After Moses the Lord's servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant:

She said to the men, "I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. We are absolutely terrified of you, and all who live in the land are cringing before you.

The men said to her, "If you die, may we die too! If you do not report what we've been up to, then, when the Lord hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance to you."

The men said to her, "We are not bound by this oath you made us swear unless the following conditions are met:

She said, "I agree to these conditions." She sent them on their way and then tied the red rope in the window.

The Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have taken away the disgrace of Egypt from you." So that place is called Gilgal even to this day.

So Joshua said to Achan, "My son, honor the Lord God of Israel and give him praise! Tell me what you did; don't hide anything from me!"

Joshua said, "Why have you brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you today!" All Israel stoned him to death. (They also stoned and burned the others.)

They came to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant land. Make a treaty with us."

The men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live near us. So how can we make a treaty with you?"

But they said to Joshua, "We are willing to be your subjects." So Joshua said to them, "Who are you and where do you come from?"

Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, "Why did you trick us by saying, 'We live far away from you,' when you really live nearby?

They said to Joshua, "It was carefully reported to your subjects how the Lord your God commanded Moses his servant to assign you the whole land and to destroy all who live in the land from before you. Because of you we were terrified we would lose our lives, so we did this thing.

Joshua did as they said; he kept the Israelites from killing them

Joshua said, "Roll large stones over the mouth of the cave and post guards in front of it.

Joshua said, "Open the cave's mouth and bring the five kings out of the cave to me."

When they brought the kings out to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the commanders of the troops who accompanied him, "Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings." So they came up and put their feet on their necks.

Then Joshua said to them, "Don't be afraid and don't panic! Be strong and brave, for the Lord will do the same thing to all your enemies you fight.

The men of Judah approached Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know what the Lord said about you and me to Moses, the man of God, at Kadesh Barnea.

Caleb said, "To the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher I will give my daughter Acsah as a wife."

One time Acsah came and charmed her father so that she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, "What would you like?"

They went before Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders and said, "The Lord told Moses to assign us land among our relatives." So Joshua assigned them land among their uncles, as the Lord had commanded.

The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, "Why have you assigned us only one tribal allotment? After all, we have many people, for until now the Lord has enabled us to increase in number."

The descendants of Joseph said, "The whole hill country is inadequate for us, and the Canaanites living down in the valley in Beth Shean and its surrounding towns and in the Valley of Jezreel have chariots with iron-rimmed wheels."

Joshua said to the family of Joseph -- to both Ephraim and Manasseh: "You have many people and great military strength. You will not have just one tribal allotment.

So Joshua said to the Israelites: "How long do you intend to put off occupying the land the Lord God of your ancestors has given you?

in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, "The Lord told Moses to assign us cities in which to live along with the grazing areas for our cattle."

They went to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them:

We said, 'If in the future they say such a thing to us or to our descendants, we will reply, "See the model of the Lord's altar that our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you."'

Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, "Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord's judgment."

The Israelites were satisfied with their report and gave thanks to God. They said nothing more about launching an attack to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites lived.

The people said to Joshua, "No! We really will worship the Lord!"

Joshua said to the people, "Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord?" They replied, "We are witnesses!"

Joshua said, "Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to the Lord God of Israel."

The people said to Joshua, "We will worship the Lord our God and obey him."

Joshua said to all the people, "Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness against you if you deny your God."