The Daily Audio Bible

The Israelites take the land of Canaan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Israelites do not obey God

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

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

Joshua dies

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

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

²⁹ Then Jesus told them a story to explain this future time. He said, ‘Think about fig trees and other trees as well. ³⁰ When you see new leaves on a tree, you know that summer will come soon. Nobody needs to tell you that. ³¹ In the same way, you will see these strange things happening. Then you will know that God will soon begin to rule in his kingdom.

³² I tell you this: The people who are alive now will not all die until all these things happen. ³³ One day, the earth and the sky will have an end. But my words will be there for ever.

³⁴ But be careful, and watch how you live. Do not eat or drink too much. Do not waste your time like that. Do not waste time by having troubles in your mind about your life. If you do, that day will surprise you. It will come when you are not looking. ³⁵ It will surprise everyone who lives on all the earth. ³⁶ So watch all the time! Continue to pray that you will be strong. Then you will be safe through all these things! You will stand in front of the Son of Man and you will not be afraid.’

³⁷ Every day Jesus was teaching people in the temple. Each night he went out of the city and he stayed on the hill that is called the Mount of Olives. ³⁸ Each morning he returned to the temple. All the people were going there early in the morning to hear him.

Judas agrees to catch Jesus

22 The Passover festival when the Jews eat flat bread was coming soon.^[a]

² The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law wanted to kill Jesus. They were talking together about how they could do this. It was difficult because they were afraid of the people.

³ Then Satan began to live inside Judas Iscariot. Judas was one of Jesus' 12 apostles. ⁴ He went to the leaders of the priests and he talked with them. The police that worked at the temple were also there. Judas told them how he could give Jesus to them secretly. ⁵ They were very happy and they promised to give him some money to do this. ⁶ So Judas said that he would do it. Then he waited for the right moment to help them to take hold of Jesus. He wanted to do it when the crowd was not there with Jesus.

Jesus eats his last meal with his apostles

⁷ The day came for Jewish people to eat the meal of flat bread which has no yeast in it. They had to kill a young sheep for the Passover meal on that day. ⁸ So Jesus said to Peter and John, ‘Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat. Then we can all come and eat it.’ ⁹ They asked him, ‘Where do you want us to prepare the meal?’

¹⁰ Jesus replied, ‘Listen. When you go into the city, a man will meet you. He will be carrying a jar of water. Follow him until he goes into a house. ¹¹ You must then say to the master of that house, “Our Teacher sends this message to you: ‘Where is the room for visitors? I will eat the Passover meal there with my disciples.’ ” ¹² The man will then show you a large room upstairs. It will have all that you need in it. Prepare the Passover meal there for us all.’

¹³ So Peter and John went into the city. They found everything that Jesus had told them about. So they prepared the Passover meal.

A prayer of Moses, God's servant.

God lives for ever!^[a]

God is a safe place^[d]