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God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering of the water he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
These are the records of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation. At the time[fn] that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
no shrub of the field had yet grown on the land,[fn] and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground.
The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah,[fn] where there is gold.
So the LORD God said to the serpent:
Because you have done this,
you are cursed more than any livestock
and more than any wild animal.
You will move on your belly
and eat dust all the days of your life.
“You will eat bread[fn] by the sweat of your brow
until you return to the ground,
since you were taken from it.
For you are dust,
and you will return to dust.”
So the LORD God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
She also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground.
“If you work the ground, it will never again give you its yield. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
God saw how corrupt the earth was, for every creature had corrupted its way on the earth.
Then God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to every creature, for the earth is filled with wickedness because of them; therefore I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
“Understand that I am bringing a flood — floodwaters on the earth to destroy every creature under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
“and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky — in order to keep offspring alive throughout the earth.
“Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing I have made I will wipe off the face of the earth.”
God remembered Noah, as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside.
When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
“I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
The LORD said to Abram:
Go from your land,
your relatives,
and your father's house
to the land that I will show you.
He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,
Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)
The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[fn] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.
and there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. (At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land.)
“Get up and walk around the land, through its length and width, for I will give it to you.”
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand in an oath to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
He also said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your offspring, from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River:
“And to you and your future offspring[fn] I will give the land where you are residing — all the land of Canaan — as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”
He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, bowed to the ground,
“You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won't the Judge of the whole earth do what is just? ”
The two angels entered Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in Sodom's gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground
From there Abraham traveled to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,
After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.
“Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from? ”
“The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring'[fn] — he will send his angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.
“If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me, but don't let my son go back there.”
But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, and while he was still alive he sent them eastward, away from his son Isaac, to the land of the East.
“stay in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
“I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed[fn] by your offspring,
“May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”
“Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.
The LORD said to him, “Go back to the land of your ancestors and to your family, and I will be with you.”
“I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to me. Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.' ”
He took all the livestock and possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, and he drove his herds to go to the land of Canaan, to his father Isaac.
Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the territory of Edom.
Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,'
He himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times until he approached his brother.
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
“I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. And I will give the land to your future descendants.”
They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.
These are the sons of Seir the Horite,
the inhabitants of the land:
Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had? ” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you? ”
But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, so whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.
“After them, seven years of famine will take place, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land.
Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph left Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout the land of Egypt.
Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them:
“The man who is the lord of the country spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country.
When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.
When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph's house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.
Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and go on back to the land of Canaan.
Now Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to prepare for his arrival[fn] at Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen,
“Why should we die here in front of you — both us and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food. Then we with our land will become Pharaoh's slaves. Give us seed so that we can live and not die, and so that the land won't become desolate.”
In this way, Joseph acquired all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, because every Egyptian sold his field since the famine was so severe for them. The land became Pharaoh's,
The only land he did not acquire belonged to the priests, for they had an allowance from Pharaoh. They ate from their allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.
Joseph said to the people, “Understand today that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you. Sow it in the land.
So Joseph made it a law, still in effect today in the land of Egypt, that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land does not belong to Pharaoh.
“He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations come from you, and I will give this land as a permanent possession to your future descendants.'
Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.
“He saw that his resting place was good
and that the land was pleasant,
so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load
and became a forced laborer.
They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as burial property from Ephron the Hethite.
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.
“and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey — the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
“And I have promised you that I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites — a land flowing with milk and honey.
“Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it.
“I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens.
“I will bring you to the land that I swore[fn] to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.”
“When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,' tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.' ”
When Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
But the magicians did the same thing by their occult practices and brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt.
“But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where my people are living; no flies will be there. This way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land.
And the LORD did this. Thick swarms of flies went into Pharaoh's palace and his officials' houses. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.
“It will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt. It will become festering boils on people and animals throughout the land of Egypt.”
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven and let there be hail throughout the land of Egypt — on people and animals and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.”
So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail. Lightning struck the land, and the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.
Moses left Pharaoh and the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. Then the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured down on the land.
“They will cover the surface of the land so that no one will be able to see the land. They will eat the remainder left to you that escaped the hail; they will eat every tree you have growing in the fields.
The LORD then said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, and the locusts will come up over it and eat every plant in the land, everything that the hail left.”
So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD sent an east wind over the land all that day and through the night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts.
The locusts went up over the entire land of Egypt and settled on the whole territory of Egypt. Never before had there been such a large number of locusts, and there never will be again.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.”
So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.
“Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt such as never was before or ever will be again.
“When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, you are to observe this ceremony.
“When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites,[fn] which he swore to your ancestors that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you must carry out this ceremony in this month.
“When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and gives it to you,
The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they reached the border of the land of Canaan.
For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.
“I am going to send an angel before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.
“I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerous[fn] and take possession of the land.
“It is a sign forever between me and the Israelites, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”
“Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel — you swore to them by yourself and declared, ‘I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and will give your offspring all this land that I have promised, and they will inherit it forever.' ”
The LORD spoke to Moses: “Go up from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your offspring.
“Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up with you because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.”
“When you enter the land of Canaan that I am giving you as a possession, and I place a mildew contamination in a house in the land you possess,[fn]
“The goat will carry all their iniquities into a desolate land, and the man will release it there.
“When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden.[fn] It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten.
“And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God who set you apart from the peoples.
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest,[fn] you are to bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest.
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you, the land will observe a Sabbath to the LORD.
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
“I will break down your strong pride. I will make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,
“I also will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to live there will be appalled by it.
But he replied to him, “I don't want to go. Instead, I will go to my own land and my relatives.”
“Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so you should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing mother carries a baby,' to the land that you swore to give their ancestors?
“Send men to scout out the land of Canaan I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.”
These were the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun, Joshua.
When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country.
“See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.
They reported to Moses, “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey, and here is some of its fruit.
So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size.
“Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt? ”
Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes
“If the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and give it to us.
“‘Since the LORD wasn't able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them, he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.'
“will ever see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have despised me will see it.
“But since my servant Caleb has a different spirit and has remained loyal to me, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it.
“I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised[fn] to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
“I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it.
So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land —
Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land.
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you to settle in,
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land where I am bringing you,
“Furthermore, you didn't bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey or give us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come! ”
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”
“Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land I have given the Israelites, because you both rebelled against my command at the Waters of Meribah.
Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey.
Heshbon was the city of King Sihon of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken control of all his land as far as the Arnon.
But the LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”
So they struck him, his sons, and his whole army until no one was left,[fn] and they took possession of his land.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range[fn] and see the land that I have given the Israelites.
“which the LORD struck down before the community of Israel, is good land for livestock, and your servants own livestock.”
“Why are you discouraging the Israelites from crossing into the land the LORD has given them?
“After they went up as far as Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the LORD had given them.
“‘Because they did not remain loyal to me, none of the men twenty years old or more who came up from Egypt will see the land I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob —
“But we will arm ourselves and be ready to go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place. Meanwhile, our dependents will remain in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.
Moses told them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, every man in battle formation before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.
“But if they don't go across with you in battle formation, they must accept land in Canaan with you.”
“We will cross over in battle formation before the LORD into the land of Canaan, but we will keep our hereditary possession across the Jordan.”
So Moses gave them — the Gadites, Reubenites, and half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph — the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land including its cities with the territories surrounding them.
“You are to take possession of the land and settle in it because I have given you the land to possess.
“You are to receive the land as an inheritance by lot according to your clans. Increase the inheritance for a large clan and decrease it for a small one. Whatever place the lot indicates for someone will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to your ancestral tribes.
“Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance[fn] with these borders:
“These are the names of the men who are to distribute the land as an inheritance for you: the priest Eleazar and Joshua son of Nun.
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
“for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses.
“Do not defile the land where you live, for bloodshed defiles the land, and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it.
“Do not make the land unclean where you live and where I dwell; for I, the LORD, reside among the Israelites.”
They said, “The LORD commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites. My lord was further commanded by the LORD to give our brother Zelophehad's inheritance to his daughters.
“Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Judean foothills,[fn] the Negev and the sea coast — to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.
“See, I have set the land before you. Enter and take possession of the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their future descendants.'
“See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.
“Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let's send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.'
“‘None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your ancestors,
“except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he remained loyal to the LORD.'
The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out, destroying them completely[fn] and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land of its possession the LORD gave them.
“The LORD also said, ‘Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed the Amorites' King Sihon of Heshbon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of it; engage[fn] him in battle.
“just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us.'
“Then the LORD said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.'
“But you did not go near the Ammonites' land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River, the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.
“But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.'
“At that time we took the land from the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon,
“At that time we took possession of this land. I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the area extending from Aroer by the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead along with its cities.
“I commanded you at that time: The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All your valiant men will cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers the Israelites.
“until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession that I have given you.
“Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.
“But commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit this land that you will see.'
“Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
“The LORD was angry with me on your account. He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
“I won't be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land. But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land.
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed.
“to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as is now taking place.
They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings who were across the Jordan to the east,
“Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.
“When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you — a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build,
“Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and possess the good land the LORD your God swore to give your ancestors,
“but he brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that he swore to our ancestors.
“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, and he drives out many nations before you — the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you —
“Carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land the LORD swore to your ancestors.
“For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills;
“If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish.
“When the LORD your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The LORD brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.' Instead, the LORD will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.
“You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the LORD your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to fulfill the promise he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“Understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
“When the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, he said, ‘Go up and possess the land I have given you'; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not believe or obey him.
“Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because the LORD wasn't able to bring them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.'
“Then the LORD said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their ancestors.'
“Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit,
“and so that you may live long in the land the LORD swore to your ancestors to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal.
“For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you. When you possess it and settle in it,
“When the LORD your God annihilates the nations before you, which you are entering to take possession of, and you drive them out and live in their land,
“Pursue justice and justice alone, so that you will live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.
“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,'
“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations.
“When the LORD your God annihilates the nations whose land he is giving you, so that you drive them out and live in their cities and houses,
“If the LORD your God enlarges your territory as he swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised to give them —
“However, you must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
“you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
“the first husband who sent her away may not marry her again after she has been defiled, because that would be detestable to the LORD. You must not bring guilt on the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it,
“When you come before the priest who is serving at that time, say to him, ‘Today I declare to the LORD your[fn] God that I have entered the land the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.'
“I have now brought the first of the land's produce that you, LORD, have given me.
You will then place the container before the LORD your God and bow down to him.
“Look down from your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you swore to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.
“When you cross the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up large stones and cover them with plaster.
“Write all the words of this law on the stones after you cross to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
“Now if you faithfully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all his commands I am giving you today, the LORD your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth.
“We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
“Therefore the LORD's anger burned against this land, and he brought every curse written in this book on it.
“The LORD uprooted them from their land in his anger, rage, and intense wrath, and threw them into another land where they are today.'
“The LORD your God will bring you into the land your ancestors possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply you more than he did your ancestors.
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,
Moses then summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with[fn] this people into the land the LORD swore to give to their ancestors. You will enable them to take possession of it.
“When I bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper.[fn] They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising me and breaking my covenant.
The LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the Israelites into the land I swore to them, and I will be with you.”
“Assemble all your tribal elders and officers before me so that I may speak these words directly to them and call heaven and earth as witnesses against them.
“For fire has been kindled because of my anger
and burns to the depths of Sheol;
it devours the land and its produce,
and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
“Go up Mount Nebo in the Abarim range in the land of Moab, across from Jericho, and view the land of Canaan I am giving the Israelites as a possession.
“Although from a distance you will view the land that I am giving the Israelites, you will not go there.”
Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which faces Jericho, and the LORD showed him all the land: Gilead as far as Dan,
all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean[fn] Sea,
“Moses my servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites.
“Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their ancestors to give them as an inheritance.
“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get provisions ready for yourselves, for within three days you will be crossing the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you to inherit.' ”
“Remember what Moses the LORD's servant commanded you when he said, ‘The LORD your God will give you rest, and he will give you this land.'
“until the LORD gives your brothers rest, as he has given you, and they too possess the land the LORD your God is giving them. You may then return to the land of your inheritance and take possession of what Moses the LORD's servant gave you on the east side of the Jordan.”
Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove,[fn] saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.
The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land.”
Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.”
and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.[fn]
They told Joshua, “The LORD has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us.”[fn]
For the Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty years until all the nation's men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
“Neither,” he replied. “I have now come as commander of the LORD's army.”
Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in homage and asked him, “What does my lord want to say to his servant? ”
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; they all put dust on their heads.
“When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will you do about your great name? ”
The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all the troops with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land.
“So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, “We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us.” '
The Gibeonites answered him, “It was clearly communicated to your servants that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. We greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this.
So Joshua conquered the whole region — the hill country, the Negev, the Judean foothills,[fn] and the slopes — with all their kings, leaving no survivors. He completely destroyed every living being, as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.
Joshua captured all these kings and their land in one campaign, because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.
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.
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 —
So Joshua took the entire land, in keeping with all that the LORD 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.
The Israelites struck down the following kings of the land and took possession of their land beyond the Jordan to the east and from the Arnon River to Mount Hermon, including all the Arabah eastward:
“the land of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon east from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to the entrance of Hamath[fn] —
“Therefore, divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”
all the cities of the plateau, and all the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon. Moses had killed him and the chiefs of Midian — Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba — the princes of Sihon who lived in the land.
“I was forty years old when Moses the LORD's servant sent me from Kadesh-barnea to scout the land, and I brought back an honest report.
She replied, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me the springs also.” So he gave her the upper and lower springs.
