5 And Achior, the captain of all the children of Ammon, said unto him, Hearken, my lord, to the word of thy servant's mouth; I will tell you the truth about this people who dwell near you in this hill country, and no lie will come out of the mouth of your servant.

6 This people is descended from the Chaldeans.

7 And they dwelt in Mesopotamia before, because they would not serve the gods of their fathers, which were in the land of the Chaldeans,

8 And they turned away from the way of their fathers, and began to worship the God of heaven, the God whom they had come to know. and the Chaldeans drove them out from before their gods, and they fled to Mesopotamia, and dwelt there a long time.

9 But their God said that they should go out of the place of exile and go to the land of Canaan; they settled there and were greatly enriched in gold, silver and a multitude of cattle.

10 From thence they went over into Egypt, because a famine had covered the face of the land of Canaan, and there they tarried as long as they found food, and there they multiplied until there was no number of their generations.

11 And the king of Egypt rose up against them, and used cunning against them, burdening them with labour and brick-making, and made them slaves.

12 Then they cried unto their God, and he smote all the land of Egypt with incurable plagues, and the Egyptians drove them out from before them.

13 God dried up the Red Sea before them

14 and led them by the way of Sina and Cadiz-barnea; they drove out all those who dwelt in this wilderness;

15 And they dwelt in the land of the Amorites, and by their own power destroyed all the Heshbonites, and crossed the Jordan, and inherited all the hill country

16 And having driven out from before them Canaanites, and Perizzites, and Jebusites, Shechem, and all the Gergashites, they dwelt in it many days.

17 And until they sinned against their God, happiness was with them, because God is with them, who hates unrighteousness.

18 But when they deviated from the way which he had bequeathed to them, they suffered very great defeats in many wars, and were taken captive into a foreign land, and the temple of their God was destroyed, and their cities were taken by the enemy.