All the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh and rested there because all the kings that wanted to make war with them had been beaten.

 

They put up God’s tent there and thanked Him and lifted their hearts up to Him.

But seven of the families still hadn’t taken their land. So Joshua sent men to walk through the land and see and write down what it was like so they could give the rest of the land out to the seven families.

God told them who got what property because He knows each person, what they like best. They were given fields and valleys and mountains and cities and villages and coastlands and rivers in the most beautiful land that God made on earth. He gives His people the best.

Then the Lord told Joshua to set safe cities for hiding for any person to run to who accidentally killed another person, but didn’t hate them or mean to kill them.

The sons of Levi came to Joshua and asked for the cities and areas around them that the Lord and promised to give them. So Joshua had each of the 12 families of Israel give the Levites cities and the land around them for their animals. There were 48 cities all together.

 

The Lord gave Israel all the land that He promised their fathers and they took it and lived in it.

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord gave them rest from all the fighting as He promised their fathers. Not one man was able to beat them of all their enemies. God delivered them all into Israel’s hand.

Not one thing was missing of all the good things that God had promised Israel. Every good thing He promised happened to them.

Then Joshua called the families that already had their land. He told them they did good to fight with their brothers against the bad ones.

The Lord has given rest to your brothers as He promised so you can go home now to your families on the other side of the Jordan River.

Be strong and pay attention to love the Lord your God and walk in all His paths and guard His rules and hold tight to Him. Be for Him with all your heart and soul.

So Joshua poured blessing on them with his words and sent them home, saying, Go home now with much riches and cows and silver and gold and brass and iron and many clothes. Divide the riches, share it with your brothers.

When the brothers got home with all their riches they built an altar like the one at God’s tent.

When their brothers on the other side of the river heard it, they thought they were worshipping another god and so they gathered the army to fight against them.

When they got there, the brothers who built the altar told them, No! We aren’t worshipping a wrong god. We put this altar here so that our brothers on the other side of the river can’t say that we don’t belong to God and not let us be a part of God’s family.

 

 

The Lord, He is the God over all gods and He knows that we are still with Him.

When the children of Israel heard this they were all glad and said many happy ‘thank you’s’ to God that this bad thing had not happened.

After the children of Israel had rested from their enemies a long time Joshua called them together and said, I am real old. You have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you.

 

 

 

 

 

Because it is the Lord who fought for you.

I have divided the rest of the land that is left and the Lord your God will drive out the bad ones who live there and you will live in that land.

Be strong and very brave to keep and do all the rules that God told Moses. Do not turn away from them at all this way or that. Do not say the name of their gods or bow to them or do anything that they say but hold tight to the Lord your God as you have done today.

For the Lord your God has driven out great and strong nations before you. No man has been able to stand in fighting with you but one man of you chases a thousand of them because it is the Lord your God that fights for you like He promised He would.

 

 

 

 

Love God strong in your hearts.

If you go with these nations and do like them, God will not keep you safe from them anymore but they will hurt you until you are gone from this good land that God has given to you.

 

 

 

I am going away from this life today and you know that God has done all the good things that He has promised you. He left nothing out of all that He promised you.

And as all the good things have happened to you that He promised, if you turn to the bad ones, then all the bad things will happen to you when you turn away from Him and do what the bad ones say and bow down to them.