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

Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north. It will extend all the way to the great River Euphrates in the east (including all of Syria) and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

No one will be able to resist you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not abandon you or leave you alone.

Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do.

This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful.

"Remember what Moses the Lord's servant commanded you. The Lord your God is giving you a place to settle and is handing this land over to you.

until the Lord gives your brothers a place like yours to settle and they conquer the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to them. Then you may go back to your allotted land and occupy the land Moses the Lord's servant assigned you east of the Jordan."

They told Joshua, "We will do everything you say. We will go wherever you send us.

Just as we obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. But may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses!

Any man who rebels against what you say and does not obey all your commands will be executed. But be strong and brave!"

So the king of Jericho sent this order to Rahab: "Turn over the men who came to you -- the ones who came to your house -- for they have come to spy on the whole land!"

Meanwhile the king's men tried to find them on the road to the Jordan River near the fords. The city gate was shut as soon as they set out in pursuit of them.

For we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan.

So now, promise me this with an oath sworn in the Lord's name. Because I have shown allegiance to you, show allegiance to my family. Give me a solemn pledge

She told them, "Head to the hill country, so the ones chasing you don't find you. Hide from them there for three days, long enough for those chasing you to return. Then you can be on your way."

When we invade the land, tie this red rope in the window through which you let us down, and gather together in your house your father, mother, brothers, and all who live in your father's house.

and commanded the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you must leave here and walk behind it.

But stay about three thousand feet behind it. Keep your distance so you can see which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before."

Joshua told the priests, "Pick up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they picked up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.

The Lord told Joshua, "This very day I will begin to honor you before all Israel so they will know that I am with you just as I was with Moses.

So when the people left their tents to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.

the water coming downstream toward them stopped flowing. It piled up far upstream at Adam (the city near Zarethan); there was no water at all flowing to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea). The people crossed the river opposite Jericho.

So Joshua instructed the priests, "Come up from the Jordan!"

For the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you while you crossed over. It was just like when the Lord your God dried up the Red Sea before us while we crossed it.

He has done this so all the nations of the earth might recognize the Lord's power and so you might always obey the Lord your God."

So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites on the Hill of the Foreskins.

Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, a land rich in milk and honey.

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 the Israelites camped in Gilgal and celebrated the Passover in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the plains of Jericho.

When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him holding a drawn sword. Joshua approached him and asked him, "Are you on our side or allied with our enemies?"

He answered, "Truly I am the commander of the Lord's army. Now I have arrived!" Joshua bowed down with his face to the ground and asked, "What does my master want to say to his servant?"

The commander of the Lord's army answered Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you stand is holy." Joshua did so.

The Lord told Joshua, "See, I am about to defeat Jericho for you, along with its king and its warriors.

When you hear the signal from the ram's horn, have the whole army give a loud battle cry. Then the city wall will collapse and the warriors should charge straight ahead."

So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and instructed them, "Pick up the ark of the covenant, and seven priests must carry seven rams' horns in front of the ark of the Lord."

Now Joshua had instructed the army, "Do not give a battle cry or raise your voices; say nothing until the day I tell you, 'Give the battle cry.' Then give the battle cry!"

So Joshua made sure they marched the ark of the Lord around the city one time. Then they went back to the camp and spent the night there.

All the silver and gold, as well as bronze and iron items, belong to the Lord. They must go into the Lord's treasury."

Joshua told the two men who had spied on the land, "Enter the prostitute's house and bring out the woman and all who belong to her as you promised her."

So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside the Israelite camp.

But they burned the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury of the Lord's house.

Yet Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father's family, and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho.

But the Israelites disobeyed the command about the city's riches. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, stole some of the riches. The Lord was furious with the Israelites.

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai (which is located near Beth Aven, east of Bethel) and instructed them, "Go up and spy on the land." So the men went up and spied on Ai.

So about three thousand men went up, but they fled from the men of Ai.

The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them and chased them from in front of the city gate all the way to the fissures and defeated them on the steep slope. The people's courage melted away like water.

Joshua prayed, "O, Master, Lord! Why did you bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us?

If only we had been satisfied to live on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say now that Israel has retreated before its enemies?

The one caught with the riches must be burned up along with all who belong to him, because he violated the Lord's covenant and did such a disgraceful thing in Israel.'"

He then made Zabdi's family approach man by man and Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was selected.

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!"

I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath."

Then they erected over him a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day) and the Lord's anger subsided. So that place is called the Valley of Disaster to this very day.

The Lord told Joshua, "Don't be afraid and don't panic! Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! See, I am handing over to you the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land.

They will attack us until we have lured them from the city, for they will say, 'They are retreating from us like before.' We will retreat from them.

When you capture the city, set it on fire. Do as the Lord says! See, I have given you orders."

When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah. But he did not realize men were hiding behind the city.

The Lord told Joshua, "Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city over to you." So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand.

When the men of Ai turned around, they saw the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers.

When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

But Israel did plunder the cattle and the goods of the city, in accordance with the Lord's orders to Joshua.

just as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded the Israelites. As described in the law scroll of Moses, it was made with uncut stones untouched by an iron tool. They offered burnt sacrifices on it and sacrificed tokens of peace.

All the people, rulers, leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there. Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord's servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony.

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?"

The men examined some of their provisions, but they failed to ask the Lord's advice.

So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities -- Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.

but all the leaders told the whole community, "We swore an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. So now we can't hurt them!

We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them."

The leaders then added, "Let them live." So they became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had decided.

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.

So now we are in your power. Do to us what you think is good and appropriate.

So King Adoni-Zedek of Jerusalem sent this message to King Hoham of Hebron, King Piram of Jarmuth, King Japhia of Lachish, and King Debir of Eglon:

"Come to my aid so we can attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites."

So the five Amorite kings (the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon) and all their troops gathered together and advanced. They deployed their troops and fought against Gibeon.

So Joshua and his whole army, including the bravest warriors, marched up from Gilgal.

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.

Joshua captured all these royal cities and all their kings and annihilated them with the sword, as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded.

Moses the Lord's servant passed on the Lord's commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the Lord had given Moses.

for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses.

His kingdom included the eastern Arabah from the Sea of Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), including the route to Beth Jeshimoth and the area southward below the slopes of Pisgah.

Moses the Lord's servant and the Israelites defeated them and Moses the Lord's servant assigned their land to Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

The other half of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad received their allotted tribal lands beyond the Jordan, just as Moses, the Lord's servant, had assigned them.

It included the valley of Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, and the rest of the realm of King Sihon of Heshbon, the area east of the Jordan to the end of the Sea of Kinnereth.

The Israelites followed the Lord's instructions to Moses and divided up the land.

I was forty years old when Moses, the Lord's servant, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy on the land and I brought back to him an honest report.

So now, look, the Lord has preserved my life, just as he promised, these past forty-five years since the Lord spoke these words to Moses, during which Israel traveled through the wilderness. Now look, I am today eighty-five years old.

So Hebron remains the assigned land of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this very day because he remained loyal to the Lord God of Israel.

Their southern border started at the southern tip of the Salt Sea,

It then crossed to Azmon, extended to the Stream of Egypt, and ended at the sea. This was their southern border.

The eastern border was the Salt Sea to the mouth of the Jordan River. The northern border started north of the Salt Sea at the mouth of the Jordan,

It then extended to the slope of Ekron to the north, went toward Shikkeron, crossed to Mount Baalah, extended to Jabneel, and ended at the sea.

The western border was the Mediterranean Sea. These were the borders of the tribe of Judah and its clans.

Caleb son of Jephunneh was assigned Kiriath Arba (that is Hebron) within the tribe of Judah, according to the Lord's instructions to Joshua. (Arba was the father of Anak.)

When Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's brother, captured it, Caleb gave Acsah his daughter to him 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?"

She answered, "Please give me a special present. Since you have given me land in the Negev, now give me springs of water. So he gave her both upper and lower springs.

These cities were located at the southern extremity of Judah's tribal land near the border of Edom: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,

Ashdod with its surrounding towns and settlements, and Gaza with its surrounding towns and settlements, as far as the Stream of Egypt and the border at the Mediterranean Sea.