Bible Strands
Joshua 17:15
Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua responds to the sons of Joseph after they demand a second inheritance because their population has grown. He addresses their complaint about the hill country of Ephraim being too small.
The words — The Hebrew אִם־ עַם רַב ('im-'am rav) literally translates "if a people numerous," while עֲלֵה ('aleh) issues the command "go up." Joshua pairs these terms to conditionally shift the tribe's focus from complaint to territorial clearance.
The thread — Joshua 17:15 explicitly names the Perizzites and the Rephaim as the groups occupying the forest land. These same populations appear in Genesis 13:7, Genesis 14:5, and Genesis 15:20 as established Canaanite inhabitants.
Why it lands — The text states that Joshua redirects the tribe's demographic anxiety toward manual labor and displacement of existing residents. It requires the reader to see inheritance as a process of active occupation rather than a passive allocation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Joshua answered them, If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee.
Cross-references
- Genesis 13:7 And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.
- Genesis 14:5 In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
- Genesis 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,
- Exodus 33:2 And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- 2 Samuel 5:18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
- 2 Samuel 5:22 Once again the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
- Ezra 9:1 After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.
- Luke 12:48 But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded.