Joshua 1–12

God’s Command to Joshua

1After Moses, the servant of the Lord, died, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. ²The Lord said, “My servant Moses is dead. Now you and all these people go across the Jordan River into the land I am giving to the Israelites. ³I promised Moses I would give you this land, so I will give you every place you go in the land. ⁴All the land from the desert in the south to Lebanon in the north will be yours. All the land from the great river, the Euphrates, in the east, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west will be yours, too, including the land of the Hittites. ⁵No one will be able to defeat you all your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forget you.

⁶“Joshua, be strong and brave! You must lead these people so they can take the land that I promised their fathers I would give them. ⁷Be strong and brave. Be sure to obey all the teachings my servant Moses gave you. If you follow them exactly, you will be successful in everything you do. ⁸Always remember what is written in the Book of the Teachings. Study it day and night to be sure to obey everything that is written there. If you do this, you will be wise and successful in everything. ⁹Remember that I commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t be afraid, because the Lord your God will be with you everywhere you go.”

Joshua’s Orders to the People

¹⁰Then Joshua gave orders to the officers of the people: ¹¹“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan River and take the land the Lord your God is giving you.’ ”

¹²Then Joshua said to the people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh, ¹³“Remember what Moses, the servant of the Lord, told you. He said the Lord your God would give you rest and would give you this land. ¹⁴Now the Lord has given you this land east of the Jordan River. Your wives, children, and animals may stay here, but your fighting men must dress for war and cross the Jordan River ahead of your brothers to help them. ¹⁵The Lord has given you a place to rest and will do the same for your brothers. But you must help them until they take the land the Lord their God is giving them. Then you may return to your own land east of the Jordan River, the land that Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you.”

¹⁶Then the people answered Joshua, “Anything you command us to do, we will do. Any place you send us, we will go. ¹⁷Just as we fully obeyed Moses, we will obey you. We ask only that the Lord your God be with you just as he was with Moses. ¹⁸Whoever refuses to obey your commands or turns against you will be put to death. Just be strong and brave!”

Spies Sent to Jericho

2Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out two spies from Acacia and said to them, “Go and look at the land, particularly at the city of Jericho.”

So the men went to Jericho and stayed at the house of a prostitute named Rahab.

²Someone told the king of Jericho, “Some men from Israel have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

³So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house. They have come to spy out our whole land.”

⁴But the woman had hidden the two men. She said, “They did come here, but I didn’t know where they came from. ⁵In the evening, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know where they went, but if you go quickly, maybe you can catch them.” ⁶(The woman had taken the men up to the roof ⁿ and had hidden them there under stalks of flax that she had spread out.) ⁷So the king’s men went out looking for the spies on the road that leads to the crossings of the Jordan River. The city gate was closed just after the king’s men left the city.

⁸Before the spies went to sleep for the night, Rahab went up to the roof. ⁹She said to them, “I know the Lord has given this land to your people. You frighten us very much. Everyone living in this land is terribly afraid of you ¹⁰because we have heard how the Lord dried up the Red Sea when you came out of Egypt. We have heard how you destroyed Sihon and Og, two Amorite kings who lived east of the Jordan. ¹¹When we heard this, we were very frightened. Now our men are afraid to fight you because the Lord your God rules the heavens above and the earth below! ¹²So now, promise me before the Lord that you will show kindness to my family just as I showed kindness to you. Give me some proof that you will do this. ¹³Allow my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all of their families to live. Save us from death.”

¹⁴The men agreed and said, “It will be our lives for your lives if you don’t tell anyone what we are doing. When the Lord gives us the land, we will be kind and true to you.”

¹⁵The house Rahab lived in was built on the city wall, so she used a rope to let the men down through a window. ¹⁶She said to them, “Go into the hills so the king’s men will not find you. Hide there for three days. After the king’s men return, you may go on your way.”

¹⁷The men said to her, “You must do as we say. If not, we cannot be responsible for keeping this oath you have made us swear. ¹⁸When we return to this land, you must tie this red rope in the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your family into your house. ¹⁹If anyone leaves your house and is killed, it is his own fault. We cannot be responsible for him. If anyone in your house is hurt, we will be responsible. ²⁰But if you tell anyone about this, we will be free from the oath you made us swear.”

²¹Rahab answered, “I agree to this.” So she sent them away, and they left. Then she tied the red rope in the window.

²²The men left and went into the hills where they stayed for three days. The king’s men looked for them all along the road, but after three days, they returned to the city without finding them. ²³Then the two men started back. They left the hills and crossed the river and came to Joshua son of Nun and told him everything that had happened to them. ²⁴They said, “The Lord surely has given us all of the land. All the people in that land are terribly afraid of us.”

Crossing the Jordan

3Early the next morning Joshua and all the Israelites left Acacia. They traveled to the Jordan River and camped there before crossing it. ²After three days the officers went through the camp ³and gave orders to the people: “When you see the priests and Levites carrying the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord your God, leave where you are and follow it. ⁴That way you will know which way to go since you have never been here before. But do not follow too closely. Stay about a thousand yards behind the Ark.”

⁵Then Joshua told the people, “Make yourselves holy, because tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

⁶Joshua said to the priests, “Take the Ark of the Agreement and go ahead of the people.” So the priests lifted the Ark and carried it ahead of the people.

⁷Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you great in the opinion of all the Israelites so the people will know I am with you just as I was with Moses. ⁸Tell the priests who carry the Ark of the Agreement to go to the edge of the Jordan River and stand in the water.”

⁹Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. ¹⁰Here is proof that the living God is with you and that he will force out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. ¹¹The Ark of the Agreement with the Lord of the whole world will go ahead of you into the Jordan River. ¹²Now choose twelve men from among you, one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Master of the whole world, into the Jordan ahead of you. When they step into the water, it will stop. The river will stop flowing and will stand up in a heap.”

¹⁴So the people left the place where they had camped, and they followed the priests who carried the Ark of the Agreement across the Jordan River. ¹⁵During harvest the Jordan overflows its banks. When the priests carrying the Ark came to the edge of the river and stepped into the water, ¹⁶the water upstream stopped flowing. It stood up in a heap a great distance away at Adam, a town near Zarethan. The water flowing down to the Sea of Arabah (the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed the river near Jericho. ¹⁷The priests carried the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord to the middle of the river and stood there on dry ground. They waited there while all the people of Israel walked across the Jordan River on dry land.

Rocks to Remind the People

4After all the people had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ²“Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe. ³Tell them to get twelve rocks from the middle of the river, from where the priests stood. Carry the rocks and put them down where you stay tonight.”

⁴So Joshua chose one man from each tribe. Then he called the twelve men together ⁵and said to them, “Go out into the river where the Ark of the Lord your God is. Each of you bring back one rock, one for each tribe of Israel, and carry it on your shoulder. ⁶They will be a sign among you. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these rocks mean?’ ⁷Tell them the water stopped flowing in the Jordan when the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord crossed the river. These rocks will always remind the Israelites of this.”

⁸So the Israelites obeyed Joshua and carried twelve rocks from the middle of the Jordan River, one rock for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded Joshua. They carried the rocks with them and put them down where they made their camp. ⁹Joshua also put twelve rocks in the middle of the Jordan River where the priests had stood while carrying the Ark of the Agreement. These rocks are still there today.

¹⁰The priests carrying the Ark continued standing in the middle of the…