestors. The LORD brought you out with great power from slavery, from the control of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. ⁹ Know that the LORD your God is God, the trusted God who faithfully keeps his covenant to the thousandth generation of those who love him and obey his commands. ¹⁰ But for the one who hates him, he will repay him by destroying him. He will not delay dealing with someone who hates him. ¹¹ Therefore keep the commands, decrees, and the ordinances that I am instructing you to obey today.”
¹² The LORD Blesses Obedience“If you pay attention to these laws and obey them, then the LORD your God will continue his covenant of gracious love with you that he promised with an oath to your ancestors. ¹³ He’ll love you and increase your numbers. He’ll bless the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your land (the grain, new wine, and oil), the offspring of your herds, and the lambs of your flock, in the land that the LORD promised your ancestors he would give you. ¹⁴ You’ll be blessed among all the nations. There’ll be no infertility among you, not even among your herds. ¹⁵ The LORD will turn aside every disease from you. He won’t inflict on you the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but will inflict them instead on all who hate you. ¹⁶ You are to utterly destroy everyone whom the LORD your God will deliver to you. Don’t have pity on them nor serve their gods. Otherwise, they will become a snare for you.”
¹⁷ The LORD will Fight for You“You may say to yourselves, ‘These nations are more numerous than we are. How can we dispossess them?’ ¹⁸ But you mustn’t fear them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt. ¹⁹ Your eyes saw the great trials, the signs and wonders, and the awesome power with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the people whom you fear. ²⁰ He’ll send plagues against them until the survivors who hide from you have perished. ²¹ Don’t tremble before them, because the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. ²² He slowly will dislodge these nations before you, but he won’t destroy them quickly, so the wild animals won’t multiply around you. ²³ But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. ²⁴ He will deliver kings into your control, and you are to wipe out the memory of them from under heaven. No one will be able to stand before you. You are to utterly destroy them. ²⁵ Burn the images of their gods in the fire. Desire neither the silver nor the gold that adorns them, nor take them for yourselves, so you won’t be ensnared by them, because the gold and silver is detestable to the LORD your God. ²⁶ Don’t bring any detestable thing to your house, because you yourself will be utterly destroyed along with these detestable things. You must absolutely abhor and detest all of it, because it has been devoted to destruction.”

¹⁸ That very day the LORD made this covenant with Abram: “I’m giving this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— ¹⁹ including the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

⁸ I’ll bring you to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I’ll give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’”

⁷ In the greatness of your majesty you broke down your enemies. You sent forth your anger, it consumed them like stubble.

²⁸ I’ll send hornets ahead of you and they’ll drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you.

² I’ll send an angel in front of you and I’ll drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

³¹ However, I’ll bring your little ones—the ones whom you claimed would become war victims—into the land so that they’ll know by experience the land that you’ve rejected.

¹ Moses Presents the Privileges of the Covenant“Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I’m teaching you to observe so you may live and go in to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is about to give you. ² Do not add or subtract a thing to what I’m commanding you. Observe the commands of the LORD your God. ³ You saw with your own eyes what he did in Baal Peor. The LORD your God exterminated from among you every man who followed Baal of Peor.

³⁸ in order to drive out nations that are stronger and more powerful than you, to bring you into this land, and to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today.

¹ The Covenant of Love“Now these are the commands, decrees, and ordinances that the LORD commanded me to teach you. Obey them in the land you are entering to possess,

¹⁰ Serve the LORD Only“When the LORD your God brings you to the land that he promised to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he will give you large and beautiful cities that you didn’t build,

¹⁹ expelling all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.”

²³ But as for us, he brought us out from there to bring us into the land and give it to us, as he promised our ancestors.

¹ When the LORD Fulfills His Promise“Listen, Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and dispossess greater and mightier nations than you, who live in large cities that are fortified to the sky.

⁴ After the LORD has expelled them before you, you are not to say to yourselves, ‘The LORD caused me to enter and possess this land because of my righteousness.’

²⁹ Declaration of the Blessings and Curses“When the LORD brings you to the land that you are about to enter to inherit, repeat the blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal.

¹ Rules of War“When you go to war against your enemies and observe more horses, chariots, and soldiers than you have, don’t be afraid of them, for the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt is with you.

³ and the LORD told me, ‘You won’t be crossing the Jordan River.’ But the LORD your God is crossing over before you. He will destroy these nations in front of you and you will dispossess them. As for Joshua, he will cross over before you, just as the LORD promised.

²⁰ because after I’ve brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey that I promised to their ancestors by an oath, they’ll eat, grow fat, and then they’ll turn to other gods and serve them, while despising me and breaking my covenant.

² With your hand you expelled the nations and established our ancestors. You afflicted nations and cast them out. ³ It was not with their sword that they inherited the land, nor did their own arm deliver them. But it was by your power, your strength, and by the light of your face; because you were pleased with them.

⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them and allotted their tribal inheritance, settling the tribes of Israel in their tents.

¹⁹ he destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan. Then God gave their land to the Israelis as an inheritance

²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your control.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

²⁰ “Anyone who sacrifices to a god, except the LORD alone, is to be utterly destroyed.

³² You are not to make a covenant with them or with their gods. ³³ They are not to live in your land. Otherwise they will cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will become a snare for you.”

¹² “Be very careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, so they won’t be a snare among you. ¹³ Rather, you are to tear down their altars, you are to smash their sacred pillars, and you are to cut down their sacred poles— ¹⁴ indeed, you are not to bow down in worship to any other god, because the LORD’s name is Jealous—he’s a jealous God— ¹⁵ Otherwise, you may make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and when they prostitute themselves with their gods and offer sacrifices to their gods, someone may invite you and then you may eat some of their sacrifices.
¹⁶ “You are not to take any of their daughters for your sons. Otherwise, when their daughters prostitute themselves with their gods, they may cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.

²⁸ However, any devoted thing that a person consecrates to the LORD from what he owns—whether man, animals, or inherited fields—is not to be sold or redeemed. Any devoted thing is most sacred. It belongs to the LORD. ²⁹ But anyone who is completely devoted from among human beings is not to be ransomed. He is certainly to be put to death.

⁵² they are to drive out all the inhabitants of the land and destroy all their idols and their molten images. You are to demolish all their high places,

³ “So the LORD our God also delivered into our control King Og of Bashan, along with his whole army. We attacked him until there were no survivors.

²³ But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. ²⁴ He will deliver kings into your control, and you are to wipe out the memory of them from under heaven. No one will be able to stand before you. You are to utterly destroy them.

⁸ You must not yield to him, listen to him, look with pity on him, show compassion to him, or even cover up for him.

¹⁰ Rules of Peace“When you approach a city to wage war against it, extend terms of peace. ¹¹ If it agrees to peace and welcomes you, then all the people found in it will serve you as forced laborers.

¹⁶ Destruction of the Canaanites“You are not to leave even one person alive in the cities of these nations that the LORD your God is about to give you as an inheritance. ¹⁷ You must completely destroy the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, just as the LORD your God commanded you,

¹⁴ For the LORD your God is on the move within your camp to deliver you and to hand your enemies over to you. Therefore your camp must be holy so that he will not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.”

¹⁴ A Promise of ProtectionSo the men told her, “Our life for yours—even to death—if you don’t betray this mission of ours. Then when the LORD gives us this land, we’ll treat you graciously and faithfully.”

¹⁷ The city—along with everything in it—is to be turned over to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone who is with her in her house may live, because she hid the scouts we sent. ¹⁸ Now as for you, everything has been turned over for destruction. Don’t covet or take any of these things. Otherwise, you’ll make the camp of Israel itself an object worthy of destruction, and bring trouble on it. ¹⁹ But everything made of silver and gold, and vessels made of bronze and iron are set apart to the LORD. They are to go into the treasury of the LORD.”
²⁰ So the army shouted and the trumpets were blown again. As soon as the army heard the sound of the trumpets, they shouted loudly and the wall collapsed. The army charged straight ahead into the city and captured it. ²¹ They turned over everyone in the city for destruction and executed them, including both men and women, young and old, and oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
²² Joshua told the two men who had scouted the land, “Go into the prostitute’s home and bring her out of it, along with everyone who is with her, just as you promised her.” ²³ So the young men who had been scouts went in and brought Rahab out, along with her father, her mother, her brothers, and everyone else who was with her. They brought her entire family out and set them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴ Then the army set fire to the city and to everything in it, except that they reserved the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron for the treasury of the LORD. ²⁵ But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, along with her family and everyone who was with her. Her family has lived in Israel ever since, because she hid the scouts whom Joshua sent to observe Jericho.

²⁴ When Israel had completed executing all of the residents of Ai in the open wilderness where they had chased them, and after all of them—to the very last of them—had been killed by swords, the entire fighting force of Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with swords.

¹⁸ The Israelis did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had made an oath with them in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the entire congregation grumbled against their leaders.
¹⁹ Then all of the leaders spoke to the entire congregation, “We have sworn to them in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them. ²⁰ So this is what we’ll do to them: we’ll let them live, so that wrath won’t come upon us because of the oath that we swore to them.”
²¹ The leaders told them, “Let them live.” So they became wood cutters and water carriers for the entire congregation, which is what the leaders had decided concerning them.

²⁴ They replied to Joshua, “Because your servants had been informed that the LORD your God had certainly commanded his servant Moses to give you the entire land and to destroy all of the inhabitants of the land before you. So we were terrified for our lives because of you. That’s why we did this.

²⁴ When they had brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel and spoke to the leaders of the men who had gone out to war along with him, “Come close and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came near and put their feet on their necks.
²⁵ Joshua told the army, “Don’t fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, because this is how the LORD will treat all of your enemies whom you fight.”

²⁸ The Southern CampaignJoshua captured Makkedah that very day, and attacked both it and its king with swords, utterly destroying it along with every person in it, leaving no survivors. He dealt with the king of Makkedah the same way he had dealt with the king of Jericho.

³⁰ The LORD gave both it and its king into the control of Israel, and Joshua executed both its king and every person in it with swords, leaving no survivors. He dealt with the king the same way he had dealt with the king of Jericho.

³² The LORD gave Lachish into the control of Israel, and Joshua captured it the next day. He declared war on the city and executed everyone in it, the same way he had treated Libnah.

⁴⁰ So Joshua conquered the entire land, the hill country, the Negev, the Shephelah, and the wilderness highlands, along with all of their kings. He left none of them remaining, but completely destroyed every living person, just as the LORD God of Israel had commanded.

⁴² Joshua conquered all of these kings and their territories in one campaign, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel.

¹¹ They executed all of the people who lived in it, completely destroying it and leaving no one alive. Then he burned Hazor in fire.
¹² So Joshua captured and annihilated all of these cities, along with their kings, completely destroying them, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded.

⁴⁴ The LORD gave them peace all around them, just as he had promised their ancestors. Not one of their enemies was able to oppose them—the LORD placed all of their enemies under their control.

⁴ When the army of the tribe of Judah went into battle, the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their control, and they defeated 10,000 men at Bezek.

²⁴ The scouts observed a man coming out of the city and they promised him, “Please show us the entrance to the city and we’ll deal kindly with you.”

² As for you, you must not make any treaties with the inhabitants of this land. Instead, tear down their altars.’ But you haven’t obeyed me. What have you done?

² So the king called together the Gibeonites and conferred with them. Now the Gibeonites weren’t part of the nation of Israel, but were the survivors from the Amorites. Although the Israelis had promised to spare them, Saul had started to execute them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.

² some divine beings noticed how attractive human women were, so they took wives for themselves from a selection that pleased them. ³ So the LORD said, “My Spirit won’t remain with human beings forever, because they’re truly mortal. Their lifespan will be 120 years.”

¹² because if you ever turn back and cling to those who remain of these nations by intermarrying with them and associating one with another, ¹³ know for certain that the LORD your God will not continue to drive out these nations ahead of you. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap for you, a whip to your backs, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.

⁶ taking their daughters as wives for themselves, giving their own daughters to their sons, and serving their gods. ⁷ The Israelis kept on practicing evil in full view of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served Canaanite male and female deities.

² all of them from nations that the LORD had ordered the Israelis, “You are not to associate with them and they are not to associate with you, because they will most certainly turn your affections away to follow their gods.” Solomon became deeply attached to them by falling in love.

¹ Ezra’s Reaction to Foreign Marriages
After these things occurred, certain officials approached me and said “The people of Israel, the priests, and the descendants of Levi have not separated themselves from the people of the lands or from the detestable behavior of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, ² because they and their sons have married foreign women. As a result, the holy people have mingled themselves among the peoples of these lands. As a matter of fact, the senior officials and the rulers have been foremost in this sin.”

²³ Removing Foreign Spouses
At that time I also noticed that Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴ Furthermore, their children spoke half of the time in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the language of Judah. Instead, they spoke in the languages of various peoples. ²⁵ So I rebuked them, cursed them, struck some of their men, tore out their hair, and made them take this oath in the name of God: “You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. ²⁶ Didn’t Solomon, king of Israel, sin by doing these things, even though among many nations there was no king like him who was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel? Even so, foreign women caused him to sin. ²⁷ Should we listen to you and do all of this terrible evil by transgressing against our God to marry foreign wives?”

¹⁴ Relating with UnbelieversStop becoming unevenly yoked with unbelievers. What partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? What fellowship can light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony exists between the Messiah and Beliar, or what do a believer and an unbeliever have in common? ¹⁶ What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: “I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ¹⁷ Therefore, “Get away from them and separate yourselves from them,” declares the Lord, “and don’t touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.

⁵ You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the iniquity of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

²⁶ Heaven and earth will testify against what has occurred today: you’ll surely and swiftly be destroyed from the land that you are about to possess by crossing the Jordan River. You won’t live long in it, because you’ll certainly be exterminated.

¹⁵ For the LORD your God who is among you is a jealous God. He will turn his anger against you and destroy you from the surface of the land.”

¹⁶ They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons— not to the real God— gods whom they didn’t know, new neighbors who had recently appeared, whom your ancestors never feared.

¹¹ The Rise of the JudgesSo the Israelis practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by worshiping Canaanite deities.

²⁰ In his burning anger against Israel, the LORD said, “Because the people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors to keep, and because they haven’t obeyed me,

⁷ The Israelis kept on practicing evil in full view of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served Canaanite male and female deities. ⁸ Then in his burning anger against Israel, the LORD delivered them to domination by King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim. So the Israelis served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.

⁶ Israel Descends into ApostasyLater on, the Israelis again practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by serving the Baals, the stars, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the descendants of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. In doing so, they ignored the LORD and wouldn’t serve him. ⁷ In his burning anger against Israel, he sold them into domination by the Philistines and the Ammonites,

²⁴ You are not to bow down to their gods or serve them. You are not to follow their practices, but you are to overthrow them completely and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

²⁰ He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, and ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water and made the Israelis drink it.

¹³ Rather, you are to tear down their altars, you are to smash their sacred pillars, and you are to cut down their sacred poles—

¹ Rewards for Obedience“You are not to make worthless idols, images, or pillars for yourselves, nor set up for yourselves carved images to bow down to them in the land, because I am the LORD your God.

²⁵ Burn the images of their gods in the fire. Desire neither the silver nor the gold that adorns them, nor take them for yourselves, so you won’t be ensnared by them, because the gold and silver is detestable to the LORD your God.

²¹ Now, when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain.”

² Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you’re going to dispossess serve their gods—upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ³ Tear down their altars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods to erase their memory from that place.”

²² Furthermore, you are not to erect for yourselves a sacred stone pillar, because the LORD your God detests these things.

