Excerpts from Genesis and Joshua:
Genesis 11
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1
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Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
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2
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As men moved eastward, [1] they found a plain in Shinar [2]
and settled there.
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3
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They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly."
They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
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4
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Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that
reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not
be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
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5
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But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were
building.
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6
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The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun
to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
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7
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Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand
each other."
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8
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So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped
building the city.
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9
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That is why it was called Babel [3]--because there the LORD
confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered
them over the face of the whole earth.
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1. 2 Or from the east; or in the east
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2. 2 That is, Babylonia
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3. 9 That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the
Hebrew for confused.
Genesis 35 (English-NIV)
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1
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Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an
altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your
brother Esau."
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2
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So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of
the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your
clothes.
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3
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Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God,
who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever
I have gone."
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4
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So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their
ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.
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5
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Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around
them so that no one pursued them.
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6
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Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the
land of Canaan.
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7
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There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, [1]
because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing
from his brother.
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8
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Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel.
So it was named Allon Bacuth. [2]
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9
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After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, [3] God appeared to him
again and blessed him.
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10
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God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, [4] but you will no longer
be called Jacob; your name will be Israel. [5]" So he named
him Israel.
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11
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And God said to him, "I am God Almighty [6]; be fruitful and
increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from
you, and kings will come from your body.
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12
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The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give
this land to your descendants after you."
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13
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Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.
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14
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Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him,
and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.
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15
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Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel. [7]
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1. 7 El Bethel means God of Bethel.
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2. 8 Allon Bacuth means oak of weeping.
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3. 9 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verse 26
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4. 10 Jacob means he grasps the heel (figuratively,
he deceives).
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5. 10 Israel means he struggles with God.
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6. 11 Hebrew El-Shaddai
7. 15 Bethel means house of God.
Joshua 6 (English-NIV)
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1
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Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went
out and no one came in.
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2
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Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your
hands, along with its king and its fighting men.
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3
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March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days.
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4
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Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On
the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing
the trumpets.
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5
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When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people
give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people
will go up, every man straight in."
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6
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So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the
ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in
front of it."
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7
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And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed
guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD."
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8
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When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven
trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the
ark of the LORD's covenant followed them.
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9
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The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and
the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding.
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10
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But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise
your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then
shout!"
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11
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So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once.
Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there.
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12
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Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of
the LORD.
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13
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The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before
the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead
of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets
kept sounding.
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14
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So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to
the camp. They did this for six days.
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15
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On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city
seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the
city seven times.
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16
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The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua
commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!
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17
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The city and all that is in it are to be devoted [1] to the
LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute [2] and all who are with her
in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.
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18
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But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about
your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the
camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.
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19
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All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred
to the LORD and must go into his treasury."
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20
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When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the
trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every
man charged straight in, and they took the city.
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21
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They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living
thing in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
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22
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Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's
house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your
oath to her."
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23
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So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab,
her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought
out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
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24
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Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the
silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of
the LORD's house.
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25
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But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged
to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho--and
she lives among the Israelites to this day.
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26
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At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the LORD
is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: "At the cost of
his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest
will he set up its gates."
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27
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So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.
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1. 17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving
over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them;
also in verses 18 and 21.
2. 17 Or possibly innkeeper ; also in verses
22 and 25
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