So Joshua asked the Israelites, “How long will you delay going out to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, gave you?
“Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe, and I will send them out. They are to go and survey the land, write a description of it for the purpose of their inheritance, and return to me.
“When you have written a description of the seven portions of land and brought it to me, I will cast lots for you here in the presence of the LORD our God.
As the men prepared to go, Joshua commanded them[fn] to write down a description of the land, saying, “Go and survey the land, write a description of it, and return to me. I will then cast lots for you here in Shiloh in the presence of the LORD.”
So the men left, went through the land, and described it by towns in a document of seven sections. They returned to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.
When they had finished distributing the land into its territories, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them.
These were the portions that the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads distributed to the Israelite tribes by lot at Shiloh in the LORD's presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing up the land.
Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities.
So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there.
“Now that he has given your brothers rest, just as he promised them, return to your homes in your own land that Moses the LORD's servant gave you across the Jordan.
The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they took possession of according to the LORD's command through Moses.
The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead.
They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and told them,
“But if the land you possess is defiled, cross over to the land the LORD possesses where the LORD's tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But don't rebel against the LORD or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God.
Then the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report to them.
The Israelites were pleased with the report, and they blessed God. They spoke no more about going to war against them to ravage the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.
“The LORD your God will force them back on your account and drive them out before you so that you can take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.
“ ‘Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I handed them over to you. You possessed their land, and I annihilated them before you.
“I gave you a land you did not labor for, and cities you did not build, though you live in them; you are eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.'
“The LORD drove out before us all the peoples, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will worship the LORD, because he is our God.”
When she arrived, she persuaded Othniel to ask her father for a field. As she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What do you want? ”
She answered him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me springs also.” So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs.
Then the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a town, and named it Luz. That is its name still today.
The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, because they failed to drive them out.
Naphtali did not drive out the residents of Beth-shemesh or the residents of Beth-anath. They lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, but the residents of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath served as their forced labor.
The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your ancestors. I also said: I will never break my covenant with you.
“You are not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. What have you done?
Previously, when Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites had gone to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.
The servants waited until they became embarrassed and saw that he had still not opened the doors of the upstairs room. So they took the key and opened the doors — and there was their lord lying dead on the floor!
“I rescued you from the power of Egypt and the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
“I will put a wool fleece here on the threshing floor. If dew is only on the fleece, and all the ground is dry, I will know that you will deliver Israel by me, as you said.”
Gideon then said to God, “Don't be angry with me; let me speak one more time. Please allow me to make one more test with the fleece. Let it remain dry, and the dew be all over the ground.”
That night God did as Gideon requested: only the fleece was dry, and dew was all over the ground.
Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops who were with him, got up early and camped beside the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them, below the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
The king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah's messengers, “When Israel came from Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and the Jordan. Now restore it peaceably.”
to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.
“Then they traveled through the wilderness and around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon but did not enter into the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.
“Then the LORD God of Israel handed over Sihon and all his troops to Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of the entire land of the Amorites who lived in that country.
The Spirit of the LORD came on Jephthah, who traveled through Gilead and Manasseh, and then through Mizpah of Gilead. He crossed over to the Ammonites from Mizpah of Gilead.
When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground.
When the people saw him, they praised their god and said:
Our god has handed over to us
our enemy who destroyed our land
and who multiplied our dead.
So the Danites sent out five brave men from all their clans, from Zorah and Eshtaol, to scout out the land and explore it. They told them, “Go and explore the land.”
They came to the hill country of Ephraim as far as the home of Micah and spent the night there.
They answered, “Come on, let's attack them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why wait? Don't hesitate to go and invade and take possession of the land!
The five men who had gone to scout out the land of Laish told their brothers, “Did you know that there are an ephod, household gods, and a carved image and a silver idol[fn] in these houses? Now think about what you should do.”
Then the five men who had gone to scout out the land went in and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the silver idol,[fn] while the priest was standing by the entrance of the city gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.
The Benjaminites came out of Gibeah and slaughtered twenty-two thousand men of Israel on the field that day.
That same day the Benjaminites came out from Gibeah to meet them and slaughtered an additional eighteen thousand Israelites on the field; all were armed.
“Watch, and when you see the young women of Shiloh come out to perform the dances, each of you leave the vineyards and catch a wife for yourself from the young women of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.
She fell facedown, bowed to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner? ”
Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband's death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn't previously know.
Those who are full hire themselves out for food,
but those who are starving hunger no more.
The woman who is childless gives birth to seven,
but the woman with many sons pines away.
Samuel grew. The LORD was with him, and he fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied.[fn]
“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,[fn] your gods, and your land.
When they gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out in the LORD's presence. They fasted that day, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.
He had a son named Saul, an impressive young man. There was no one more impressive among the Israelites than he. He stood a head taller than anyone else.[fn]
Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.
Saul, however, was still at Gilgal, and all his troops were gripped with fear.
Raiding parties went out from the Philistine camp in three divisions. One division headed toward the Ophrah road leading to the land of Shual.
So all the Israelites went to the Philistines to sharpen their plows, mattocks, axes, and sickles.[fn]
Jonathan replied, “My father has brought trouble to the land. Just look at how I have renewed energy[fn] because I tasted a little of this honey.
they rushed to the plunder, took sheep, goats, cattle, and calves, slaughtered them on the ground, and ate meat with the blood still in it.
But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die? He accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel! No, as the LORD lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he worked with God's help today.” So the people redeemed Jonathan, and he did not die.
David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground.
Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Don't stay in the stronghold. Leave and return to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
Then a messenger came to Saul saying, “Come quickly, because the Philistines have raided the land! ”
After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called to Saul, “My lord the king! ” When Saul looked behind him, David knelt low with his face to the ground and paid homage.
When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey and knelt down with her face to the ground and paid homage to David.
She stood up, paid homage with her face to the ground, and said, “Here I am, your servant, a slave to wash the feet of my lord's servants.”
That night, David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the troops were lying around him.
Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy to you. Let me thrust the spear through him into the ground just once. I won't have to strike him twice! ”
“So don't let my blood fall to the ground far from the LORD's presence, for the king of Israel has come out to search for a single flea, like one who pursues a partridge in the mountains.”
David said to himself, “One of these days I'll be swept away by Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape immediately to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me everywhere in Israel, and I'll escape from him.”
Whenever David attacked the land, he did not leave a single person alive, either man or woman, but he took flocks, herds, donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he came back to Achish,
Then Saul asked her, “What does he look like? ”
“An old man is coming up,” she replied. “He's wearing a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he knelt low with his face to the ground and paid homage.
Immediately, Saul fell flat on the ground. He was terrified by Samuel's words and was also weak because he had not eaten anything all day and all night.
So David and his men got up early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
They cut off Saul's head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the good news in the temples of their idols and among the people.
