After the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh, Yahweh said to Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, saying,

"My servant Moses [is] dead. Get up and cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I [am] giving to them, to the {Israelites}.

Every place that the soles of your feet will tread, I have given it to you, as I promised to Moses.

From the wilderness {and the Lebanon}, up to the great river, the river Euphrates, all of the land of the Hittites, and up to {the great sea in the west}, will be your territory.

Be strong and courageous, for you will give the people this land as an inheritance that I swore to their ancestors to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous {to observe diligently the whole law} that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn aside from it, [to] the right or left, so that you may succeed {wherever you go}.

The scroll of this law will not depart from your mouth; you will meditate on it day and night so that {you may observe diligently all that is written} in it. For then you will succeed [in] your ways and prosper.

Did I not command you? Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you {wherever you go}."

"Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people: 'Prepare your provisions; {in} three days you [are to] cross the Jordan to go possess the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving you to possess.'"

To the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said,

"Remember the word that Moses Yahweh's servant commanded you, saying, 'Yahweh your God [is] giving rest to you, and he is giving you this land.'

Your wives, your little children, and your livestock, they will remain in the land that Moses gave to you beyond the Jordan. {All of the best fighting men} will cross armed in front of your families; they will help you

until Yahweh gives rest to your families as well as to you. They will take possession of the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to them. Then you will return to your own land and take possession of it, [the land] that Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan {to the east}."

And they answered Joshua, saying, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you will send us we will go.

Whoever {rebels against your orders} and does not obey your words according to what you commanded us will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous."

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men from Acacia Grove [as] spies, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name [was] Rahab, and {spent the night} there.

The king of Jericho was told, "Look, [some] men from the {Israelites} have come here tonight to search out the land."

And the king of Jericho sent [for] Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who came to you, the ones who have entered your house, for they have come to search out the whole land."

But the woman took the two men and hid them. And she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they [were] from.

And when [it was time] to shut the gate {for the night}, the men left, and I do not know where they went. Chase after them quickly, for you may catch up [to] them."

(But she had taken them to the roof and had hidden them {in the stalks of flax} that she {had spread out} on the roof.)

So the men chased after them on {the way to the Jordan} at the fords; and they shut the gate behind the pursuers that had gone out after them.

Before {they went to sleep}, she came up to them on the roof

and said to the men, "I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away [in fear] because of your presence.

For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the waters of the {Red Sea} before you when you went out from Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that [were] beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

So then please swear to me by Yahweh, because {I have shown loyalty to you}, and {you will also show loyalty} {to my family}. You must give me a sign of good faith,

and you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all that belongs to them; you will deliver our lives from death."

And the men said to her, "{Our lives for yours}. If you do not report this business of ours, {we will show you loyalty and faithfulness} when Yahweh gives us the land."

And she said to them, "Go to the mountain, so that the pursuers will not find you, and hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers return, and afterward you may go {on your way}."

The men said to her, "We [will be] released from this oath of yours that you made us swear.

[When] we come to the land, you must tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you must gather your father and mother, and your brothers, and your whole family to your house.

And she said, "According to your word it [will be]." Then she sent them away, and they went, and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

They departed and came to the mountain, and they stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers searched {all along the way} but did not find [them].

The two men returned and went down from the mountain, and they crossed [over] and came to Joshua son of Nun, and they told him everything that happened to them.

They said to Joshua, "Surely Yahweh has given all the land into our hand; also, all the inhabitants of the land melt away [in fear] because of our presence."

Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Acacia Grove. And they came up to the Jordan, he and all the {Israelites}, and they spent the night there before they crossed [over].

[But] there will be a distance between you and it of about two thousand cubits in measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way that you must go, for you have not passed on [this] way {before}."

And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, because tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders in your midst."

And Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross [over] {ahead of the people}." And they took up the ark of the covenant and went {ahead of the people}.

Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "This day I will begin exalting you {in the sight} of all Israel, that they may know that I was with Moses, and I will be with you.

You will command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, 'At the moment that you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you will stand [still] in the Jordan.'"

And Joshua said to the {Israelites}, "Come here, and hear the words of Yahweh your God."

Look! The ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth [is about to] cross [over] ahead of you into the Jordan.

And it happened, when the people set out from their tents to cross [over] the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant were {ahead of the people}.

When those carrying the ark came up to the Jordan, and the priests carrying the ark dipped their feet in the edge of the water (the Jordan was flowing over its banks during all the days of harvest),

the waters flowing down from above stood [still]; they stood up [in] one heap very far from Adam, the city that [is] beside Zarethan, while [the waters] flowing down to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, {were completely cut off}; and the people crossed [over] opposite Jericho.

After all the nation finished crossing the Jordan, Yahweh said to Joshua,

And Joshua said to them, "Cross [over] before the ark of Yahweh your God to the middle of the Jordan, and each one of you lift up a stone on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the {Israelites},

so that this may be a reminder among you. When your children ask in the future, saying, '{What do these stones mean to you}?'

you will say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off {from before} the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones will be as a memorial for the {Israelites} for eternity."

