Book of Joshua in the context of "Mount Tabor, Israel"

The Nevi'im (/nəviˈiːm, nəˈviːɪm/; Biblical Hebrew: נְבִיאִים, romanized: Nəviʾim, lit. 'spokespersons, prophets') is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh), lying between the Torah (lit. 'instruction') and Ketuvim (lit. 'writings'). The Nevi'im are divided into two groups. The Former Prophets (Hebrew: נביאים ראשונים Nəviʾim Rishonim) consists of the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings; while the Latter Prophets (נביאים אחרונים Nəviʾim Aḥaronim) include the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets.

Tel Hazor (Hebrew: תל חצור, romanized: Tel Ḥāṣor), translated in LXX as Hasōr (Ancient Greek: Άσώρ), and in Arabic Tell Waqqas or Tell Qedah el-Gul (Arabic: تل القدح, romanized: Tell el-Qedah), is an archaeological tell at the site of ancient Hazor, located in the Upper Galilee, north of the Sea of Galilee, in the northern Korazim Plateau. From the Middle Bronze Age (around 1750 BCE) to the Iron Age (ninth century BCE), Hazor was the largest fortified city in the region and one of the most important in the Fertile Crescent. It maintained commercial ties with Babylon and Syria, and imported large quantities of tin for the bronze industry. In the Book of Joshua, Hazor is described as "the head of all those kingdoms" (Josh. 11:10) and archaeological excavations have emphasized the city's importance.

The Hazor expedition, headed by Yigael Yadin in the mid-1950s, was the most important dig undertaken by Israel in its early years of statehood. Tel Hazor is the largest archaeological site in northern Israel, featuring an upper tell of 30 acres and a lower city of more than 175 acres.

The Israelites, also known as the Children of Israel, were an ancient Semitic-speaking people who emerged in Canaan during the Iron Age. They were a Hebrew people that spoke an archaic Hebrew language commonly called Biblical Hebrew through association with the Hebrew Bible. In biblical myth, the population was divided into the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The group went on to form the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanite populations and other peoples of the ancient Near East. The Israelite religion revolved around Yahweh, who was an ancient Semitic god with less significance in the broader Canaanite religion. Around 720 BCE, the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, triggering the Assyrian captivity; and around 586 BCE, the Kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire, triggering the Babylonian captivity. While most of Israel's population was irreversibly dispossessed as a result of Assyrian resettlement policy, Judah's population was rehabilitated by the Achaemenid Empire following the fall of Babylon in 539 BCE.

The Book of Samuel (Hebrew: ספר שמואל, romanized: Sefer Shmuel) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) that constitute a theological history of the Israelites and that aim to explain God's law for Israel under the guidance of the prophets.

According to Jewish tradition, the book was written by Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, who together are three prophets who had appeared within 1 Chronicles in its account of David's reign. Modern scholarly thinking posits that the entire Deuteronomistic history was composed c. 630–540 BCE by combining a number of independent texts of various ages.

The Book of Kings (Hebrew: סֵפֶר מְלָכִים, Sēfer Məlāḵīm) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Israel also including the books of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel.

Biblical commentators believe the Books of Kings mixes legends, folktales, miracle stories and "fictional constructions" in with the annals for the purpose of providing a theological explanation for the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah by Babylon in c. 586 BC and to provide a foundation for a return from Babylonian exile. The two books of Kings present a history of ancient Israel and Judah, from the death of King David to the release of Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon—a period of some 400 years (c. 960 – c. 560 BC). Scholars tend to treat the books as consisting of a first edition from the late 7th century BC and of a second and final edition from the mid-6th century BC.

The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the Books of Samuel, during which biblical judges served as temporary leaders.

The stories follow a consistent pattern: the people are unfaithful to Yahweh; he therefore delivers them into the hands of their enemies; the people repent and entreat Yahweh for mercy, which he sends in the form of a leader or champion; the judge delivers the Israelites from oppression and they prosper, but soon they fall again into unfaithfulness and the cycle is repeated. The pattern also expresses a repeating cycle of wars. But in the last verse (21:25) there is a hint that the cycle can be broken—with the establishment of a monarchy.

The Jahwist or Yahwist (J) is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist (D), the Priestly source (P) and the Elohist (E). The existence of the Jahwist text is somewhat controversial, with a number of scholars, especially in Europe, denying that it ever existed as a coherent independent document. Nevertheless, many scholars do assume its existence. The Jahwist is so named because of its characteristic use of the term Yahweh (German: Jahwe; Hebrew: יהוה) for God.

Terah or Terach (Hebrew: תֶּרַח Teraḥ) is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis. He is listed as the son of Nahor and father of the patriarch Abraham. As such, he is a descendant of Shem's son Arpachshad. Terah is mentioned in Genesis 11:26–27, Book of Joshua 24:2, and 1 Chronicles 1:17–27 of the Hebrew Bible and Luke 3:34–36 in the New Testament.