On the third day a man with torn clothes and dust on his head came from Saul's camp. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage.
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? ”
The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites had said to David, “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you” thinking, “David can't get in here.”
He also defeated the Moabites, and after making them lie down on the ground, he measured them off with a cord. He measured every two cord lengths of those to be put to death and one full length of those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David's subjects and brought tribute.
“You, your sons, and your servants are to work the ground for him, and you are to bring in the crops so your master's grandson will have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master's grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
Then David said, “I'll show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.”
So David sent his emissaries to console Hanun concerning his father. However, when they arrived in the land of the Ammonites,
In response the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.
But Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son[fn] every day.
When the woman from Tekoa came[fn] to the king, she fell facedown to the ground, paid homage, and said, “Help me, Your Majesty! ”
She replied, “Please, may the king invoke the LORD your God, so that the avenger of blood will not increase the loss, and they will not eliminate my son! ”
“As the LORD lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son will fall to the ground.”
Joab fell with his face to the ground in homage and blessed the king. “Today,” Joab said, “your servant knows I have found favor with you, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of your servant.”
Joab went to the king and told him. So David summoned Absalom, who came to the king and paid homage with his face to the ground before him. Then the king kissed Absalom.
“Then we will attack David wherever we find him, and we will descend on him like dew on the ground. Not even one will be left — neither he nor any of the men with him.
Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well,” and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. He continued, “Blessed be the LORD your God! He delivered up the men who rebelled against my lord the king.”
Amasa was not on guard against the sword in Joab's hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach with it and spilled his intestines out on the ground. Joab did not stab him again, and Amasa died.
Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.
They went to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites[fn] and continued on to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.
Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground.
and it was announced to the king, “The prophet Nathan is here.” He came into the king's presence and paid homage to him with his face to the ground.
Bathsheba knelt low with her face to the ground, paying homage to the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever! ”
Then Solomon said, “If he is a man of character, not a single hair of his will fall to the ground, but if evil is found in him, he dies.”
may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your people Israel.
May you restore them to the land
you gave their ancestors.
may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your servants
and your people Israel,
so that you may teach them to walk on the good way.
May you send rain on your land
that you gave your people for an inheritance.
When they sin against you —
for there is no one who does not sin —
and you are angry with them
and hand them over to the enemy,
and their captors deport them to the enemy's country —
whether distant or nearby —
King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire — whatever she asked — besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country.
When Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me leave, so I may go to my own country.”
But Pharaoh asked him, “What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country? ”
“Nothing,” he replied, “but please let me leave.”
Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.
Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go throughout the land to every spring and to every wadi. Perhaps we'll find grass so we can keep the horses and mules alive and not have to destroy any cattle.”
But when I leave you, the Spirit of the LORD may carry you off to some place I don't know. Then when I go report to Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth.
So Ahab went to eat and drink, but Elijah went up to the summit of Carmel. He bent down on the ground and put his face between his knees.
The Israelites mobilized, gathered supplies, and went to fight them. The Israelites camped in front of them like two little flocks of goats, while the Arameans filled the landscape.
Then the cry rang out in the army as the sun set, declaring:
Each man to his own city,
and each man to his own land!
When the sons of the prophets from Jericho who were observing saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him.
So he took his firstborn son, who was to become king in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. Great wrath was on the Israelites, and they withdrew from him and returned to their land.
So he prepared a big feast for them. When they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The Aramean raiders did not come into Israel's land again.
Elisha said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Get ready, you and your household, and go live as a resident alien wherever you can. For the LORD has announced a seven-year famine, and it has already come to the land.”
When the king asked the woman, she told him the story. So the king appointed a court official for her, saying, “Restore all that was hers, along with all the income from the field from the day she left the country until now.”
“Know, then, that not a word the LORD spoke against the house of Ahab will fail, for the LORD has done what he promised through his servant Elijah.”
from the Jordan eastward: the whole land of Gilead — the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites — from Aroer which is by the Arnon Valley through Gilead to Bashan.[fn]
Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows! ” So he took them. Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground! ” So he struck the ground three times and stopped.
In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee — all the land of Naphtali — and deported the people to Assyria.
“Now, have I attacked this place to destroy it without the LORD's approval? The LORD said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.' ”
“until I come and take you away to a land like your own land — a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey — so that you may live and not die. But don't listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The LORD will rescue us.”
“I am about to put a spirit in him, and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.' ”
Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD:
LORD God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God — you alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. Then his son Esar-haddon became king in his place.
So Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but at Pharaoh's command he taxed the land to give it. He exacted the silver and the gold from the common people, each according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
They stripped Saul, cut off his head, took his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the good news to their idols and the people.
David and all Israel marched to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus); the Jebusites who inhabited the land were there.
Then the trees of the forest will shout for joy before the LORD,
for he is coming to judge the earth.
Then David said, “I'll show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.”
So David sent messengers to console him concerning his father. However, when David's emissaries arrived in the land of the Ammonites to console him,
the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, “Just because David has sent men with condolences for you, do you really believe he's showing respect for your father? Instead, haven't his emissaries come in order to scout out, overthrow, and spy on the land? ”
David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.
David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly great and famous and glorious in all the lands. Therefore, I will make provision for it.” So David made lavish preparations for it before his death.
“The LORD your God is with you, isn't he? And hasn't he given you rest on every side? For he has handed the land's inhabitants over to me, and the land has been subdued before the LORD and his people.
Ezri son of Chelub was in charge of those who worked in the fields tilling the soil.
“So now in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and follow all the commands of the LORD your God so that you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance to your descendants forever.
Hiram also said:
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth! He gave King David a wise son with insight and understanding, who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal palace for himself.
may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your people Israel.
May you restore them to the land
you gave them and their ancestors.
may you hear in heaven
and forgive the sin of your servants
and your people Israel,
so that you may teach them the good way
they should walk in.
May you send rain on your land
that you gave your people for an inheritance.
When they sin against you —
for there is no one who does not sin —
and you are angry with them
and hand them over to the enemy,
and their captors deport them
to a distant or nearby country,
All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the LORD came on the temple. They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the LORD:
For he is good,
for his faithful love endures forever.
and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire, whatever she asked — far more than she had brought the king. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country.
Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and who gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?
“for when you return to the LORD, your brothers and your sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful; he will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.”
and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every valiant warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned in disgrace to his land. He went to the temple of his god, and there some of his own children struck him down with the sword.
In the eighteenth year of his reign, in order to cleanse the land and the temple, Josiah sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, along with Maaseiah the governor of the city and the court historian Joah son of Joahaz, to repair the temple of the LORD his God.
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.
This fulfilled the word of the LORD through Jeremiah, and the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation until seventy years were fulfilled.
Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and with their hands uplifted all the people said, “Amen, Amen! ” Then they knelt low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
You found his heart faithful in your sight,
and made a covenant with him
to give the land of the Canaanites,
Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Jebusites, and Girgashites —
to give it to his descendants.
