This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan [on the east], to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

But if anyone goes out the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head [that is, his own responsibility], and we shall be blameless and free [from our oath]; however, if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.

“Take for yourselves the twelve men [chosen] from among the people, one man from each tribe,

and command them, ‘Pick up for yourselves twelve stones [one each] from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm; carry them over with you and lay them down at the place where you will spend the night tonight.’”

So the [twelve men chosen from the] sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had spoken to Joshua; and they carried them over with them to the place where they were spending the night and put them down there.

“Order the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.”

So Joshua commanded the priests, saying, “Come up out of the Jordan.”

When the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of their feet were raised up to the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and flowed over all its banks as before.

Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth [day] of the first month and encamped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.

And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.

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

All the males who came out were circumcised, but all the males who were born in the wilderness on the way as they left Egypt had not been circumcised.

For the Israelites walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, died because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord; to them the Lord had sworn [an oath] that He would not let them see the land which He had promised to their fathers to give us, a land [of abundance] flowing with milk and honey.

And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the Israelites no longer had manna, but they ate some of the produce of the land of Canaan during that year.

Now Jericho [a fortified city with high walls] was tightly closed because [of the people’s fear] of the sons of Israel; no one went out or came in.

But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout [the battle cry] nor let your voice be heard nor let a word come out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout!”

The [men in] ambush emerged quickly from their [hiding] place, and when Joshua stretched out his hand they ran and entered the city and captured it, and quickly set the city on fire.

Then the others came out of the city to confront the men of Ai [as they returned], so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; then Israel struck them until none of them survived or escaped.

This bread of ours was hot (fresh) when we took it along as our provision from our houses on the day we left to come to you; now look, it is dry and has turned to crumbs.

So that is what he did to them; he rescued them from the hands of the Israelites and they did not kill them.

They did so, and brought these five [Amorite] kings out of the cave to him—the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

The Lord gave Lachish into the hands of Israel; and Joshua captured it on the second day, and struck it and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, just as he had done to Libnah.

The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was taken from the portion of the sons of Judah, for the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; so the sons of Simeon received an inheritance within Judah’s inheritance.

So the sons of Israel gave the Levites from their inheritance these [forty-eight] cities and their pasture lands, in accordance with the command of the Lord.

and Ain with its pasture lands and Juttah with its pasture lands and Beth-shemesh with its pasture lands; nine cities from these two tribes (Judah and Simeon).

From the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, and Geba with its pasture lands,

Then the cities from the tribe of Ephraim were allotted to the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites, even to the rest of the sons of Kohath.

From the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands,

From the half-tribe of Manasseh, they allotted Taanach with its pasture lands and Gath-rimmon with its pasture lands; two cities.

To the sons of Gershon, one of the families of the Levites, they gave from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, [the city of] Golan in Bashan, the city of refuge for anyone who committed manslaughter, with its pasture lands, and Be-eshterah with its pasture lands; two cities.

From the tribe of Issachar, they gave Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands,

From the tribe of Asher, they gave Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands,

From the tribe of Naphtali, they gave Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for anyone who committed manslaughter, with its pasture lands and Hammoth-dor with its pasture lands and Kartan with its pasture lands; three cities.

To the families of the sons of Merari, the rest of the Levites, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasture lands and Kartah with its pasture lands,

From the tribe of Reuben, they gave Bezer with its pasture lands and Jahaz with its pasture lands,

From the tribe of Gad, they gave Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for anyone who committed manslaughter, with its pasture lands and Mahanaim with its pasture lands,

The Lord your God will push them away from before you and drive them out of your sight and you will take possession of their land, just as the Lord your God promised you.

Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.

But I would not listen to Balaam. Therefore he had to bless you, so I saved you from Balak’s hand.

for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs (miracles) in our sight and kept us safe all along the way that we went and among all the peoples among whom we passed.

Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money; and it became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph.