I've commanded you, haven't I? Be strong and courageous. Don't be fearful or discouraged, because the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

They reported to Joshua, "The LORD really has given the entire land into our control. The inhabitants of the land have melted away right in front of us!"

Be sure to keep a distance of about 2,000 cubits between you and it. Don't come near it, so you can be certain where you're going, since you haven't passed this way before."

At that time the LORD told Joshua, "Make for yourselves some flint knives and circumcise the Israelis who haven't been circumcised yet."

Then the LORD told Joshua, "Today I have rolled the disgrace of Egypt away from you." That's why that place is called "Gilgal" to this day.

"Neither," he answered. "I have come as commander of the LORD's Army." Joshua immediately fell on his face to the earth and worshipped, saying to him, "Lord, what do you have for your servant by way of command?"

The LORD told Joshua, "Look! I have given Jericho over to your control, along with its kings and valiant soldiers.

So Nun's son Joshua called for the priests. "Pick up the Ark of the Covenant," he told them, "and have seven priests carry seven trumpets made from rams' horns in front of the ark of the LORD."

He told the army, "Go out and encircle the city. Have the armed men march out in front of the ark of the LORD."

"Lord GOD," Joshua asked, "Why have you brought this people across the Jordan River? To hand us over to the Amorites so we'll be destroyed? Wouldn't it have been better for us to be content to settle on the other side of the Jordan?

"Get up!" the LORD replied to Joshua. "Why have you fallen on your face?

Israel has sinned. They broke my covenant that I commanded them by taking some of the things that had been turned over to destruction. They have stolen, have been deceitful, and have stored what they stole among their own belongings.

The Israelis have been unable to stand before their enemies. They're turning their backs and running from their enemies because they themselves have been turned over to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy these things that have been turned over to destruction.

The LORD then told Joshua, "Don't be afraid or lose heart! Take all the fighting men with you, and go up right now to Ai. Take note that I have handed over the king of Ai into your control, along with his people, his city, and his land.

They answered, "Your servants have arrived from a very distant land, because of the reputation of the LORD your God, because we've heard a report about all that he did in Egypt,

Then all of the leaders spoke to the entire congregation, "We have sworn to them in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them.

The Gibeonites sent word to Joshua at his camp in Gilgal: "Don't abandon your servants. Come quickly, save us, and help us, because all of the kings of the Amorites who live in the hill country have attacked us."

The LORD told Joshua, "Don't fear them, because I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will withstand you."

Joshua was informed, "The five kings have been discovered hiding in the cave at Makkedah."

When Joshua had grown old, having lived many years, the LORD told him, "You are old and have lived many years, but much of the land still remains to be possessed.

You only have to allocate the land as an inheritance, just as I commanded you."

Moses made a promise to me on that day when he said, "The land that you covered on foot will certainly be your inheritance. It will belong to your descendants forever, because you have fully followed the LORD my God.'

She replied, "Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also some springs of water." So he gave her the upper and lower springs.

The descendants of Joseph replied, "The hill country isn't sufficient for us, but all the Canaanites who live on the plain have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shean and its villages as well as the inhabitants of the Jezreel Valley."

So Joshua told the tribes of Joseph, which were Ephraim and Manasseh, "You're truly a numerous group, and you have great power. You are not to have only one allotment,

but the hill country will also belong to you. Even though it's a forest, you will clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. You'll drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and even though they're strong."

The descendants of Levi have no allotment among you, since the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance. Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh received their inheritance to the east, beyond the Jordan River given to them by Moses the servant of the LORD."

and told them, "You have done everything that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and you have listened to me in everything that I commanded you.

You haven't abandoned your relatives these past days to the present, and you have met the obligation contained in the commands of the LORD your God.

When the Israelis heard about it, they announced, "Look here, the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have constructed an altar in Canaan's frontier district of the Jordan River, on the side apportioned to the Israelis."

"This is what the entire community of the LORD has to say: "What is this treacherous act by which you have acted deceitfully against the God of Israel by turning away from following the LORD today, and by building yourselves an altar today, so you can rebel against the LORD?

Isn't the evil that happened at Peor enough for us, from which we have yet to be completely cleansed even to this point, and because of which a plague came upon the community of the LORD?

If we have built an altar for ourselves intended to turn us away from following the LORD, or to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself demand an accounting from us!

But we did this because we were concerned for a reason, since we thought, "Sometime in the future your descendants may say to our descendants, "What do you have in common with the LORD, the God of Israel?

The LORD has established the Jordan River to be a territorial border between us and you. Descendants of Reuben and descendants of Gad have no allotment from the LORD." So your descendants may cause our descendants to stop fearing the LORD.'

but instead it will serve as a reminder between us and you and between our generations after us, that we are to serve the LORD with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings. That way your descendants will not say to our descendants in the future, "You have no allotment from the LORD."'

So Eleazar's son Phinehas the priest replied to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the descendants of Manasseh, "Today we've demonstrated that the LORD is among us, because you have not acted treacherously against the LORD. Now you have delivered the Israelis from the anger of the LORD."

You have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all of these nations on your behalf, because it has been the LORD your God who has been fighting on your behalf.

Now look, I have allocated these nations that remain as an inheritance for your tribes, including all of the nations that I have eliminated, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea to the west.

Instead, you are to hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done today,

However, just as all of the good things have come about that the LORD your God promised, so also the LORD will bring upon you all of the threats until he has destroyed you from possessing this good land that he has given you.

I gave you a land for which you never worked and cities that you didn't build, but that you have lived in. You're eating from vineyards and olive groves that you didn't plant.'

Joshua responded, "You are giving testimony against yourselves, that you have chosen to serve the LORD." They replied, "We are witnesses!"