You have fulfilled your promise,
for you are righteous.
You provided bread from heaven for their hunger;
you brought them water from the rock for their thirst.
You told them to go in and possess the land
you had sworn[fn] to give them.
You gave them kingdoms and peoples
and established boundaries for them.
They took possession
of the land of King Sihon[fn] of Heshbon
and of the land of King Og of Bashan.
You multiplied their descendants
like the stars of the sky
and brought them to the land
you told their ancestors to go in and possess.
So their descendants went in and possessed the land:
You subdued the Canaanites who inhabited the land before them
and handed their kings and the surrounding peoples over to them,
to do as they pleased with them.
The LORD asked Satan, “Where have you come from? ”
“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”
When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.
Why not forgive my sin
and pardon my iniquity?
For soon I will lie down in the grave.
You will eagerly seek me, but I will be gone.
“It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like[fn] the darkness.”
When he withholds water, everything dries up,
and when he releases it, it destroys the land.
He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure.
His possessions[fn] will not increase in the land.
The earth is changed as clay is by a seal;
its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
He charges ahead[fn] with trembling rage;
he cannot stand still at the sound of the ram's horn.
may an enemy pursue and overtake me;
may he trample me to the ground
and leave my honor in the dust.Selah
Their message[fn] has gone out to the whole earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun.
All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down;
all those who go down to the dust
will kneel before him —
even the one who cannot preserve his life.
For evildoers will be destroyed,
but those who put their hope in the LORD
will inherit the land.
Those who are blessed by the LORD will inherit the land,
but those cursed by him will be destroyed.
Wait for the LORD and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land.
You will watch when the wicked are destroyed.
For they did not take the land by their sword —
their arm did not bring them victory —
but by your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your face,
because you were favorable toward them.
Your sons will succeed your ancestors;
you will make them princes throughout the land.
Therefore we will not be afraid,
though the earth trembles
and the mountains topple
into the depths of the seas,
The Mighty One, God,[fn] the LORD, speaks;
he summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
You visit the earth and water it abundantly,
enriching it greatly.
God's stream is filled with water,
for you prepare the earth in this way,
providing people with grain.
May the king be like rain that falls on the cut grass,
like spring showers that water the earth.
May they know that you alone —
whose name is the LORD —
are the Most High over the whole earth.
You have repudiated the covenant with your servant;
you have completely dishonored his crown.[fn]
Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity, you are God.
before the LORD, for he is coming —
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with his faithfulness.
For you, LORD,
are the Most High over the whole earth;
you are exalted above all the gods.
before the LORD,
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world righteously
and the peoples fairly.
He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
he touches the mountains,
and they pour out smoke.
and fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
Your faithfulness is for all generations;
you established the earth, and it stands firm.
For the enemy has pursued me,
crushing me to the ground,
making me live in darkness
like those long dead.
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea and everything in them.
He remains faithful forever,
“If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit;
if you mock, you alone will bear the consequences.”
The one who works his land will have plenty of food,
but whoever chases fantasies lacks sense.
The one who works his land
will have plenty of food,
but whoever chases fantasies
will have his fill of poverty.
Who knows if the spirits of the children of Adam go upward and the spirits of animals go downward to the earth?
Give a portion to seven or even to eight,
for you don't know what disaster may happen on earth.
If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth;
whether a tree falls to the south or the north,
the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
and the dust returns to the earth as it once was,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Go into the rocks
and hide in the dust
from the terror of the LORD
and from his majestic splendor.
People will go into caves in the rocks
and holes in the ground,
away from the terror of the LORD
and from his majestic splendor,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
They will go into the caves of the rocks
and the crevices in the cliffs,
away from the terror of the LORD
and from his majestic splendor,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
On that day they will roar over it,
like the roaring of the sea.
When one looks at the land,
there will be darkness and distress;
light will be obscured by clouds.[fn]
They will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.
Shining morning star,[fn]
how you have fallen from the heavens!
You destroyer of nations,
you have been cut down to the ground.
Those who see you will stare at you;
they will look closely at you:
“Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble,
who shook the kingdoms,
You will not join them in burial,
because you destroyed your land
and slaughtered your own people.
The offspring of evildoers
will never be mentioned again.
Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons,
because of the iniquity of their ancestors.
They will never rise up to possess a land
or fill the surface of the earth with cities.
Send lambs to the ruler of the land,
from Sela in the desert
to the mountain of Daughter Zion.
“Look, riders come —
horsemen in pairs.”
And he answered, saying,
“Babylon has fallen, has fallen.
All the images of her gods
have been shattered on the ground.”
Look at the land of the Chaldeans —
a people who no longer exist.
Assyria destined it for desert creatures.
They set up their siege towers
and stripped its palaces.
They made it a ruin.
Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,
and its inhabitants have become guilty;
the earth's inhabitants have been burned,
and only a few survive.
So now, do not scoff,
or your shackles will become stronger.
Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Armies
a decree of destruction for the whole land.
Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
You will be brought down;
you will speak from the ground,
and your words will come from low in the dust.
Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground;
your speech will whisper from the dust.
The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork.
the parched ground will become a pool,
and the thirsty land, springs.
In the haunt of jackals, in their lairs,
there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus.
“until I come and take you away to a land like your own land — a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
“Who among all the gods of these lands ever rescued his land from my power? So will the LORD rescue Jerusalem from my power? ”
“Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued?
LORD of Armies, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God — you alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure
or weighed the mountains on a balance
and the hills on the scales?
They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.
I will open rivers on the barren heights,
and springs in the middle of the plains.
I will turn the desert into a pool
and dry land into springs.
I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees
in the wilderness.
I will put juniper, elm, and cypress trees together
in the desert,
This is what God, the LORD, says —
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk on it —
This is what the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb, says:
I am the LORD, who made everything;
who stretched out the heavens by myself;
who alone spread out the earth;
“I made the earth,
and created humans on it.
It was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded everything in them.
For this is what the LORD says —
the Creator of the heavens,
the God who formed the earth and made it,
the one who established it
(he did not create it to be a wasteland,
but formed it to be inhabited) —
he says, “I am the LORD,
and there is no other.
“Go down and sit in the dust,
Virgin Daughter Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne,
Daughter Chaldea!
For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.
“My own hand founded the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summoned them,
they stood up together.
This is what the LORD says:
I will answer you in a time of favor,
and I will help you in the day of salvation.
I will keep you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land,
to make them possess the desolate inheritances,
Look up to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and its inhabitants will die like gnats.[fn]
But my salvation will last forever,
and my righteousness will never be shattered.
But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth.
You are in constant dread all day long
because of the fury of the oppressor,
who has set himself to destroy.
But where is the fury of the oppressor?