²⁵ Later that very night, the LORD told Gideon, “Take the bull that belongs to your father, along with a second bull that’s seven years old. Then tear down the altar to Baal that your father owns, cut down the Asherah that’s beside it, ²⁶ and build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this stronghold in an orderly manner. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering using the wood from the Asherah that you’ll be cutting down.”

⁶ He brought the Asherah from the LORD’s Temple to the Kidron Brook outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Kidron brook, pulverized the ashes to dust, and scattered it over the graves of the common people.
⁷ He also demolished the temples of the cultic male prostitutes that had been operating in the LORD’s Temple, where the women had been doing weaving for the Asherah. ⁸ Then he gathered together all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He also demolished the high places of the gates that had been erected to the left as one enters the city gate—that is, near the entrance operated by Joshua, the governor of the city. ⁹ Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not approach the LORD’s altar in Jerusalem, but instead they ate unleavened bread given to them by their relatives.
¹⁰ He also defiled Topheth, which is located in the Ben-hinnom Valley, so that no one would force his son or daughter to pass through the fire in dedication to Molech. ¹¹ He abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the LORD’s Temple, near the offices of Nathan-melech, the official, that were in the precincts. He also set fire to the chariots of the sun.
¹² The king demolished the rooftop altars on top of Ahaz’s upper chamber that the kings of Judah had erected, as well as the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the LORD’s Temple. He pulverized them where they stood and cast their dust into the Kidron Brook. ¹³ The king defiled the high places which faced Jerusalem on the south side of Corruption Mountain, which King Solomon of Israel had constructed for Ashtoreth, the Sidonian abomination, for Chemosh, the Moabite abomination, and for Milcom, the Ammonite abomination. ¹⁴ He broke the pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherim, and filled their locations with human bones.

⁵ And now if you carefully obey me and keep my covenant, you are to be my special possession out of all the peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me, ⁶ but you are to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to me.’ These are the words you are to declare to the Israelis.”

² because you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD chose to make you his precious possession from among all the peoples of the earth.”

¹⁹ so he may elevate you far above all the nations that he has made. Then you will live to the praise, fame, and glory of God, and so be a nation that is holy to the LORD your God, as he has promised.”

⁹ “The LORD will assign you to be a holy people for himself, just as he promised you, as long as you keep his commands and walk in his ways.

⁵ “Assemble before me, my saints, who have entered into my covenant by sacrifice.”

³ Israel was consecrated to the LORD, she was the first fruits of his produce. All who devoured her became guilty and disaster came on them,” declares the LORD.’”

² ‘You alone have I known from among all of the families of mankind; therefore I will hold you accountable for all your iniquities.’”

¹⁷ “They’ll be mine,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “in the day when I prepare my treasured possession. I’ll spare them, just as a man spares his own son who serves him.

¹⁹ You know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, don’t you? You do not belong to yourselves, ²⁰ because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies.

¹⁴ He gave himself for us to set us free from every wrong and to cleanse us so that we could be his special people who are enthusiastic about doing good deeds.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

⁵ and if he did not spare the ancient world but protected Noah, a righteous preacher, along with seven others when he brought the flood on the world of ungodly people;

⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and to hold unrighteous people for punishment on the day of judgment,

²² Your ancestors went down to Egypt with 70 people, but the LORD your God has now made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.”

¹ The Impotence of Idols Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name be given glory on account of your gracious love and faithfulness.

² Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. For when he was only one person I called him, but I made him fruitful and made him many.

¹⁴ How narrow is the gate and how constricted is the road that leads to life, and there aren’t many people who find it!”

³² Stop being afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

¹¹ Yet before their children had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s plan of election might continue to operate ¹² according to his calling and not by actions), Rebecca was told, “The older child will serve the younger one.” ¹³ So it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
¹⁴ What can we say, then? God is not unrighteous, is he? Of course not! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, “I will be merciful to the person I want to be merciful to, and I will be kind to the person I want to be kind to.”

¹⁸ Therefore, God has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.

²¹ A potter has the right to do what he wants to with his clay, doesn’t he? He can make something for a special occasion or something for ordinary use from the same lump of clay.

²⁷ Isaiah also calls out concerning Israel, “Although the descendants of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will be saved. ²⁸ For the Lord will carry out his plan decisively, bringing it to completion on the earth.”
²⁹ It is just as Isaiah predicted: “If the Lord of the Heavenly Armies had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom and would have been compared to Gomorrah.”

⁶ But if this is by grace, then it is no longer on the basis of actions. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

¹ We are God’s ChildrenSee what kind of love the Father has given us: We are called God’s children—and that is what we are! For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him, either.

¹⁰ This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

¹⁶ and said, “I have taken an oath to swear by myself,” declares the LORD, “that since you have carried this out and have not withheld your only unique son, ¹⁷ I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies. ¹⁸ Furthermore, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my command.”

⁴¹ At the end of 430 years, to the very day, all the tribal divisions of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² That was for the LORD a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night belongs to the LORD, and is to be a vigil for all the Israelis from generation to generation.

³ The Festival of Unleavened BreadThen Moses told the people, “Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, from the house of bondage, because the LORD brought you out from this place with a strong show of force. Moreover, nothing leavened is to be eaten.

¹⁴ Then when your child asks you in the future, ‘What is this?’, you are to say to him, ‘The LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of bondage with a strong show of force.

² “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by yourself as you told them, ‘I’ll increase the number of your descendants like the stars of the heavens, I’ll give your descendants all of this land about which I have spoken, and they are to possess it forever.’”

²⁰ For the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace—out of Egypt—to be the people of his inheritance, as you are today.

³⁴ Or has any god ever taken for himself one nation out from another nation with testings, signs, wonders, wars, awesome power, and magnificent, terrifying deeds as the LORD your God did in Egypt before your eyes?

³⁷ Moreover, he loved your ancestors, chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt, accompanied by his presence and great power,

⁴ After the LORD has expelled them before you, you are not to say to yourselves, ‘The LORD caused me to enter and possess this land because of my righteousness.’ ⁵ On the contrary, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you to confirm what the LORD promised by an oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹⁵ yet the LORD committed himself to love your ancestors—and did so! He chose you—their descendants after them—from all the nations, as it is today.

²² Indeed, the LORD won’t abandon His people for the sake of His great name, for the LORD desires to make you a people for himself.

²⁰ He brought me to a wide open area, rescuing me because he was pleased with me!

³ It was not with their sword that they inherited the land, nor did their own arm deliver them. But it was by your power, your strength, and by the light of your face; because you were pleased with them.

⁸ He remembers his eternal covenant— every promise he made for a thousand generations, ⁹ like the covenant he made with Abraham, and his promise to Isaac. ¹⁰ He presented it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant.

⁴² Indeed, he remembered his sacred promise to his servant Abraham.

⁴ Since you’re precious in my sight and honored, and because I love you, I’m giving up people in your place, and nations in exchange for your life.”

³ The LORD appeared to Israel from far away and said, “I’ve loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I’ve drawn you with gracious love.

¹⁷ The LORD your God among you is powerful— he will save and he will take joyful delight in you. In his love he will renew you with his love; he will celebrate with singing because of you.

²⁶ Yes, Father, because this is what was pleasing to you.

⁵⁵ according to the promise he made to our ancestors— to Abraham and his descendants forever.”

⁷² He has shown mercy to our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham. He granted us

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love for us ⁵ even when we were dead because of our offenses, made us alive together with the Messiah (by grace you have been saved),

¹³ At all times we are obligated to thank God for you, brothers who are loved by the Lord, because God chose you to be the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through faith in the truth. ¹⁴ With this purpose in mind, he called you through our proclamation of the gospel so that you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

³ After all, we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and misled. We were slaves to many kinds of lusts and pleasures, spending our days in malice and jealousy. We were despised, and we hated one another. ⁴ In grace our Savior God appeared, to make his love for mankind clear. ⁵ ‘Twas not for deeds that we had done, but by his steadfast love alone, he saved us through a second birth, renewed us by the Spirit’s work, ⁶ and poured him out upon us, too, through Jesus the Messiah our Savior true. ⁷ And so, made heirs by his own grace, eternal life we now embrace.

