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Chapter LXXXŁŁ.

THE CONQUEST OF THE PROMISED LAND.

AFTER the children of Israel had taken the strong city of Jericho, and had overthrown its walls, and destroyed its people, and burnt the houses, they returned to the camp at Gilgal.

And from Gilgal they went forth against another city called Ai, which was near to Jericho ; and the Lord delivered it into their hands. And they destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai, and burnt the city. But the cattle and the spoil they did not destroy; for the Lord had said they might keep them for themselves.

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When all the kings of the nations who dwelt in the land of Canaan heard what Joshua and the children of Israel had done to Jericho and to Ai, they gathered themselves together to fight against them, and drive them forth from their land.

And five kings of the south part of the country came forth first against the Israelites with all

their armies. Then Joshua went up from Gilgal with all the men of war, and fought against them. And they could not stand against Joshua and the men of Israel, for the Lord gave His people power to overcome their enemies. So Joshua conquered the armies of the five kings, and slew very many, and the rest fled before him. And as they fled, the Lord cast down great hailstones upon them, which killed them. And God made the sun to stand still in the heavens, and not go down for a whole day, that the children of Israel might have time to destroy all their enemies. Then Joshua and the men of Israel took all the cities of the five kings, and utterly destroyed all the people, as the Lord had commanded.

"All those kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord fought for Israel." And Joshua returned again with his men of war to the camp of Gilgal.

After Joshua had conquered these five kings, the kings of the north part of the land of Canaan came against the children of Israel with a great multitude of people, and with many horses and

chariots. But Joshua went forth against them with his men of war, and slew them, until he left none remaining, for the Lord delivered them into his hand. Then he took their cities, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses had commanded. But the spoil of those cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel kept for themselves.

Joshua made war for nearly seven years, before he had conquered all the people of the land of Canaan, for they were very many.

And when Joshua had conquered all the land, he built an altar to the Lord on mount Ebal, which was near to Shechem, and there the children of Israel offered burnt-offerings to the Lord. And all Israel, and their elders, and their officers, and their judges, stood round the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord. And Joshua read all the words of the law, as Moses had commanded, before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers which dwelt among them. He read to them first the blessings which the Lord had promised to His people, if only they would serve Him, and

obey His voice; and then he read the cursings, and the fearful punishments, which God had said He would surely bring upon them, if they should forget the Lord their God who had done such great things for them, and should turn their hearts from Him.

Joshua viii. ix. 1, 2 ; x. xi. ; viii. 30—35 *.

Chapter LXXXEEE.

THE PROMISED LAND DIVIDED FOR AN INHERITANCE AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.

THE children of Israel now rested from war, for all the people of the land of Canaan were subdued before them.

They had conquered all the nations which dwelt

* It is evident, that what is related in these verses was not done until after the children of Israel possessed the country round about Shechem, and therefore not until after the events recorded in the subsequent chapters, x. & xi.

in the land of Canaan, but they had not destroyed

them all, nor taken all their cities. For the Lord had said that He would drive out these nations by little and little, as the children of Israel should increase and multiply, that the land might not be desolate. For they were not yet enough in number to inhabit all that land.

Then the children of Israel moved their camp from Gilgal, and they assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. Shiloh was a small city, not far from mount Ebal and from Shechem.

Then Joshua, with Eleazar the priest, and the elders of Israel, divided the land of Canaan among the nine tribes and the half tribe which were to have their inheritance on that side of the Jordan. For the tribes of Reuben and of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, had their inheritance on the other side.

Joshua cast lots before the tabernacle of the Lord in Shiloh, to fix the part of the land of Canaan where each tribe was to dwell. And they divided the land among them according to their

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