I have put my words in your mouth,
and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
in order to plant[fn] the heavens,
to found the earth,
and to say to Zion, “You are my people.”
“For just as rain and snow fall from heaven
and do not return there
without saturating the earth
and making it germinate and sprout,
and providing seed to sow
and food to eat,
When you cry out,
let your collection of idols rescue you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
a breath will take them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me
will inherit the land
and possess my holy mountain.
For look, darkness will cover the earth,
and total darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will shine over you,
and his glory will appear over you.
All your people will be righteous;
they will possess the land forever;
they are the branch I planted,
the work of my[fn] hands,
so that I may be glorified.
In place of your shame, you will have a double portion;
in place of disgrace, they will rejoice over their share.
So they will possess double in their land,
and eternal joy will be theirs.
For as the earth produces its growth,
and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.
I trampled the winepress alone,
and no one from the nations was with me.
I trampled them in my anger
and ground them underfoot in my fury;
their blood spattered my garments,
and all my clothes were stained.
I crushed nations in my anger;
I made them drunk with my wrath
and poured out their blood on the ground.
“The wolf and the lamb will feed together,[fn]
and the lion will eat straw like cattle,
but the serpent's food will be dust!
They will not do what is evil or destroy
on my entire holy mountain,”
says the LORD.
Then the LORD said to me, “Disaster will be poured out[fn] from the north on all who live in the land.
I brought you to a fertile land
to eat its fruit and bounty,
but after you entered, you defiled my land;
you made my inheritance detestable.
The young lions have roared at him;
they have roared loudly.
They have laid waste his land.
His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.
Look to the barren heights and see.
Where have you not been immoral?
You sat waiting for them beside the highways
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.' ”
I thought, “How I long to make you my sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations.”
I thought, “You will call me ‘My Father'
and never turn away from me.”
A lion has gone up from his thicket;
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his lair
to make your land a waste.
Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.
I looked at the earth,
and it was formless and empty.
I looked to the heavens,
and their light was gone.
Be warned, Jerusalem,
or I will turn away from you;
I will make you a desolation,
a land without inhabitants.
Their houses will be turned over to others,
their fields and wives as well,
for I will stretch out my hand
against the inhabitants of the land.
This is the LORD's declaration.
From Dan, the snorting of horses is heard.
At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,
the whole land quakes.
They come to devour the land and everything in it,
the city and all its residents.
For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:
How devastated we are.
We are greatly ashamed,
for we have abandoned the land;
our dwellings have been torn down.
for Death has climbed through our windows;
it has entered our fortresses,
cutting off children from the streets,
young men from the squares.
You are to say this to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”[fn]
He made the earth by his power,
established the world by his wisdom,
and spread out the heavens by his understanding.
For this is what the LORD says:
Look, I am flinging away
the land's residents at this time
and bringing them such distress
that they will feel it.
in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.' ”
I answered, “Amen, LORD.”
“After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.
“And you will say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am about to fill all who live in this land — the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the residents of Jerusalem — with drunkenness.
If I go out to the field,
look — those slain by the sword!
If I enter the city,
look — those ill from famine!
For both prophet and priest
travel to a land they do not know.
“So I will hurl you from this land into a land that you and your ancestors have not known. There you will worship other gods both day and night, for I will not grant you grace.'[fn]
“but rather, ‘As the LORD lives who brought the Israelites from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.' For I will return them to their land that I gave to their ancestors.
“I will first repay them double for their iniquity and sin because they have polluted my land. They have filled my inheritance with the carcasses of their abhorrent and detestable idols.”
They have made their land a horror,
a perpetual object of scorn;[fn]
all who pass by it will be appalled
and shake their heads.
Do not weep for the dead;
do not mourn for him.
Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away,
for he will never return again
and see his native land.
“but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again.”
“I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land, where neither of you were born, and there you will both die.
Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot,
a jar no one wants?
Why are he and his descendants hurled out
and cast into a land they have not known?
“but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other countries where I[fn] had banished them.' They will dwell once more in their own land.”
“Can a person hide in secret places where I cannot see him? ” — the LORD's declaration. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? ” — the LORD's declaration.
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.
“I will keep my eyes on them for their good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them.
“I am going to send for all the families of the north' — this is the LORD's declaration — ‘and send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them an example of horror and scorn, and ruins forever.
“I will bring on that land all my words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.
“As for you, you are to prophesy all these things to them, and say to them:
The LORD roars from on high;
he makes his voice heard from his holy dwelling.
He roars loudly over his grazing land;
he calls out with a shout, like those who tread grapes,
against all the inhabitants of the earth.
“By my great strength and outstretched arm, I made the earth, and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please.[fn]
“So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him.
“for look, the days are coming” — this is the LORD's declaration — “when I will restore the fortunes[fn] of my people Israel and Judah,” says the LORD. “I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors and they will possess it.”
They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
they will be radiant with joy
because of the LORD's goodness,
because of the grain, the new wine, the fresh oil,
and because of the young of the flocks and herds.
Their life will be like an irrigated garden,
and they will no longer grow weak from hunger.
“Oh, Lord GOD! You yourself made the heavens and earth by your great power and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!
“You gave them this land you swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.
“The LORD who made the earth,[fn] the LORD who forms it to establish it, the LORD is his name, says this:
“I am about to give the command — this is the LORD's declaration — and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it. I will make Judah's cities a desolation, without inhabitant.”
“However, when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched into the land, we said, ‘Come, let's go into Jerusalem to get away from the Chaldean and Aramean armies.' So we have been living in Jerusalem.”
“You are to proclaim concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD says: You have burned the scroll, asking, “Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and cause it to be without people or animals? ”
I will punish him, his descendants, and his officers for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disaster, which I warned them about but they did not listen.' ”
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: This is what you will say to Judah's king, who is sending you to inquire of me: ‘Watch: Pharaoh's army, which has come out to help you, is going to return to its own land of Egypt.
Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there among the people.
“Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and this land'?
they all returned from all the places where they had been banished and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and harvested a great amount of wine and summer fruit.
“I will grant you compassion, and he[fn] will have compassion on you and allow you to return to your own soil.'
“and if you say, ‘No, instead we'll go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram's horn or hunger for food, and we'll live there,'
“All who resolve to go to Egypt to stay there for a while will die by the sword, famine, and plague. They will have no survivor or fugitive from the disaster I will bring on them.'
“He will come and strike down the land of Egypt — those destined for death, to death; those destined for captivity, to captivity; and those destined for the sword, to the sword.
“Then the remnant of Judah — those going to live for a while there in the land of Egypt — will have no fugitive or survivor to return to the land of Judah where they are longing[fn] to return to stay, for they will not return except for a few fugitives.”
Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah only few in number, and the whole remnant of Judah, the ones going to the land of Egypt to stay there for a while, will know whose word stands, mine or theirs!
Egypt rises like the Nile,
and its waters churn like rivers.