¹³ God’s Promise is ReliableFor when God made his promise to Abraham, he swore an oath by himself, since he had no one greater to swear by. ¹⁴ He said, “I will certainly bless you and give you many descendants.” ¹⁵ And so he obtained what he had been promised, because he patiently waited for it. ¹⁶ For people swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ In the same way, when God wanted to make the unchangeable character of his purpose perfectly clear to the heirs of his promise, he guaranteed it with an oath,

¹⁹ We love because God first loved us.

⁷ I’m establishing my covenant between me and you, and with your descendants who come after you, generation after generation, as an eternal covenant, to be your God and your descendants’ God after you.

⁶ but showing gracious love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.ג

⁶ The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and filled with gracious love and truth. ⁷ He graciously loves thousands, and forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. But he does not leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the ancestors on their children, and on their children’s children to the third and fourth generation.”

³⁵ “You have been shown this in order to know that ‘the LORD is God’ and there is no one like him.

¹⁰ but showing gracious love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.ג

¹⁵ Remember his covenant forever, his promise that he made to the thousandth generation,

⁵ I said, “Please, LORD, God of Heaven, the great and fearsome God who keeps the covenant, showing gracious love to those who love you and keep your commands,

⁷⁵ I know, LORD, that your decrees are just, and that you have rightfully humbled me.

⁶ maker of heaven and earth, the seas and everything in them, forever the guardian of truth,

⁷ “This is what my Lord says— the LORD your Redeemer, O Israel, and his Holy One— to one despised by people, to those abhorred as a nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings see and arise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, the one who has chosen you.”

²³ They are new every morning— great is your faithfulness!

⁴ I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing and saying: ‘Lord! Great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and gracious love for those who love him and obey his commandments,

²⁸ And we know that for those who love God, that is, for those who are called according to his purpose, all things are working together for good.

⁹ Faithful is the God by whom you were called into fellowship with his Son Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

³ But anyone who loves God is known by him.

³ They all ate the same spiritual food

¹⁸ As certainly as God is faithful, we haven’t talked to you with mixed messages like that.

²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will continue to be faithful.

³ But the Lord is faithful and will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

¹³ Our faith may fail, his never wanes— That’s who he is, he cannot change!

² which is based on the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.

¹⁸ so that by these two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge in him might be encouraged to seize the hope set before us.

²³ Let us continue to hold firmly to the hope that we confess without wavering, for the one who made the promise is faithful.

¹¹ By faith Sarah, even though she was old and barren, received the strength to conceive, because she was convinced that the one who had made the promise was faithful.

¹² Trial and TemptationHow blessed is the man who endures temptation! When he has passed the test, he will receive the victor’s crown of life that God has promised to those who keep on loving him.

⁹ If we make it our habit to confess our sins, in his faithful righteousness he forgives us for those sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

⁹ Know that the LORD your God is God, the trusted God who faithfully keeps his covenant to the thousandth generation of those who love him and obey his commands.

²⁵ Outside, the sword will cause bereavement; within, there will be terror for the young man and virgin alike, also for the nursing infant and the aged man.”

³⁵ To me belong vengeance and recompense. In due time their feet will slip, because their time of calamity is near and the things prepared for them draw near.

⁴¹ I’ll whet my shining sword, with my hands in firm grasp of judgment. I’ll show vengeance on my adversary and repay those who keep on hating me.

⁸ Your hand will find all your enemies, your right hand will find those who hate you. ⁹ When you appear, you will set them ablaze like a fire furnace. In his wrath, the LORD will consume them, and the fire will devour them.

³¹ If the righteous receive what they are due here on earth, how much more will the wicked and the sinner.

¹⁸ So he will repay according to their action: Anger to his enemies, retribution to his foes; to the coastlands he will render their due.

² The LORD’s Anger against AssyriaA jealous God, the LORD avenges. The LORD avenges; The Lord is an angry husband. The LORD takes vengeance on his enemies, reserving anger for his adversaries.

²³ The person who hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ If I hadn’t done among them the actions that no one else did, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.

¹⁹ Do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will pay them back, declares the Lord.”

⁹ The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some people understand slowness, but is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to perish, but wants everyone to repent. ¹⁰ But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will disappear with a roaring sound, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be exposed.

¹ Moses Presents the Privileges of the Covenant“Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I’m teaching you to observe so you may live and go in to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is about to give you.

³² You must be careful to do what the LORD your God commanded you, turning neither to the left nor to the right.

¹⁵ The Promise of the Helper“If you love me, keep my commandments.

³ “If you live by my statutes, obey my commands, and observe them, ⁴ then I’ll send your rain in its season so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will yield their fruit. ⁵ Threshing will extend to the time of vintage and the vintage will extend to the time of sowing, so that you’ll eat your bread to your satisfaction and live securely in your land. ⁶ I’ll give peace in the land so that you’ll lie down without fear. I’ll remove wild beasts from the land, and not even war will come to your land. ⁷ Instead, you’ll pursue your enemies and they’ll die by the sword before you. ⁸ Five of you will chase a hundred, a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
⁹ “I’ll look after you, ensuring that you’ll be fruitful. I’ll increase your number and keep my covenant with you. ¹⁰ When you have consumed what was stored of the old, then you’ll take out the old and replace it with what’s new. ¹¹ I’ll set up my tent in your midst and I won’t loathe you. ¹² I’ll walk among you. I will be your God, and you’ll be my people. ¹³ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you will no longer be their slaves, since I’ve broken their oppressive yoke upon you to make you walk upright.”

¹ Rewards for Obedience“Indeed, if you diligently obey the LORD your God to carry out all his commands that I’m giving you today, then the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ² Moreover, all these blessings will come upon you in abundance, if you obey the LORD your God:
³ “Blessed will you be in the city and blessed will you be in the country.
⁴ “Blessed will your children be, as well as the produce of your land, the offspring of your beasts and cattle, and the offspring of your flock.
⁵ “Blessed will be your grain basket and your kneading bowl.
⁶ “Blessed will you be in your comings and goings.”
⁷ “The LORD will make your enemies, who rise against you and attack from one direction, to flee from you in seven directions.
⁸ “The LORD will send blessings for you with regard to your barns and everything you undertake. Indeed, he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you.
⁹ “The LORD will assign you to be a holy people for himself, just as he promised you, as long as you keep his commands and walk in his ways.
¹⁰ “Then all the people of the earth will observe that the name of the LORD is proclaimed among you, and they will fear you.
¹¹ “The LORD will show his abundant goodness with respect to your children, the offspring of your animals, and the produce of your farmland that he promised your ancestors he would give you.
¹² “The LORD will open his rich treasury, the heavens, to release rain upon your land in season and bless everything you undertake so that you’ll lend to many nations but won’t borrow.
¹³ “The LORD your God will make you the head and not the tail—placing you above and not beneath—if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I’m giving you today to keep and observe. ¹⁴ Do not deviate from any of his commands that I’m giving you today—neither to the right nor the left—to follow and serve other gods.”

²⁰ You will remain true to Jacob, and merciful to Abraham, as you promised our ancestors long ago.

²⁵ You are to serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your food and water, and I’ll remove sickness from you.

⁷ The LORD Keeps His Covenant“It wasn’t because you were more numerous than other people of the earth that the LORD committed himself to you and chose you. In fact, you were the least numerous of all the peoples.

³ “Blessed will you be in the city and blessed will you be in the country.
⁴ “Blessed will your children be, as well as the produce of your land, the offspring of your beasts and cattle, and the offspring of your flock.
⁵ “Blessed will be your grain basket and your kneading bowl.

