Thematic Bible: Place of the first encampment of the israelites west of the jordan river


Thematic Bible



But do not seek Bethel or go [to] Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile and Bethel will come to disaster."

Even though you, Israel, [are] playing the whore, do not let Judah become guilty; do not enter Gilgal, or go up [to] Beth-aven; and do not swear, "{As Yahweh lives}!"

"Come [to] Bethel and transgress; [to] Gilgal and {multiply transgression}! Bring your sacrifices in the morning and your tithes on the {third day}.

If [in] Gilead [there is] evil, surely they will come to nothing. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls, also their altars will be like stone heaps on furrows of [the] field.

Every evil of theirs [began] at Gilgal, so I [began] to hate them there; because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them out from my house. I will love them no more; all their officials [are] rebels.


And the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth [day] of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho.

And the men of Gibeon sent [word] to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, "{Do not abandon} your servant. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country have gathered against us."

And they went to Joshua at the camp [at] Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far land; so then {make a covenant with us}."

And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

Then the descendants of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal; and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know the word that Yahweh said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea concerning you and me.


So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly [along with] all the men of Israel.

And all Israel did hear, saying, "Saul has defeated the garrison of [the] Philistines; and also, Israel has become a stench among [the] Philistines!" So the people were called out after Saul at Gilgal. And the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and an army as numerous as sand which [is] on the seashore. And they came up and encamped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven. When the men of Israel saw that [it was] {too difficult} for them, because the army was hard pressed, the people hid themselves in the caves, in the thorn bushes, in the cliffs, in the vaults and in the wells. read more.
[Some] of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the army {followed him trembling}. He waited seven days according to the appointed time Samuel determined, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and {the army started to slip away from him}. So Saul said, "Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered up the burnt offering. {Just as} he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Samuel was coming. So Saul went out to meet him [and] to bless him. But Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the army {was scattering} from me and you did not come {at the appointed time} and [that the] Philistines had gathered at Micmash, therefore I said, 'Now [the] Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet implored the face of Yahweh.' So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering." Then Samuel said to Saul, "You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his [own] heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you." Then Samuel got up and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul mustered the people who were found with him, about six hundred men.

Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you with them. You have shown loyal love to all the {Israelites} when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites left from among [the] Amalekites. Then Saul defeated [the] Amalekites from Havilah as one goes to Shur which [is] {east of} Egypt. He captured Agag the king of Amalek alive, but all the people he utterly destroyed with the {edge} of the sword. read more.
However, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle and the second [best] of the young fatlings and {all that was valuable}; they were not willing to utterly destroy them. But all the possessions that were despised or worthless, they utterly destroyed. Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, "I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night. Then Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul. Samuel was told, "Saul has gone to Carmel, and look, he [is] setting up a monument for himself." Then he turned around and crossed over and went down to Gilgal. When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, "May you be blessed by Yahweh! I have kept the word of Yahweh." But Samuel said, "Then what [is] this bleating of the sheep [that I hear] in my ears and the lowing of the cattle that I am hearing?" Saul said, "They have brought them from [the] Amalekites; the troops spared the best of the sheep and the cattle in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God. But the rest we have utterly destroyed." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop and let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night." So he said to him, "Speak." Samuel said, "Even though you [are] small in your [own] eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh has anointed you as king over Israel. When Yahweh sent you on your way, he said to you: 'Go! You must utterly destroy the sinners, [the] Amalekites, and you must fight against them until you have destroyed them.' Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have listened to the voice of Yahweh, and I have gone on the way that Yahweh sent me! I brought Agag the king of Amalek, and the Amalekites I have utterly destroyed. The troops took from the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal." Then Samuel said, "Is there [as much] delight for Yahweh in burnt offerings and sacrifices as [there is] in {obeying} Yahweh? Look! {To obey} [is] better than sacrifice; to give heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!"


So he turned the heart of all the men of Judah as one man, and they sent [word] to the king, "Return, you and all your servants." Then the king returned and he came to the Jordan; Judah had come to Gilgal to come to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan.

