'Land' in the Bible

Now 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 the Israelites departed from the land of Egypt. He said:

because all the firstborn are mine. When I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They belong to me. I am the Lord."

For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself.

The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt:

If a resident foreigner lives among you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, he must do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its custom. You must have the same statute for the resident foreigner and for the one who was born in the land.'"

If you go to war in your land against an adversary who opposes you, then you must sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

But Hobab said to him, "I will not go, but I will go instead to my own land and to my kindred."

Did I conceive this entire people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your arms, as a foster father bears a nursing child,' to the land which you swore to their fathers?

"Send out men to investigate the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. You are to send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a leader among them."

These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to investigate the land. And Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.

When Moses sent them to investigate the land of Canaan, he told them, "Go up through the Negev, and then go up into the hill country

and see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many,

and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities,

and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether or not there are forests in it. And be brave, and bring back some of the fruit of the land." Now it was the time of year for the first ripe grapes.

So they went up and investigated the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, at the entrance of Hamath.

They returned from investigating the land after forty days.

They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

They told Moses, "We went to the land where you sent us. It is indeed flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

The Amalekites live 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 banks of the Jordan."

Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging report of the land they had investigated, saying, "The land that we passed through to investigate is a land that devours its inhabitants. All the people we saw there are of great stature.

And all the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had perished in this wilderness!

Why has the Lord brought us into this land only to be killed by the sword, that our wives and our children should become plunder? Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?"

And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had investigated the land, tore their garments.

They said to the whole community of the Israelites, "The land we passed through to investigate is an exceedingly good land.

If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us -- a land that is flowing with milk and honey.

Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection has turned aside from them, but the Lord is with us. Do not fear them!"

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

Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to them, he killed them in the wilderness.'

they will by no means see the land that I swore to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it.

Only my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and has followed me fully -- I will bring him into the land where he had gone, and his descendants will possess it.

You will by no means enter into the land where I swore to settle you. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

But I will bring in your little ones, whom you said would become victims of war, and they will enjoy the land that you have despised.

According to the number of the days you have investigated this land, forty days -- one day for a year -- you will suffer for your iniquities, forty years, and you will know what it means to thwart me.

The men whom Moses sent to investigate the land, who returned and made the whole community murmur against him by producing an evil report about the land,

those men who produced the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord.

But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among the men who went to investigate the land, lived.

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When you enter the land where you are to live, which I am giving you,

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When you enter the land to which I am bringing you

and you eat some of the food of the land, you must offer up a raised offering to the Lord.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God."

Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince over us?

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind these men? We will not come up."

And whatever first ripe fruit in their land they bring to the Lord will be yours; everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

The Lord spoke to Aaron, "You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion of property among them -- I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust me enough to show me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them."

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom. He said:

"Aaron will be gathered to his ancestors, for he will not enter into the land I have given to the Israelites because both of you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.

Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, but the people became impatient along the way.

"Let us pass through your land; we will not turn aside into the fields or into the vineyards, nor will we drink water from any well, but we will go along the King's Highway until we pass your borders."

But the Israelites defeated him in battle and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strongly defended.

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

So the Israelites lived in the land of the Amorites.

And the Lord said to Moses, "Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand. You will do to him what you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.

So they defeated Og, his sons, and all his people, until there were no survivors, and they possessed his land.

And he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River in the land of Amaw, to summon him, saying, "Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are settling next to me.

So now, please come and curse this nation for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will prevail so that we may conquer them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed."

So Balaam got up in the morning, and said to the princes of Balak, "Go to your land, for the Lord has refused to permit me to go with you."

"Number the people from twenty years old and upward, just as the Lord commanded Moses and the Israelites who went out from the land of Egypt."

The descendants of Judah were Er and Onan, but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.

"To these the land must be divided as an inheritance according to the number of the names.

The land must be divided by lot; and they will inherit in accordance with the names of their ancestral tribes.

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

the land that the Lord subdued before the community of Israel, is ideal for cattle, and your servants have cattle."

So they said, "If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for our inheritance. Do not have us cross the Jordan River."

Why do you frustrate the intent of the Israelites to cross over into the land which the Lord has given them?

Your fathers did the same thing when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.

When they went up to the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they frustrated the intent of the Israelites so that they did not enter the land that the Lord had given them.

Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of the men twenty years old and upward who came from Egypt will see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against the inhabitants of the land.

and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you may return and be free of your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. This land will then be your possession in the Lord's sight.

Moses said to them: "If the Gadites and the Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, each one equipped for battle in the Lord's presence, and you conquer the land, then you must allot them the territory of Gilead as their possession.

We will cross armed in the Lord's presence into the land of Canaan, and then the possession of our inheritance that we inherit will be ours on this side of the Jordan River."

So Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the realm of King Sihon of the Amorites, and the realm of King Og of Bashan, the entire land with its cities and the territory surrounding them.

These are the journeys of the Israelites, who went out of the land of Egypt by their divisions under the authority of Moses and Aaron.

They traveled from Kadesh and camped in Mount Hor at the edge of the land of Edom.

Aaron the priest ascended Mount Hor at the command of the Lord, and he died there in the fortieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt on the first day of the fifth month.

The king of Arad, the Canaanite king who lived in the south of the land of Canaan, heard about the approach of the Israelites.

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images, all their molten images, and demolish their high places.

You must dispossess the inhabitants of the land and live in it, for I have given you the land to possess it.

You must divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families. To a larger group you must give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group you must give a smaller inheritance. Everyone's inheritance must be in the place where his lot falls. You must inherit according to your ancestral tribes.

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, then those whom you allow to remain will be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your side, and will cause you trouble in the land where you will be living.

"Give these instructions to the Israelites, and tell them: 'When you enter Canaan, the land that has been assigned to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan with its borders,

Then the border will continue down the Jordan River and its direction will be to the Salt Sea. This will be your land by its borders that surround it.'"

Then Moses commanded the Israelites: "This is the land which you will inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes,

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

You must take one leader from every tribe to assist in allocating the land as an inheritance.

These are the ones whom the Lord commanded to divide up the inheritance among the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

"Instruct the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns.

"You must measure from outside the wall of the town on the east 1,000 yards, and on the south side 1,000 yards, and on the west side 1,000 yards, and on the north side 1,000 yards, with the town in the middle. This territory must belong to them as grazing land for the towns.

"Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When you cross over the Jordan River into the land of Canaan,

"You must give three towns on this side of the Jordan, and you must give three towns in the land of Canaan; they must be towns of refuge.

because the slayer should have stayed in his town of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to the land of his possessions.

And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.

"You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

Therefore do not defile the land that you will inhabit, in which I live, for I the Lord live among the Israelites."

They said, "The Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.