¹¹ “The LORD will show his abundant goodness with respect to your children, the offspring of your animals, and the produce of your farmland that he promised your ancestors he would give you.

¹⁵ Reversal of Blessings“But if you don’t obey the LORD your God and faithfully carry out all his commands and statutes that I’m giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overwhelm you.
¹⁶ “Cursed will you be in the city and cursed will you be in the country.
¹⁷ “Cursed will be your grain basket and your kneading bowl.
¹⁸ “Cursed will your children be, as well as the produce of your land, the offspring of your beasts and cattle, and the offspring of your flock.

¹² The LORD blessed Job during the latter part of his life more than the former, since he owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys.

³ He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither. He will prosper in everything he does.

⁷ Indeed, the LORD is righteous; he loves righteousness; the upright will see him face-to-face.

¹² May our sons in their youth be like full-grown plants, and our daughters like pillars destined to decorate a palace. ¹³ May our granaries be filled, storing produce in abundance; may our sheep bring forth thousands, even tens of thousands in our fields. ¹⁴ May our cattle grow heavy with young, with no damage or loss. May there be no cry of anguish in our streets! ¹⁵ Happy are the people to whom these things come; happy are the people whose God is the LORD.

²² The blessing of the LORD establishes wealth, and difficulty does not accompany it.

¹⁰ “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and see if I won’t throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure. ¹¹ And I’ll prevent the devourer from harming you, so that he does not destroy the crops of your land. Nor will the vines in your fields drop their fruit,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

³³ But first be concerned about God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be provided for you as well.

²¹ The person who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I, too, will love him and reveal myself to him.”

¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you’ll abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

²⁷ because the Father himself loves you, and because you have loved me and believed that I came from God.

²⁶ No woman will miscarry or be barren in your land, and I’ll make every day of your life complete.
²⁷ “I’ll go ahead of you and terrorize all the people to whom you are coming. I’ll confuse your enemies and make them turn their backs on you and run away. ²⁸ I’ll send hornets ahead of you and they’ll drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. ²⁹ I won’t drive them out before you in a single year, so that the land does not become desolate and so that wild animals do not overrun you. ³⁰ I’ll drive them out ahead of you little by little until you increase in numbers and possess the land.
³¹ “I’ll set your borders from the Reed Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, bringing the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you are to drive them out ahead of you.

⁹ “I’ll look after you, ensuring that you’ll be fruitful. I’ll increase your number and keep my covenant with you.

⁴ “Blessed will your children be, as well as the produce of your land, the offspring of your beasts and cattle, and the offspring of your flock.

²⁹ How blessed are you, Israel! Who can be like you, a people delivered by the LORD, your shield of help and your finely crafted sword. May your enemies cower before you. You will tread down their high places.”

¹⁵ May you be blessed by the LORD, who made the heavens and the earth.

³ Children are a gift from the LORD; a productive womb, the LORD’s reward.

¹⁹ He declares his words to Jacob, his statutes and decrees to Israel. ²⁰ He has not dealt with any other nation like this; they never knew his decrees. Hallelujah!

¹¹ The magicians were not able to stand before Moses because of the boils, because the boils were on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

²⁶ He said, “If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what he sees to be right, listen to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then I won’t inflict on you all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians, because I am the LORD your healer.”

³ “If you live by my statutes, obey my commands, and observe them, ⁴ then I’ll send your rain in its season so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will yield their fruit.

²⁷ “The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, skin disease, and festering rashes, and none of them will be curable.

⁶⁰ He will inflict on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they won’t be curable.

³⁶ He struck down every firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their progeny. ³⁷ Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold, and no one among his tribes stumbled.

³³ They are not to live in your land. Otherwise they will cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will become a snare for you.”

⁵⁵ But if you fail to drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, their survivors will become irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, to prick your sides and afflict you in the very land in which you’ll be living.

² So when the LORD your God delivers them to you and you have defeated them, then utterly destroy them. You are not to make any covenant with them nor be gracious to them.

³⁰ after they have been destroyed in your sight, be careful not to be ensnared as they were. Otherwise, you will seek their gods and ask yourselves, ‘How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.’ ³¹ You must not do the same to the LORD your God, because they practiced in the presence of their gods every sort of abomination that the LORD hates. Moreover, they sacrificed their sons and daughters to their gods.

¹³ Have no pity on him, but totally purge the shedding of innocent blood from Israel so that life may go well with you.”

²¹ Your eyes must not show pity—life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.”

¹² you are to cut off her hand. Don’t show any pity.”

¹³ know for certain that the LORD your God will not continue to drive out these nations ahead of you. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap for you, a whip to your backs, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
¹⁴ “Look here: today I’m going down the path that everyone on earth takes, and you know with all your hearts and souls that not a single word of all of the good things that the LORD your God spoke about you has failed to happen. Everything has been fulfilled about you—not one of them has failed. ¹⁵ However, just as all of the good things have come about that the LORD your God promised, so also the LORD will bring upon you all of the threats until he has destroyed you from possessing this good land that he has given you. ¹⁶ When you break the covenant of the LORD your God that he commanded you to obey by going to serve other gods and worship them, then the anger of the LORD will blaze against you, and you will perish quickly from this good land that he gave you.”

³ Therefore I’m now saying, ‘I won’t expel them before you. Instead, they’ll remain at your side, and their gods will ensnare you.’”

¹² They abandoned the LORD God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who surrounded them. They bowed down in worship of them, and by doing so angered the LORD.

⁶ taking their daughters as wives for themselves, giving their own daughters to their sons, and serving their gods.

²⁷ Gideon crafted the booty into an ephod and enshrined it in his home town of Ophrah. Then all of Israel committed spiritual adultery with it there, and it became a snare for Gideon and his household.

³⁶ They worshipped their idols, and this became a trap for them.

⁷ Afterwards,” declares the LORD, “I’ll give King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people—those who are left in this city from the plague, the sword, and the famine—into the control of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, right into the hand of their enemies and the hand of those who want to kill them. He’ll execute them with swords and won’t pity them. He won’t spare them, nor will he have compassion on them.”’

³³ Stop being deceived: “Wicked friends lead to evil ends.”

³² So they put out this false report to the Israelis about the land that they had explored: “The land that we’ve explored is one that devours its inhabitants. All the people whom we observed were giants.

⁵³ take possession of the land, and live in it, because I’ve given you the land to inherit.

¹⁷ You may say to yourselves, ‘I have become wealthy by my own strength and by my own ability.’

⁹ Be careful not to think this wicked thought to yourselves: ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is drawing near,’ and you show ill will toward your poor relative and not give to him. He may then call to the LORD on account of you, and you will be guilty of sin.

²¹ Now you may ask yourselves, ‘How will we be able to discern that the LORD has not spoken?’

¹⁶ The descendants of Joseph replied, “The hill country isn’t sufficient for us, but all the Canaanites who live on the plain have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shean and its villages as well as the inhabitants of the Jezreel Valley.”
¹⁷ So Joshua told the tribes of Joseph, which were Ephraim and Manasseh, “You’re truly a numerous group, and you have great power. You are not to have only one allotment, ¹⁸ but the hill country will also belong to you. Even though it’s a forest, you will clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. You’ll drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and even though they’re strong.”

¹³ You said in your heart, ‘I’ll ascend to heaven, above the stars of God. I’ll erect my throne; I’ll sit on the Mount of Assembly in the far reaches of the north;

⁸ “Now hear this, you wanton creature, lounging with no cares, and saying to herself: ‘I am the one, and there will be none besides me; I won’t live as a widow, nor will I see the loss of children.’

²¹ Then you’ll ask in your heart, ‘Who bore these children for me, although I was childless and barren, and an exile and cast aside? Who brought these up? Look! For my part I was left all alone; but as for these, where have they come from?’

