I have observed the burden that God has given to people ¹  to keep them occupied.

A mongrel people will live in Ashdod, for I will greatly humiliate the Philistines.

So the Israelites ¹  lived in the land of the Amorites.

The Lord said to me, “Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession.”

When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that the army ¹  had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.

For he does not think ¹  much about the fleeting ²  days of his life because God keeps him preoccupied ³  with the joy he derives from his activity. ⁴ 

When the men of Israel who were in the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.

So Israel took all these cities; and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. ¹ 

Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy ¹  is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, ² 

But the men ¹  of Manasseh were unable to conquer these cities; the Canaanites managed ²  to remain in those areas.

Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your trade partners; for lambs, rams, and goats they traded with you.

The people of the Negev ¹  will take possession ²  of Esau’s mountain, and the people of the Shephelah ³  will take possession ⁴  of the land of ⁵  the Philistines. They will also take possession of the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and the people of Benjamin will take possession ⁶  of Gilead. ⁷ 

chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements ¹  in the land they possessed. This was Esau, the father of the Edomites.

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses, saying, “Let us go up ¹  and occupy it, ²  for we are well able to conquer it.” ³ 

Now pay attention to all the commandments ¹  I am giving ²  you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, ³ 

For you are about to cross the Jordan to possess the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess and inhabit it.

nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. ¹  Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan ²  that operates by faith.

and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, ¹  so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall ²  and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, ³  for the good hand of my God was on me.

Do whatever is proper ¹  and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he ²  promised your ancestors,

You must keep carefully all these commandments ¹  I am giving ²  you today so that you may live, increase in number, ³  and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. ⁴