'Land' in the Bible

The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai, on the first day of the second month of the second year after Israel’s departure from the land of Egypt:

because every firstborn belongs to Me. At the time I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated every firstborn in Israel to Myself, both man and animal. They are Mine; I am Yahweh.”

For every firstborn among the Israelites is Mine, both man and animal. I consecrated them to Myself on the day I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt.

In the first month of the second year after their departure from the land of Egypt, the Lord told Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai:

“If a foreigner resides with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, he is to do so according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the foreign resident and the native of the land.”

“When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who is attacking you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God and be delivered from your enemies.

But he replied to him, “I don’t want to go. Instead, I will go to my own land and my relatives.”

Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so You should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing woman carries a baby,’ to the land that You swore to give their fathers?

“Send men to scout out the land of Canaan I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.”

These were the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun, Joshua.

When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country.

See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.

Is the land they live in good or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications?

Is the land fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.

So they went up and scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob near the entrance to Hamath.

At the end of 40 days they returned from scouting out the land.

The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land.

They reported to Moses: “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey, and here is some of its fruit.

However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We also saw the descendants of Anak there.

The Amalekites are living in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

Then Caleb quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”

So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size.

All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!

Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and little children will become plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes

and said to the entire Israelite community: “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.

If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and give it to us.

Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them!”

They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people, how You, Lord, are seen face to face, how Your cloud stands over them, and how You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

‘Since the Lord wasn’t able to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’

will ever see the land I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have despised Me will see it.

But since My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me completely, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it.

I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it.

You will bear the consequences of your sins 40 years based on the number of the 40 days that you scouted the land, a year for each day. You will know My displeasure.

So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land—

those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord.

Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land.

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you to settle in,

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land where I am bringing you,

you are to offer a contribution to the Lord when you eat from the food of the land.

I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am Yahweh your God.”

Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Do you also have to appoint yourself as ruler over us?

Furthermore, you didn’t bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey or give us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? We will not come!”

The firstfruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, belong to you. Every clean person in your house may eat them.

The Lord told Aaron, “You will not have an inheritance in their land; there will be no portion among them for you. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”

Please let us travel through your land. We won’t travel through any field or vineyard, or drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway; we won’t turn to the right or the left until we have traveled through your territory.’”

But Edom answered him, “You must not travel through our land, or we will come out and confront you with the sword.”

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor on the border of the land of Edom,

“Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land I have given the Israelites, because you both rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.

Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey.

“Let us travel through your land. We won’t go into the fields or vineyards. We won’t drink any well water. We will travel the King’s Highway until we have traveled through your territory.”

Israel struck him with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only up to the Ammonite border, because it was fortified.

Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken control of all his land as far as the Arnon.

So Israel lived in the Amorites’ land.

But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”

So they struck him, his sons, and his whole army until no one was left, and they took possession of his land.

he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. Balak said to him: “Look, a people has come out of Egypt; they cover the surface of the land and are living right across from me.

Please come and put a curse on these people for me because they are more powerful than I am. I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that those you bless are blessed and those you curse are cursed.”

‘Look, a people has come out of Egypt, and they cover the surface of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. I may be able to fight against them and drive them away.’”

So Balaam got up the next morning and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your land, because the Lord has refused to let me go with you.”

“Take a census of those 20 years old or more, as the Lord had commanded Moses and the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt.”

Judah’s sons included Er and Onan, but they died in the land of Canaan.

“The land is to be divided among them as an inheritance based on the number of names.

The land must be divided by lot; they will receive an inheritance according to the names of their ancestral tribes.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range and see the land that I have given the Israelites.

which the Lord struck down before the community of Israel, is good land for livestock, and your servants own livestock.”

They said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Don’t make us cross the Jordan.”

Why are you discouraging the Israelites from crossing into the land the Lord has given them?

That’s what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.

After they went up as far as Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them.

‘Because they did not follow Me completely, none of the men 20 years old or more who came up from Egypt will see the land I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—

But we will arm ourselves and be ready to go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place. Meanwhile, our dependents will remain in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

and the land is subdued before the Lord—afterward you may return and be free from obligation to the Lord and to Israel. And this land will belong to you as a possession before the Lord.

Moses told them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, every man in battle formation before the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.

But if they don’t go across with you in battle formation, they must accept land in Canaan with you.”

We will cross over in battle formation before the Lord into the land of Canaan, but we will keep our hereditary possession across the Jordan.”

So Moses gave them—the Gadites, Reubenites, and half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph—the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land including its cities with the territories surrounding them.

These were the stages of the Israelites’ journey when they went out of the land of Egypt by their military divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

They departed from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor on the edge of the land of Edom.

At the Lord’s command, Aaron the priest climbed Mount Hor and died there on the first day of the fifth month in the fortieth year after the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt.

At that time the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard the Israelites were coming.

“Tell the Israelites: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you, destroy all their stone images and cast images, and demolish all their high places.

You are to take possession of the land and settle in it because I have given you the land to possess.

You are to receive the land as an inheritance by lot according to your clans. Increase the inheritance for a large clan and decrease it for a small one. Whatever place the lot indicates for someone will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to your ancestral tribes.

But if you don’t drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become thorns in your eyes and in your sides; they will harass you in the land where you will live.

“Command the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, it will be allotted to you as an inheritance with these borders:

Then the border will go down to the Jordan and end at the Dead Sea. This will be your land defined by its borders on all sides.”

So Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you are to receive by lot as an inheritance, which the Lord commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes.

“These are the names of the men who are to distribute the land as an inheritance for you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.

Take one leader from each tribe to distribute the land.

These are the ones the Lord commanded to distribute the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.

for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses.

Neither should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to his city of refuge, allowing him to return and live in the land before the death of the high priest.

“Do not defile the land where you are, for bloodshed defiles the land, and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

Do not make the land unclean where you live and where I reside; for I, Yahweh, reside among the Israelites.”