The king went over to Gilgal, and Kimham went over with him. All the people of Judah went over with the king, and half of the people of Israel too. Suddenly, all the men of Israel [were] coming to the king. They said to the king, "Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen away and brought the king and his household over the Jordan, with all the men of David?" Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, "Because the king [is] my close relative! Why [are] you this angry over this matter? {Have we by any means eaten [anything] from the king? Did we take by any means anything that was not ours}?" read more.
Then the people of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, "I have {ten times as much} in the king, moreover in David I have more than you. Why did you treat me with contempt {by not giving me first chance} to bring back my king?" But the words of the men of Judah [were] fiercer than the word of the men of Israel.


And the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth [day] of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. And those twelve stones that they took from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. And he said to the {Israelites}, "When your children ask in the future {their parents}, '{What is the meaning of these stones}?' read more.
you will let your children know [by] saying, 'Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.' For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you, until you had crossed, just as Yahweh your God did to the {Red Sea}, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of Yahweh [is] strong, so that you may fear Yahweh your God {forever}."


So Elisha returned to Gilgal. Now the famine [was] in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. He said to his servant, put on the large pot and cook a stew for the sons of the prophets. One went out to the field to gather herbs, and he found a {wild vine} and gathered wild gourds from it [and] filled his cloak. Then he came and cut them into the pot of stew, but they did not know [what they were]. They served the men to eat, but when they ate from the stew, they cried out and said, "There [is] death in the pot, man of God!" They were not able to eat [it].


And the {Israelites} camped at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho. On the next day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate from the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted corn.


And the {Israelites} served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. And the {Israelites} cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite and {a left-handed man}. And the {Israelites} sent a tribute to Eglon king of Moab {through him}. Ehud made for himself a short, {two-edged} sword (a cubit in length), and he fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. read more.
Then he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon [was] a very fat man. When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. But he turned back from the sculptured stones that [were] near Gilgal, and he said, "I have {a secret message} for you, O king." And he said, "Silence!" So all those standing in his presence went out, and Ehud came to him [while] he [was] sitting alone in his cool upper room. And Ehud said, "I have a {message from God} for you." So he got up from his seat. Then Ehud reached with his left hand for the sword on his right thigh, and he thrust it into his stomach. And the handle also went [in] after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade because he did not draw back the sword from his stomach; and it went protruding out the back. And Ehud went out the vestibule, and he closed the doors of the upper room and locked [them] behind him. After he left, his servants returned. When they saw [that] the doors of the upper room [were] locked, {they thought}, "Surely he [is] {relieving himself} in the cool inner room." And they waited so long they became embarrassed because he did not open the doors of the upper room. So they took the key and opened [the doors], and there their lord was lying on the ground dead. And Ehud escaped while they delayed. He passed by the sculptured stones and escaped to Seirah.


Samuel said, "Just as your sword bereaved women, so will your mother be bereaved among women!" Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces in the presence of Yahweh at Gilgal.


So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly [along with] all the men of Israel.


At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, "Make for yourself knives of flint, and circumcise the {Israelites} a second time." So Joshua made knives of flint, and he circumcised the {Israelites} at the hill of the foreskins. This [is] the reason why Joshua circumcised all the people: all the males who went out from Egypt, all the warriors, died in the wilderness as they went out from Egypt {on the journey}. read more.
For all the people who left were circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness {on the journey} [after] they left from Egypt were not circumcised. For forty years the {Israelites} traveled in the wilderness until all the nation, the warriors that left Egypt, perished, because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh. To them Yahweh swore that they would not see the land that he swore to their ancestors to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. And it was their children [whom] he raised in their place that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised {on the journey}. And it happened, when all the nation had finished circumcising, they remained where they were in the camp until they recovered. And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you." Therefore, the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.


He used to go [on the circuit] {from year to year}. He went around Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and he judged Israel [in] all these places.


And the manna ceased the day after, when they [started] eating the produce of the land, and there was no longer manna for the {Israelites}. They ate from the crop of the land of Canaan in that year.


But he turned back from the sculptured stones that [were] near Gilgal, and he said, "I have {a secret message} for you, O king." And he said, "Silence!" So all those standing in his presence went out,