²² When you say to yourselves, ‘Why have all these things happened to me?’ It’s because of the extent of your iniquity that your skirt has been lifted up, and your heels have suffered violence.

⁴⁷ But Jesus, knowing their inner thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him.

¹ God Appoints Aaron to Assist MosesThe LORD told Moses, “Listen! I’ve positioned you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. ² You are to speak everything that I’ve commanded you, and then your brother Aaron will speak to Pharaoh, telling him to let the Israelis go out of his land. ³ I’ll harden Pharaoh’s heart and I’ll add more and more of my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴ When Pharaoh won’t listen to you, I’ll let loose my power upon Egypt. I’ll bring out my tribal divisions—my people the Israelis—from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment. ⁵ The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand over Egypt to bring the Israelis out from among them.” ⁶ Moses and Aaron did what the LORD commanded them. ⁷ Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh.
⁸ Moses’ Staff Becomes a SnakeThen the LORD told Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miraculous sign,’ then you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it in front of Pharaoh.’ It will become a serpent.”
¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and did what the LORD had commanded them. Aaron threw his staff in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and sorcerers, and they—along with the Egyptian magicians—did the same thing with their secret arts. ¹² So each one threw down his staff and it became a serpent, but Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. ¹³ Yet Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had said would happen.
¹⁴ Water is Turned into BloodThen the LORD told Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard. He has refused to let the people go.

²⁹ “Then I told you, ‘Don’t be terrified or afraid of them.

⁶ We utterly destroyed them, just as we did King Sihon of Heshbon, attacking them in every city—the men, women, and children.

⁶ Be strong and courageous. Don’t fear or tremble before them, because the LORD your God will be the one who keeps on walking with you—he won’t leave you or abandon you.”

¹³ But Gideon replied, “Right… Sir, if the LORD is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? And where are all of his miraculous works that our ancestors recounted to us when they said, ‘The LORD brought us up from Egypt, didn’t he?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us over to Midian!”

¹ Davidic
Confidence in the LORD The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom will I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom will I be afraid? ² When those who practice evil, my enemies, and my oppressors come near me to devour my flesh, they stumble and fall.

¹ To the Director: A song by the Sons of Korah, to the tune of “The Maidens”.
God is the Refuge of His People God is our refuge and strength, a great help in times of distress. ² Therefore we will not be frightened when the earth roars, when the mountains shake in the depths of the seas,

¹¹ I will remember the LORD’S deeds; indeed, I will remember your awesome deeds from long ago.

¹¹ They have forgotten what he has done, his awesome deeds that they witnessed.

⁴² They did not remember his power— the day he delivered them from their adversary, ⁴³ when he set his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the plain of Zoan. ⁴⁴ He turned their rivers into blood and made their streams undrinkable. ⁴⁵ He sent swarms of insects to bite them and frogs to destroy them. ⁴⁶ He gave their crops to caterpillars and what they worked for to locusts. ⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore trees with frost. ⁴⁸ He delivered their beasts to hail and their livestock to lightning bolts. ⁴⁹ He inflicted his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, sending destroying angels among them. ⁵⁰ He blazed a path for his anger; he did not stop short from killing them, but handed them over to pestilence. ⁵¹ He struck every firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their manhood in the tents of Ham.

⁵ Remember his awesome deeds that he has done, his wonders and the judgments he declared.

²⁶ He sent his servant Moses, along with Aaron, whom he had chosen. ²⁷ They performed his signs among them, his wonders in the land of Ham. ²⁸ He sent darkness, and it became dark. Did they not rebel against his words? ²⁹ He turned their water into blood, so that the fish died. ³⁰ Their land swarmed with frogs even to the chambers of their kings. ³¹ He spoke, and a swarm of insects invaded their land. ³² He sent hail instead of rain, and lightning throughout their land. ³³ It destroyed their vines and their figs, breaking trees throughout their country. ³⁴ Then he commanded the locust to come— grasshoppers without number. ³⁵ They consumed every green plant in their land, and devoured the fruit of their soil. ³⁶ He struck down every firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their progeny.

⁸ It was the LORD who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, including both men and animals. ⁹ He sent signs and wonders among you, Egypt, before Pharaoh and all his servants. ¹⁰ He struck down many nations, killing many kings—

¹⁰ to the one who struck the firstborn of Egypt, for his gracious love is everlasting— ¹¹ and brought Israel out from among them, for his gracious love is everlasting— ¹² with a strong hand and an active arm, for his gracious love is everlasting. ¹³ To the one who split the Reed Sea in two for his gracious love is everlasting— ¹⁴ and made Israel pass through the middle of it, for his gracious love is everlasting— ¹⁵ and cast Pharaoh and his armies into the Reed Sea, for his gracious love is everlasting.

¹⁰ Don’t be afraid, because I’m with you; don’t be anxious, because I am your God. I keep on strengthening you; I’m truly helping you. I’m surely upholding you with my victorious right hand.”
¹¹ The Coming Defeat of God’s Enemies“Look! All who are enraged at you will be put to shame and disgraced; those who contend with you will all die. ¹² Those who quarrel with you will be as nothing; those who fight you like nothing at all!”
¹³ A Call to Courage“For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand, who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I’ll help you. ¹⁴ Don’t be afraid, you little worm Jacob, and you insects of Israel! I myself will help you,’ declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”

⁹ “Awake! Awake! Clothe yourself with strength, you arm of the LORD! Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of long ago. Was it not you who split apart Rehob, who pierced that sea monster through? ¹⁰ Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed could cross over?”

¹¹ Then they remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant. Where is the one who brought up out of the sea the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put his Holy Spirit among them, ¹² and who made his glorious arm march at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters in front of them to win an everlasting name, ¹³ who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the open desert, they did not stumble; ¹⁴ like cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. For you led your people, to win for yourself a glorious name.
¹⁵ God the FatherLook down from heaven, and see from your holy and glorious dwelling. Where are your zeal and your might? Where are the yearning of your heart and your compassion? They are held back from me.

² Keep in mind today that I am not speaking to your children, who neither were aware of nor did they witness the discipline of the LORD your God, that is, his great and far-reaching power, ³ including: the signs and works that he did within Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to all his land; ⁴ what he did to the Egyptian army, its horses and chariots, when he caused the waters of the Reed Sea to engulf them as they pursued you; how the LORD destroyed them, even to this day;

³ Those great feats that you saw with your own eyes are signs and great wonders.

¹⁰ Joshua continued, “This is how you’ll know that the living God really is among you: he’s going to remove the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites right in front of you.

¹⁰ You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh, against all of his officials, and against all the people of his land, because you knew they acted arrogantly against your people. So you established your name with them, as it remains to this day. ¹¹ You divided the sea in front of them, and they traveled through the midst of the sea on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths, as one throws a stone into turbulent waters.

²⁰ You are the one who performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and continue to do so until this day, both in Israel and among the rest of humanity. You made a reputation for yourself that continues to this day. ²¹ By your strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror, you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders.

⁶ That day I promised to bring them out of the land of Egypt to the land that I had explored for them—a land flowing with milk and honey. It’s the most beautiful of all lands. ⁷ Then I told them, ‘Each of you are to abandon your detestable practices. You are not to defile yourselves with Egypt’s idols. I am the LORD your God.’”’”
⁸ A Brief History of Israel’s Rebellion“But they rebelled against me and weren’t willing to obey me. None of them abandoned their detestable practices or their Egyptian idols. So I said, ‘I’ll pour out my anger on them, extending my fury in the middle of the land of Egypt.’ ⁹ I did this so my reputation might not be tarnished among the nations where they were living, among whom I made myself known in their presence when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

²⁸ I’ll send hornets ahead of you and they’ll drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. ²⁹ I won’t drive them out before you in a single year, so that the land does not become desolate and so that wild animals do not overrun you. ³⁰ I’ll drive them out ahead of you little by little until you increase in numbers and possess the land.