Thus the {Israelites} did as Joshua commanded. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan as Yahweh told Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the {Israelites}, and they carried them over with them to {the camp}, and they put them there.

Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant [stood], and they are there to this day.

The priests carrying the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything that Yahweh commanded Joshua to tell the people was finished, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua. And the people hastily crossed [over].

About forty thousand armed for fighting crossed [over] before the presence of Yahweh to the plains of Jericho for battle.

On that day Yahweh exalted Joshua {in the sight} of all Israel, and they respected him as they respected Moses all the days of his life.

Then Yahweh said to Joshua, saying,

"Command the priests carrying the ark of the testimony {to come up} from the Jordan."

And it happened that when the priests carrying the ark came up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet {touched dry land}, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all its banks as before.

And the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth [day] of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho.

And he said to the {Israelites}, "When your children ask in the future {their parents}, '{What is the meaning of these stones}?'

For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you, until you had crossed, just as Yahweh your God did to the {Red Sea}, which he dried up before us until we had crossed over,

And it happened, when all the kings of the Amorites who [were] beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who [were] by the sea heard that Yahweh dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of the {Israelites} until they crossed [over], their hearts melted, and {there was no courage left in them} because of the presence of the {Israelites}.

At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, "Make for yourself knives of flint, and circumcise the {Israelites} a second time."

For forty years the {Israelites} traveled in the wilderness until all the nation, the warriors that left Egypt, perished, because they did not listen to the voice of Yahweh. To them Yahweh swore that they would not see the land that he swore to their ancestors to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you." Therefore, the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.

And the {Israelites} camped at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho.

On the next day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate from the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted corn.

And the manna ceased the day after, when they [started] eating the produce of the land, and there was no longer manna for the {Israelites}. They ate from the crop of the land of Canaan in that year.

And it happened, when Joshua was by Jericho, {he looked up}, and he saw a man standing {opposite him} [with] his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said, "Are you with us, or with our adversaries?"

And he said, "Neither. I have come now [as] the commander of Yahweh's army." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and {he bowed down} and said to him, "What [is] my lord commanding his servant?"

The commander of Yahweh's army said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you [are] standing [is] holy." And Joshua did so.

And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Look, I am giving Jericho into your hand, its king and the soldiers of the army.

You will march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once; you will do so for six days.

And seven priests will bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you will march around the city seven times, and the priests will blow on the trumpets.

So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry the trumpets of the rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh."

And he said to the people, "Go forward and march around the city, and let the armed [men] pass before the ark of Yahweh.

{And when Joshua spoke} to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the presence of Yahweh went forward and they blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed behind them.

But Joshua commanded the people, saying, "You will not shout, and you will not let your voice be heard; a word will not go out from your mouth until the day I say to you 'Shout!' Then you will shout."

And they marched around the city once on the second day, and they returned [to] the camp. They did [this] for six days.

Then on the seventh day they rose early at dawn, and they marched around the city in this manner seven times. [It was] only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.

And at the seventh time the priests blew on the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, "Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city.

The city and all that is in it will be devoted to Yahweh; only Rahab the prostitute and all who [are] with her in the house will live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

As for you, keep [away] from the things devoted to destruction so that you do not take them and bring about your own destruction, making the camp of Israel an object for destruction, bringing trouble upon it.

But all of the silver and gold, and the items of bronze and iron, [are] holy to Yahweh, and they must go to Yahweh's treasury."

Then Joshua said to the two men who spied on the land, "Go [to] the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, just as you swore to her."

But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute {and her family} and all who [were] with her, and she has lived in the midst of Israel until this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho [to] Ai, which [is] near Beth Aven, east of Bethel, and he said to them, "Go up and spy out Ai." And the men went up and spied out Ai.

And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up and attack Ai; [only] two or three thousand men should go up because they [are] few. Do not make all the people weary [up] there."

The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, and they chased them from the gate up to Shebarim and killed them on the slope. And the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.

And Joshua said, "Ah, my Lord! Why did you bring this people across the Jordan to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content and stayed beyond the Jordan.

The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear [of this], and they will surround us and cut off our name from the land. What will you do, for your great name?"

And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stand up! {Why} [have] you fallen on your face?

The {Israelites} were unable to stand before their enemies; {they fled from their enemies} because they have become a thing devoted for destruction. {I will be with you no more} unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

Get up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: "[There are] devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You will be unable to stand before you enemies until you remove the devoted things from your midst."

The one caught with the devoted things will be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because {he transgressed the covenant} of Yahweh, and because he did a disgraceful thing in Israel." '"

And Joshua said to Achan, "My son, please, give glory to Yahweh the God of Israel, and give him a doxology in court. Tell me, please, what you have done; do not hide [it] from me."

I saw among the spoil a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and one bar of gold [that] weighed fifty shekels; I coveted them and took them. They [are] hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver [is] under it."

Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there [they were], hidden in his tent, and the silver [was] under it.

And they took them from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the {Israelites}. And they spread them out before the presence of Yahweh.