Joshua 1-5

Joshua 1

¹Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying,

²“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the children of Israel.

³I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses.

⁴From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.

⁵No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.

⁶“Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

⁷Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

⁸This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.

⁹Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

¹⁰Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,

¹¹“Pass through the middle of the camp, and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare food; for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess.’”

¹²Joshua spoke to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, saying,

¹³“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God gives you rest, and will give you this land.

¹⁴Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall live in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; but you shall pass over before your brothers armed, all the mighty men of valor, and shall help them

¹⁵until the LORD has given your brothers rest, as he has given you, and they have also possessed the land which the LORD your God gives them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.’”

¹⁶They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

¹⁷Just as we listened to Moses in all things, so will we listen to you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses.

¹⁸Whoever rebels against your commandment, and doesn’t listen to your words in all that you command him shall himself be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

Joshua 2

¹Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.

²The king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land.”

³Jericho’s king sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land.”

⁴The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from.

⁵About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly. You may catch up with them.”

⁶But she had brought them up to the roof, and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.

⁷The men pursued them along the way to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof.

⁹She said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

¹⁰For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

¹¹As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.

¹²Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true sign;

¹³and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.”

¹⁴The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when the LORD gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

¹⁵Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall.

¹⁶She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way.”

¹⁷The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear.

¹⁸Behold, when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. Gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.

¹⁹It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.

²⁰But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you’ve made us to swear.”

²¹She said, “Let it be as you have said.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet line in the window.

²²They went and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but didn’t find them.

²³Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, crossed the river, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. They told him all that had happened to them.

²⁴They said to Joshua, “Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.”

Joshua 3

¹Joshua got up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They camped there before they crossed over.

²After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp;

³and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the LORD your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it.

⁴Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits by measure—don’t come closer to it—that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”

⁶Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and cross over before the people.” They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

⁷The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

⁸You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’”

⁹Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.”

¹⁰Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.

¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan.

¹²Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.

¹³It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of GOD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap.”

¹⁴When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people,

¹⁵and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),

¹⁶the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over near Jericho.

¹⁷The priests who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.

Joshua 4

¹When all the nation had completely crossed over the Jordan, the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

²“Take twelve men out of the people, a man out of every tribe,

³and command them, saying, ‘Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you’ll camp tonight.’”

⁴Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, a man out of every tribe.

⁵Joshua said to them, “Cross before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;

⁶that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in the future, saying, ‘What do you mean by these stones?’

⁷then you shall tell them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the LORD’s covenant. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.’”

⁸The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as the LORD spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel. They carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and laid them down there.

⁹Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

¹⁰For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and passed over.

¹¹When all the people had completely crossed over, the LORD’s ark crossed over with the priests in the presence of the people.

¹²The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them.

¹³About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war, passed over before the LORD to battle, to the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴On that day, the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵The LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

¹⁶“Command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, that they come up out of the Jordan.”

¹⁷Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, “Come up out of the Jordan!”

¹⁸When the priests who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet had been lifted up to the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.

¹⁹The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.

²⁰Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.

²¹He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’

²²Then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

²³For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had crossed over,

²⁴that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD’s hand is mighty, and that you may fear the LORD your God forever.’”

Joshua 5

¹When all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, their heart melted, and there was no more spirit in them, because of the children of Israel.

²At that time, the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives, and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.”

³Joshua made himself flint knives, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

⁴This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: all the people who came out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness along the way, after they came out of Egypt.

⁵For all the people who came out were circumcised; but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

⁶For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they didn’t listen to the LORD’s voice. The LORD swore to them that he wouldn’t let them see the land which the LORD swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁷Their children, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua, for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way.

⁸When they were done circumcising the whole nation, they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed.

⁹The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.

¹¹They ate unleavened cakes and parched grain of the produce of the land on the next day after the Passover, in the same day.

¹²The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The children of Israel didn’t have manna any more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

¹³When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our enemies?”

¹⁴He said, “No; but I have come now as commander of the LORD’s army.” Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and asked him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”

¹⁵The prince of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.