¹² ‘Then I sent hornets ahead of you to drive out two kings of the Amorites before you without your using either sword or bow.

²⁰ There were times when the cloud remained over the tent for a number of days. They camped in accordance with the LORD’s instructions and they traveled in accordance with LORD’S instructions.

⁹ However, don’t rebel against the LORD or be afraid of the people who live in the land, because we’ll gobble them right up. Their defenses will collapse, because the LORD is with us. You are not to be afraid of them.”

¹⁴ they’ll also proclaim to the inhabitants of this land that they’ve heard you’re among this people, LORD, whom they’ve seen face to face, since your cloud stands guard over them. You’ve guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night.

⁴² Don’t go up, since you know that the LORD is no longer with you. You’ll be attacked right in front of your own enemies.

³ They gathered together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have appropriated too much for yourselves from the entire congregation, since all of them are holy, and the LORD is among them, too. Why do you exalt yourselves over the LORD’s assembly?”

²¹ He has not responded to iniquity in Jacob or gazed at mischief in Israel. The LORD his God is with them, and the triumphant cry of a king is among them.

¹⁷ For the LORD your God is the God of all gods, the LORD of all lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who does not show favoritism or take bribes.

⁸ Then the elders of the city are to summon him and speak with him. If he insists on saying, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’

⁸ How terrible for us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert.

⁸ He only has the strength of his own flesh, but the LORD our God is with us to help us and to fight our battles.” So the people were encouraged from what King Hezekiah of Judah told them.

¹⁴ Looking things over, I stood up and spoke to the officials, the military leaders, and the rest of the people: “Don’t fear them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord. Fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

³² “Now therefore, our God, the great, mighty, and awesome God, who keeps the covenant and gracious love, don’t let all of the difficulties seem trifling to you, all of hardships that have come upon us, upon our kings, upon our leaders, upon our priests, upon our prophets, upon our ancestors, and upon all of your people from the time of the kings of Assyria until this day.

⁵ Since God is in her midst, she will not be shaken. God will help her at the break of dawn.

⁷ The LORD of the heavenly armies is with us; our refuge is the God of Jacob. Interlude

¹¹ The LORD of the heavenly armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Interlude

⁹ “Band together, you peoples, but be shattered! Listen, all you distant countries! Strap on your armor, but be shattered. ¹⁰ Take counsel together, but it will all be for nothing; go ahead and talk, but it will all be for nothing, for God is with us.”

¹⁰ The LORD will Live in Zion“Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion! Take note! I am coming to live in your midst,” declares the LORD. ¹¹ “Many nations will cling to the LORD at that time and will become my people. I will live in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies has sent me to you.

² ‘Look, I am making Jerusalem an unstable cup toward all of its surrounding armies when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. ³ It will come about at that time that I will make Jerusalem a heavy weight; so everyone who burdens themselves with it will be crushed, even though all of the nations of the earth gather themselves against it. ⁴ At that time,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will strike every horse with panic and every rider with insanity. I will keep my eyes on the house of Judah, but I will blind every horse of the invading armies. ⁵ The leaders of Judah will say to themselves, “Those who live in Jerusalem are my strength through the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, their God.”

²⁵ His secret, inner heart will become known, and so he will bow down to the ground and worship God, declaring, “God is truly among you!”

⁶³ Now as for the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, the descendants of Judah could not expel them, so Jebusites live with the descendants of Judah in Jerusalem to this day.

¹⁵ Indeed, the hand of the LORD was against them to root them out from the camp until they were utterly destroyed.”

²⁰ Just like the nations whom the LORD destroyed before you, so will you be destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of the LORD your God.”

³ But know today that the LORD your God is going ahead of you as a consuming fire. He will destroy and subdue them before you. He will dispossess and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD told you.

⁶ The Day of the LORDWail out loud, because the Day of the LORD is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty!

¹⁸ Let those who pursue me be put to shame, but don’t put me to shame. Let them be terrified, but don’t let me be terrified. Bring the day of judgment on them, and destroy them with double destruction!

¹⁵ A Lament about the Day of the LORDOh, no! For the Day of the LORD approaches, and like destruction from the Almighty, it will come!

⁹ Such people will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction by being separated from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious power

¹⁴ Then the LORD told Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua: ‘I’ll certainly wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven.’”

¹⁴ Let me alone! I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven. Then I’ll make you into a nation that will be mighty and more numerous than they are.’

²⁵ No one will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God will instill terror and fear of you throughout the entire land wherever you go, just as he promised you.

¹⁹ Therefore, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies who surround you in the land that he is about to give you to possess as an inheritance, you must completely erase the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven. Don’t forget!”

²⁰ “The LORD won’t forgive such a person. Instead, the zealous anger of the LORD will blaze against him. All the curses that were written in this book will fall on him. Then the LORD will wipe out his memory from under heaven.

⁵ No one will be victorious against you for the rest of your life. I’ll be with you just like I was with Moses—I’ll neither fail you nor abandon you.

⁸ The LORD told Joshua, “Don’t fear them, because I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will withstand you.”

¹ Kingdoms Conquered by IsraelThis is a list of the kings who ruled the land that the Israelis conquered, and whose territories they took on the other side of the Jordan River toward the east, from the Arnon River to Mount Hermon, along with the entire eastern Jordan plain. ² Sihon king of the Amorites lived in Heshbon and ruled from Aroer, which is located on the edge of the Arnon River from the middle of the valley, including half of Gilead as far as Wadi Jabbok, the border of the Ammonites, ³ and toward the Arabah as far as the Sea of Galilee to the east, as far as the Arabah Sea (that is, the Dead Sea) to the east as one travels in the direction of Beth-jeshimoth, and to the south as far as the foothills of Pisgah. ⁴ The territory of Og king of Bashan was conquered. He was one of the last of the Rephaim, and lived at Ashtaroth and Edrei, ⁵ ruling over Mount Hermon, Salecah, and all of Bashan as far as the border of the descendants of Geshur, the descendants of Maacath, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.
⁶ Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the Israelis defeated them. Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave it to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh as their inheritance.

⁹ because the LORD has expelled great and strong nations ahead of you. Now as for you, not a single man has been able to oppose you right to this day.

⁵ You rebuked the nations, you destroyed the wicked, you wiped out their name forever and ever.

⁷ The reputation of the righteous leads to blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

¹⁷ no weapon that is forged against you will be effective. This is the heritage of the LORD’s servants, and their righteousness from me,” says the LORD.

¹¹ Tell this to them: “The gods who didn’t make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from these heavens.”

⁴ “I will also stretch out my hand against Judah, and upon all inhabitants of Jerusalem. I’ll wipe out every trace of Baal from this place, and the name of the pagan priests, along with my own priests.

³⁷ In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us.

⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah!

⁵ This is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, break their pillars, cut down their ritual pillars, and burn their carved idols in fire,

¹⁶ You are to utterly destroy everyone whom the LORD your God will deliver to you. Don’t have pity on them nor serve their gods. Otherwise, they will become a snare for you.”

³ Tear down their altars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods to erase their memory from that place.”

¹ You are not to sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep that has a defect or any flaw in it, because that is detestable to the LORD your God.”

¹⁸ Don’t bring the earnings of a female prostitute nor the income of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God as payment for any vow. Both of these are detestable to the LORD your God.”

¹ Israel is Defeated at AiLater, the Israelis broke their promise regarding the things that had been turned over to destruction. Carmi’s son Achan, grandson of Zabdi and great-grandson of Zerah from the tribe of Judah, appropriated some of the things that had been turned over to destruction. As a result, the LORD became angry with the Israelis.

²¹ I noticed among the war spoils a beautiful mantle from Shinar, 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels. Because I wanted them, I took them, and they’re buried in the ground inside my tent. The silver is underneath.”

