Joshua 24:7

So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Joshua addresses the assembled tribes of Israel at Shechem, recounting Yahweh’s past rescue from Egypt. He speaks during the covenant renewal ceremony immediately after describing the Red Sea crossing and before detailing the conquest of the Amorites.

The words — The Hebrew term מַאֲפֵל (ma'afel) denotes the literal darkness Yahweh positioned between the Israelite and Egyptian camps. The verb שָׂם (sam) indicates He actively placed this barrier to shield the pursuing army.

The thread — This protective darkness corresponds to the cloud barrier in Exodus 14:20 and aligns with the miraculous signs cataloged in Deuteronomy 4:34. Joshua links this event directly to the subsequent wilderness period and the later defeat of the Amorites in Joshua 24:8.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge Yahweh’s direct historical intervention rather than human military strategy. It demands that covenant loyalty be grounded in witnessed divine action, not abstract belief.

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

וַיִּצְעֲק֣וּva/i.yitz.'a.Kuand/ they cried out אֶל־'el-to יְהוָ֗הYah.wehYahweh וַיָּ֨שֶׂםva/i.Ya.semand/ he put מַֽאֲפֵ֜לma.'a.Feldarkness בֵּינֵיכֶ֣ם׀bei.nei./Khembetween/ you וּבֵ֣יןu./Veinand/ between הַמִּצְרִ֗יםha./mitz.Rimthe/ Egyptians וַיָּבֵ֨אva/i.ya.Ve'and/ he brought עָלָ֤יו'a.La/vover/ it אֶת־'et-<obj.>הַיָּם֙hai./Yamthe/ sea וַיְכַסֵּ֔הוּva/y.kha.Se./huand/ it covered/ it וַתִּרְאֶ֙ינָה֙va./tir.'Ei.nahand/ they saw עֵינֵיכֶ֔ם'ei.nei./Khemeyes/ your אֵ֥ת'et<obj.>אֲשֶׁר־'a.Sher-[that] which עָשִׂ֖יתִי'a.Si.tiI did בְּמִצְרָ֑יִםbe./mitz.Ra.yimin/ Egypt וַתֵּשְׁב֥וּva./te.she.Vuand/ you dwelt בַמִּדְבָּ֖רva./mid.Barin the/ wilderness יָמִ֥יםya.Mimdays רַבִּֽים׃ra.Bimmany

King James Version

And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 4:34 Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?
Exodus 14:10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified and cried out to the LORD.
Exodus 14:20 so that it came between the camps of Egypt and Israel. The cloud was there in the darkness, but it lit up the night. So all night long neither camp went near the other.
Exodus 14:27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea.
Exodus 14:31 When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.
Nehemiah 9:12 You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.
Psalms 95:9 where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work.
Numbers 14:33 Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 1:46 For this reason you stayed in Kadesh for a long time—a very long time.
Deuteronomy 29:2 Moses summoned all Israel and proclaimed to them, “You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to all his land.