He boasts, “I will go up, I will cover the earth;
I will destroy cities with their residents.”
This is the word the LORD spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to defeat the land of Egypt:
This is what the LORD says:
Look, water is rising from the north
and becoming an overflowing wadi.
It will overflow the land and everything in it,
the cities and their inhabitants.
The people will cry out,
and every inhabitant of the land will wail.
For a nation from the north will attack her;
it will make her land desolate.
No one will be living in it —
both people and animals will escape.[fn]
Cut off the sower from Babylon
as well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time.
Because of the oppressor's sword,
each will turn to his own people,
each will flee to his own land.
Therefore, this is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.
Their Redeemer is strong;
the LORD of Armies is his name.
He will fervently champion their cause
so that he might bring rest to the earth
but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.
I will send strangers to Babylon
who will scatter her and strip her land bare,
for they will come against her
from every side in the day of disaster.
Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD's hand,
making the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore, the nations go mad.
We tried to heal Babylon,
but she could not be healed.
Abandon her!
Let each of us go to his own land,
for her judgment extends to the sky
and reaches as far as the clouds.
He made the earth by his power,
established the world by his wisdom,
and spread out the heavens by his understanding.
Look, I am against you, devastating mountain.
This is the LORD's declaration.
You devastate the whole earth.
I will stretch out my hand against you,
roll you down from the cliffs,
and turn you into a charred mountain.
The earth quakes and trembles
because the LORD's intentions against Babylon stand:
to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
How the Lord has overshadowed
Daughter Zion with his anger!
He has thrown down Israel's glory
from heaven to earth.
He did not acknowledge his footstool
in the day of his anger.
Without compassion the Lord has swallowed up
all the dwellings of Jacob.
In his wrath he has demolished
the fortified cities of Daughter Judah.
He brought them to the ground
and defiled the kingdom and its leaders.
Zion's gates have fallen to the ground;
he has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.
Her king and her leaders live among the nations,
instruction[fn] is no more,
and even her prophets receive
no vision from the LORD.
The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence.
They have thrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
My eyes are worn out from weeping;
I am churning within.
My heart is poured out in grief[fn]
because of the destruction of my dear people,
because infants and nursing babies faint
in the streets of the city.
“I will stretch out my hand against them, and wherever they live I will make the land a desolate waste, from the wilderness to Riblah.[fn] Then they will know that I am the LORD.”
Doom[fn] has come on you,
inhabitants of the land.
The time has come; the day is near.
There will be panic on the mountains
and not celebration.
He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us. The LORD has abandoned the land.' ”
And he said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the detestable acts they are doing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and repeatedly anger me, even putting the branch to their nose?[fn]
He answered me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity. For they say, ‘The LORD has abandoned the land; he does not see.'
“Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Though I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.'
“Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.'
The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to Chaldea and to the exiles in a vision from the Spirit of God. After the vision I had seen left me,
“And while they look on, lift the bags to your shoulder and take them out in the dark; cover your face so that you cannot see the land. For I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.”
“The prince who is among them will lift his bags to his shoulder in the dark and go out. They[fn] will dig through the wall to bring him out through it. He will cover his face so he cannot see the land with his eyes.
“But I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he will not see it, and he will die there.
“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and speak lying divinations. They will not be present in the council of my people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, and they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.
“I will demolish the wall you plastered with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. The city will fall, and you will be destroyed within it. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
“Suppose I allow dangerous animals to pass through the land and depopulate it so that it becomes desolate, with no one passing through it for fear of the animals.
“Or suppose I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,' so that I wipe out both people and animals from it.
“Or suppose I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath on it with bloodshed to wipe out both people and animals from it.
“I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.
“So you extended your prostitution to Chaldea, the land of merchants, but you were not even satisfied with this!
“He plucked off its topmost shoot, brought it to the land of merchants, and set it in a city of traders.
“When the nations heard about him,
he was caught in their pit.
Then they led him away with hooks
to the land of Egypt.
“He devastated their strongholds[fn]
and destroyed their cities.
The land and everything in it shuddered
at the sound of his roaring.
“But it was uprooted in fury,
thrown to the ground,
and the east wind dried up its fruit.
Its strong branches were torn off and dried up;
fire consumed them.
On that day I swore[fn] to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.
“However, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them — the most beautiful of all lands, flowing with milk and honey —
“When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices and presented their offensive offerings there. They also sent up their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offerings there.
I will purge you of those who rebel and transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they live as foreign residents, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
“When I lead you into the land of Israel, the land I swore to give your ancestors, you will know that I am the LORD.
“Son of man, face Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel,
“and say to it, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
“At the sight of them[fn] she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
“For the blood she shed[fn] is still within her.
She put it out on the bare rock;
she didn't pour it on the ground
to cover it with dust.
“Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the Lord GOD: This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you said, “Aha! ” about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was laid waste, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile,
“ ‘For this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced over the land of Israel with wholehearted contempt,
Therefore I am about to expose Moab's flank beginning with its[fn] frontier cities, the splendor of the land: Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim.
“He will trample all your streets with the hooves of his horses. He will slaughter your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground.
“All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble continually, and be appalled at you.
“All the oarsmen
disembark from their ships.
The sailors and all the captains of the sea
stand on the shore.
“Because of you, they raise their voices
and cry out bitterly.
They throw dust on their heads;
they roll in ashes.
“Your heart became proud because of your beauty;
For the sake of your splendor
you corrupted your wisdom.
So I threw you down to the ground;[fn]
I made you a spectacle before kings.
therefore, I am against you and your Nile. I will turn the land of Egypt into ruins, a desolate waste from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush.
“Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and he will carry off its wealth, seizing its spoil and taking its plunder. This will be his army's compensation.
“I have given him the land of Egypt as the pay he labored for, since they worked for me.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.
“He along with his people,
ruthless men from the nations,
will be brought in to destroy the land.
They will draw their swords against Egypt
and fill the land with the slain.
“I will make the streams dry
and sell the land to evil men.
I will bring desolation
on the land and everything in it
by the hands of foreigners.
I, the LORD, have spoken.
“I will strengthen the arms of Babylon's king, but Pharaoh's arms will fall. They will know that I am the LORD when I place my sword in the hand of Babylon's king and he wields it against the land of Egypt.
“I will abandon you on the land
and throw you onto the open field.
I will cause all the birds of the sky
to settle on you
and let the wild creatures of the entire earth
eat their fill of you.
“I will darken all the shining lights
in the heavens over you,
and will bring darkness on your land.
This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.
“ ‘I will trouble the hearts of many peoples,
when I bring about your destruction
among the nations,
in countries you have not known.
“And suppose he sees the sword coming against the land and blows his ram's horn to warn the people.
“Son of man, those who live in the[fn] ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one person, yet he received possession of the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.'
“I will make the land a desolate waste, and its proud strength will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will become desolate, with no one passing through.
“They will know that I am the LORD when I make the land a desolate waste because of all the detestable acts they have committed.'
“I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own soil. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land.
“Therefore, prophesy concerning Israel's land, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: This is what the Lord GOD says: Look, I speak in my burning zeal because you have endured the insults of the nations.
“ ‘For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.
“Therefore, prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, my people, and lead you into the land of Israel.
“I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I am the LORD. I have spoken, and I will do it. This is the declaration of the LORD.' ”
“tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land.
“Son of man, face Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of[fn] Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him
“After a long time you will be summoned. In the last years you will enter a land that has been restored from war[fn] and regathered from many peoples to the mountains of Israel, which had long been a ruin. They were brought out from the peoples, and all of them now live securely.
“You, all of your troops, and many peoples with you will advance, coming like a thunderstorm; you will be like a cloud covering the land.
“You will say, “I will advance against a land of open villages; I will come against a tranquil people who are living securely, all of them living without walls and without bars or gates” —
“You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the land. It will happen in the last days, Gog, that I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me, when I demonstrate my holiness through you in their sight.
“Now on that day, the day when Gog comes against the land of Israel — this is the declaration of the Lord GOD — my wrath will flare up.[fn]
“The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, every creature that crawls on the ground, and every human being on the face of the earth will tremble before me. The mountains will be demolished, the cliffs will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.
“ ‘They will appoint men on a full-time basis to pass through the land and bury the invaders[fn] who remain on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. They will make their search at the end of the seven months.
“When they pass through the land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker next to it until the buriers have buried it in Hordes of Gog Valley.
In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain. On its southern slope was a structure resembling a city.
“This will be his land as a possession in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people but give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
“Then the iron, the fired clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were shattered and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
“The tree you saw, which grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky and was visible to the whole earth,
All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing,
and he does what he wants with the army of heaven
and the inhabitants of the earth.
There is no one who can block his hand
or say to him, “What have you done? ”
“This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms. It will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it.
I saw him approaching the ram and, infuriated with him, he struck the ram, breaking his two horns, and the ram was not strong enough to stand against him. The goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and there was no one to rescue the ram from his power.
It grew as high as the heavenly army, made some of the army and some of the stars[fn] fall to the earth, and trampled them.
While he was speaking to me, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me, made me stand up,
I heard the words he said, and when I heard them I fell into a deep sleep,[fn] with my face to the ground.
While he was saying these words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and was speechless.
“who will enter the kingdom of the king of the South and then return to his own land.
“The king of the North will return to his land with great wealth, but his heart will be set against the holy covenant;[fn] he will take action, then return to his own land.
“He will deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. He will greatly honor those who acknowledge him,[fn] making them rulers over many and distributing land as a reward.
“At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships. He will invade countries and sweep through them like a flood.
“He will also invade the beautiful land, and many will fall. But these will escape from his power: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people[fn] of the Ammonites.
“He will extend his power against the countries, and not even the land of Egypt will escape.
Otherwise, I will strip her naked
and expose her as she was on the day of her birth.
I will make her like a desert
and like a parched land,
and I will let her die of thirst.
Hear the word of the LORD, people of Israel,
for the LORD has a case
against the inhabitants of the land:
There is no truth, no faithful love,
and no knowledge of God in the land!
I have been the LORD your God
ever since[fn] the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
and no Savior exists besides me.
Hear this, you elders;
listen, all you inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?
For a nation has invaded my land,
powerful and without number;
its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
Announce a sacred fast;
proclaim a solemn assembly!
Gather the elders
and all the residents of the land
at the house of the LORD your God,
and cry out to the LORD.
Blow the ram's horn in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the residents of the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming;
in fact, it is near —
I will drive the northerner far from you
and banish him to a dry and desolate land,
his front ranks into the Dead Sea,
and his rear guard into the Mediterranean Sea.
His stench will rise;
yes, his rotten smell will rise,
for he has done astonishing things.
I will gather all the nations
and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.[fn]
I will enter into judgment with them there
because of my people, my inheritance Israel.
The nations have scattered the Israelites
in foreign countries
and divided up my land.
And I brought you from the land of Egypt
and led you forty years in the wilderness
in order to possess the land of the Amorite.
Does a bird land in a trap on the ground
if there is no bait for it?
Does a trap spring from the ground
when it has caught nothing?
I will punish the altars of Bethel
on the day I punish Israel for its crimes;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.
Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living[fn] and give your prophecies there,
Look, the days are coming —
this is the declaration of the Lord GOD —
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD.
for I am about to give the command,
and I will shake the house of Israel
among all the nations,
as one shakes a sieve,
but not a pebble will fall to the ground.
Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they couldn't because the sea was raging against them more and more.
I sank to the foundations of the mountains,
the earth's gates shut behind me forever!
Then you raised my life from the Pit, LORD my God!
He will settle disputes among many peoples
and provide arbitration for strong nations
that are far away.
They will beat their swords into plows
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
and they will never again train for war.
He will be their peace.
When Assyria invades our land,
when it marches against our fortresses,
we will raise against it seven shepherds,
even eight leaders of men.
They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade.[fn]
So he will rescue us from Assyria
when it invades our land,
when it marches against our territory.
They will lick the dust like a snake;
they will come trembling out of their hiding places
like reptiles slithering on the ground.
They will tremble in the presence of the LORD our God;
they will stand in awe of you.
Their silver and their gold
will be unable to rescue them
on the day of the LORD's wrath.
The whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of his jealousy,
for he will make a complete,
yes, a horrifying end
of all the inhabitants of the earth.
“I have summoned a drought
on the fields and the hills,
on the grain, new wine, fresh oil,
and whatever the ground yields,
on people and animals,
and on all that your hands produce.”
For the LORD of Armies says this: “Once more, in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah: I am going to shake the heavens and the earth.
Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
They reported to the angel of the LORD standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet.”
I asked, “What are they coming to do? ”
He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off[fn] the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”
“The LORD will take possession of Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem.
“For who despises the day of small things? These seven eyes of the LORD, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the ceremonial stone[fn] in Zerubbabel's hand.”
“The one with the black horses is going to the land of the north, the white horses are going after them, but the dappled horses are going to the land of the south.”
As the strong horses went out, they wanted to go patrol the earth, and the LORD said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.
Then he summoned me saying, “See, those going to the land of the north have pacified my Spirit in the northern land.”
“I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation.”
“Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land” — this is the LORD's declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue it from their hand.”
A pronouncement:
The word of the LORD concerning Israel.
A declaration of the LORD,
who stretched out the heavens,
laid the foundation of the earth,
and formed the spirit of man within him.
“He will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I work the land, for a man purchased[fn] me as a servant since my youth.'
On that day the LORD will become King over the whole earth — the LORD alone, and his name alone.
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