So I have come down to save them from the Egyptians. I will bring them up out of that land. I will bring them into a good land. It has a lot of room. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey. The Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites live there.
They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord? He brought us up out of Egypt. He led us through a dry and empty land. He guided us through deserts and deep valleys. It was a land of total darkness where there wasn’t any rain. No one lived or traveled there.’
People of Israel, listen to the Lord’s message. He has spoken his message against you. He has spoken it against the whole family he brought up out of Egypt. He says,
“You Israelites are just like the people of Cush to me,” announces the Lord. “I brought Israel up from Egypt. I also brought the Philistines from Crete and the Arameans from Kir.
The men spread a bad report about the land among the Israelites. They said, “The land we checked out destroys those who live in it. All the people we saw there are very big and tall.
The Israelites captured all the cities of the Amorites. Then they settled down in them. They captured the city of Heshbon. They also captured all the settlements around it.
The Lord became very angry with Israel. He made them wander around in the desert for 40 years. They wandered until all the people who had done evil in his sight had died.
But God turned away from them. He let them go on worshiping the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets. There it says, “ ‘People of Israel, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for 40 years in the desert?
You said your little ones would be taken prisoner. But they will enter the land. They do not yet know right from wrong. But I will give them the land. They will take it as their own.
The Lord your God has blessed you in everything your hands have done. He watched over you when you traveled through that huge desert. For these 40 years the Lord your God has been with you. So you have had everything you need.
live south of them. The rest of the land of Canaan that remains to be taken over reaches from Arah all the way to Aphek. Arah belongs to the people of Sidon. The land that remains to be taken reaches the border of Amorite territory.
“ ‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites. They lived east of the Jordan River. They fought against you. But I handed them over to you. I destroyed them to make room for you. Then you took over their land.