Numbers 27:12–23

Joshua to Succeed Moses

¹²The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into ^hthis mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. ¹³When you have seen it, you also ⁱshall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, ^14jbecause you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing ^kto uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are ^lthe waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) ¹⁵Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ¹⁶“Let the Lord, ^mthe God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation ¹⁷who ⁿshall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be ^oas sheep that have no shepherd.” ¹⁸So the Lord said to Moses, “Take ^pJoshua the son of Nun, a man ^qin whom is the Spirit, and ^rlay your hand on him. ¹⁹Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall ^scommission him in their sight. ²⁰You shall invest him with some of your authority, ^tthat all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey. ²¹And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him ^uby the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.” ²²And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, ²³and he laid his hands on him and ^scommissioned him as the Lord directed through Moses.