²⁴ Gideon Falls into IdolatryBut Gideon also added, “I would like to ask that each of you give me a ring from his war booty” because, as Ishmaelites, the Midianites had been wearing gold rings.
²⁵ They responded, “We’ll be happy to give them.” So they laid out a garment, and each of them contributed a ring from his war booty. ²⁶ The weight of the rings that he had asked for was 1,700 gold coins, not counting the crescent-shaped necklaces, pendants, and purple garments worn by the Midian kings, and also not counting the bands adorning the necks of their camels.
²⁷ Gideon crafted the booty into an ephod and enshrined it in his home town of Ophrah. Then all of Israel committed spiritual adultery with it there, and it became a snare for Gideon and his household.

¹² The Philistines abandoned their gods there, so David ordered that their idols be incinerated.

²² Then you will defile your carved idols that are overlaid with silver and your images plated with gold. You’ll throw them away like disgusting objects and say to them, “Away with you!”

³ “I’ll consume both human beings and animals— I’ll consume the birds of the sky, the fish in the sea, and the wicked along with their sin, when I eliminate human beings from the land,” declares the LORD.

⁹ But people who want to get rich keep toppling into temptation and are trapped by many stupid and harmful desires that plunge them into destruction and ruin. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.

⁵ On her forehead was written a secret name:
BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND DETESTABLE THINGS OF THE EARTH

¹⁷ Moreover, you must never take any item from those condemned things, so the LORD may yet relent from his burning anger and extend compassion, have mercy, and cause you to increase in number—as he promised by an oath to your ancestors—

¹⁷ The city—along with everything in it—is to be turned over to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone who is with her in her house may live, because she hid the scouts we sent. ¹⁸ Now as for you, everything has been turned over for destruction. Don’t covet or take any of these things. Otherwise, you’ll make the camp of Israel itself an object worthy of destruction, and bring trouble on it. ¹⁹ But everything made of silver and gold, and vessels made of bronze and iron are set apart to the LORD. They are to go into the treasury of the LORD.”
²⁰ So the army shouted and the trumpets were blown again. As soon as the army heard the sound of the trumpets, they shouted loudly and the wall collapsed. The army charged straight ahead into the city and captured it. ²¹ They turned over everyone in the city for destruction and executed them, including both men and women, young and old, and oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
²² Joshua told the two men who had scouted the land, “Go into the prostitute’s home and bring her out of it, along with everyone who is with her, just as you promised her.” ²³ So the young men who had been scouts went in and brought Rahab out, along with her father, her mother, her brothers, and everyone else who was with her. They brought her entire family out and set them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴ Then the army set fire to the city and to everything in it, except that they reserved the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron for the treasury of the LORD.

¹ Israel is Defeated at AiLater, the Israelis broke their promise regarding the things that had been turned over to destruction. Carmi’s son Achan, grandson of Zabdi and great-grandson of Zerah from the tribe of Judah, appropriated some of the things that had been turned over to destruction. As a result, the LORD became angry with the Israelis.
² Meanwhile, Joshua had sent some soldiers from Jericho to Ai, which was near Beth-aven, east of Bethel. He ordered them, “Go up and scout the land.” So the soldiers went up and scouted Ai and ³ returned to Joshua.
“Not all of the people need to go up,” they reported. “Only about two or three thousand men should attack Ai. Since they are so few, don’t make all of the army work hard up there.”
⁴ So about three thousand went up there, but they ran away from the men of Ai. ⁵ The men of Ai killed about 36 of them, pursuing them outside the city gates as far as Shebarim, killing them as they descended. As a result, the army became terrified and lost their confidence. ⁶ At this, Joshua tore his clothes, fell down to the ground on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening—he and the leaders of Israel—and they covered their heads with dust. ⁷ “Lord GOD,” Joshua asked, “Why have you brought this people across the Jordan River? To hand us over to the Amorites so we’ll be destroyed? Wouldn’t it have been better for us to be content to settle on the other side of the Jordan? ⁸ Lord, what am I to say, now that Israel has run away from its enemies? ⁹ The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of this, will surround us, and eliminate us from the earth! Then what will you do about your great reputation?”
¹⁰ The LORD Rebukes Joshua“Get up!” the LORD replied to Joshua. “Why have you fallen on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned. They broke my covenant that I commanded them by taking some of the things that had been turned over to destruction. They have stolen, have been deceitful, and have stored what they stole among their own belongings. ¹² The Israelis have been unable to stand before their enemies. They’re turning their backs and running from their enemies because they themselves have been turned over to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy these things that have been turned over to destruction. ¹³ So get up and sanctify the people. Tell them, ‘Sanctify yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, because this is what the LORD God of Israel, says: “There are things turned over to destruction among you, Israel. You won’t be able to defeat your enemies until you remove what has been turned over to destruction. ¹⁴ Tomorrow morning you are to come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD selects is to come forward by tribes, the tribe that the LORD selects is to come forward by households, and the household that the LORD selects is to come forward one by one. ¹⁵ The one selected as having taken what has been turned over to destruction is to be incinerated, along with everything that pertains to him, because he has transgressed against the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrageous thing in Israel.”’”
¹⁶ Achan’s Sin RevealedSo Joshua got up early that morning, brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was selected. ¹⁷ He brought near the tribes of Judah, and the Zerahite tribe was selected. Then he brought near the Zerahite tribe family by family, and the household of Zabdi was selected. ¹⁸ Next, he brought near his household one by one, and Carmi’s son Achan, grandson of Zabdi and great-grandson of Zerah, was selected from the tribe of Judah.
¹⁹ Joshua then spoke to Achan, “My son, give glory and praise to the LORD God of Israel. Tell me right now what you did. Don’t hide anything.”
²⁰ Achan answered Joshua, “It’s true. I’m the one who sinned against the LORD God of Israel. ²¹ I noticed among the war spoils a beautiful mantle from Shinar, 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels. Because I wanted them, I took them, and they’re buried in the ground inside my tent. The silver is underneath.”
²² So Joshua sent some messengers, who ran to the tent. And there it was, hidden in the tent with the silver underneath. ²³ They took the things from the tent that had been turned over to destruction, brought them to Joshua and all of the Israelis, and laid them out in the presence of the LORD. ²⁴ Then Joshua, with all Israel accompanying him, took Zerah’s son Achan, along with the silver, the mantle, the gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and everything that belonged to him to the Valley of Achor.
²⁵ Joshua announced, “Why did you bring trouble to us? Today the LORD is bringing trouble to you!” So all Israel stoned him to death, incinerated them, and buried them with stones, ²⁶ piling up a large mound of boulders that remains to this day. After this, the LORD turned his burning anger away, and that is why that place is called “the Valley of Achor” to this day.

²⁰ At that time, mankind will throw their silver and gold idols that their fingers have made as objects of worship to the moles and to the bats.

¹⁸ When they return from there and cast away all of their loathsome things and detestable practices,

⁷ For when a native Israeli or a resident alien abandons me to set up idols in his heart behind my back, and then places the stumbling block of his iniquity right in front of his own face, then approaches a prophet to inquire of me on behalf of his own self-interest, I, the LORD will answer him myself. ⁸ “Ephraim, what have I in common with idols? I have listened and will pay attention to him. I am like a flourishing cypress; in me will your fruit be found.”

⁹ Judgment on Those who Think They are Safe“Woe to the one who amasses profit upon unjust profit in order to establish his household, so he can establish a secure place on the heights and escape from the power of evil. ¹⁰ You have brought shame to yourself by killing many people— you are forfeiting your own life. ¹¹ Indeed, the stone will cry out from the wall and the rafter will respond from the woodwork.”

⁴ “I am bringing this about,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies. “The curse will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who lies in my name. The curse will remain in his house until that house has been completely destroyed, right down to its timber and stones.”

²² As you forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? As you abhor idols, do you rob temples?