Now it happened after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant (attendant), saying,

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

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them; so she said, “Yes, two men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.

and she said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror and dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted [in despair] because of you.

So the men said to her, “Our lives for yours if you do not tell [anyone about] this business of ours; then when the Lord gives us the land we will show you kindness and faithfulness [and keep our agreement with you].”

And she said to them, “Go [west] to the hill country, so that the pursuers [who have headed east] will not encounter you; hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you can go your way.”

The men said to her, “We shall be blameless and free from this oath which you have made us swear,

She said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then Rahab sent them off, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

They said to Joshua, “Certainly the Lord has given all the land into our hands; for all the inhabitants of the land have melted [in despair] because of us.”

Then Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves [for His purpose], for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders (miracles) among you.”

Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over [the river] ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went on ahead of the people.

The Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to magnify and exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that just as I was with Moses, I will [also] be with you.

Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here, and listen to the words of the Lord your God.”

Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will, without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.

So it was when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,

and Joshua said to them, “Cross over again to the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel,

Now the Lord said to Joshua,

He said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise the [new generation of the] sons of Israel as [was done] before.”

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach (derision, ridicule) of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal (rolling) to this day.

Now when Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his drawn sword in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?”

He said, “No; rather I have come now as captain of the army of the Lord.” Then Joshua fell with his face toward the earth and bowed down, and said to him, “What does my lord have to say to his servant?”

The captain of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy (set apart to the Lord).” And Joshua did so.

The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty warriors.

So Joshua the son of Nun called for the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and have seven priests carry seven trumpets made of rams’ horns ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

He said to the people, “Go forward! March around the city, and let the armed men go ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

And the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.

But Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring the woman and all that she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.”

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not make all the people go up [to fight]; have only about two thousand or three thousand men go up and attack Ai; do not make the entire army go up there, for they [of Ai] are few.”

Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have You brought this people across the Jordan at all, only to hand us over to the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to live beyond the Jordan!

So the Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face?

Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him [in recognition of His righteous judgments]; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.”

Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring you disaster this day.” Then all Israel stoned them [to death] with stones; afterward they burned their bodies in the fire.

Now the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed (intimidated). Take all the men of war with you and set out, go up to Ai; see, I have given the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land into your hand.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Reach out with the spear that is in your hand [and point it] toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua reached out with the spear in his hand [and pointed it] toward the city.

They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; so now, make a covenant (treaty) with us.”

But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you are living within our land; how then can we make a covenant (treaty) with you?”

They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Then Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and where do you come from?”

They said to him, “Your servants have come from a country that is very far away because of the fame of the Lord your God; for we have heard the news about Him and all [the remarkable things] that He did in Egypt,

So our elders and all the residents of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions for the journey and go to meet the sons of Israel and say to them, “We are your servants; now make a covenant (treaty) with us.”’

But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, so now we cannot touch them.

The leaders said to them, “Let them live [as our slaves].” So they became the cutters and gatherers of firewood and water carriers for the entire congregation, just as the leaders had said of them.

Joshua called the [Hivite] men and said, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We live very far away from you,’ when [in fact] you live among us?

The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, because I have given them into your hand; not one of them shall stand before you.”

Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord handed over the Amorites to the sons of Israel, and Joshua said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
And moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”

Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and assign men by it to guard them,

Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring out to me those five [Amorite] kings from the cave.”

Joshua said to them, “Do not fear or be dismayed (intimidated)! Be strong and courageous, for this is what the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you [are about to] fight.”

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow by this time I am going to hand over all of them slain [by the sword] to Israel; you shall hamstring (disable) their horses and set fire to their chariots.”

Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You have grown old and advanced in years, and very substantial portions of the land remain to be possessed.

It was only to the tribe of Levi that Moses gave no [territory as an] inheritance; the offerings by fire to the Lord, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as He told him.

Then the [tribe of the] sons of Judah approached Joshua in Gilgal, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning me and you in Kadesh-barnea.

And now, look, the Lord has let me live, just as He said, these forty-five years since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, look at me, I am eighty-five years old today.

So now, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke that day, for you heard on that day that the [giant-like] Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

Caleb said, “I will give Achsah my daughter as wife to the man who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it.”

Now it came about that when Achsah came to Othniel, she persuaded him [to allow her] to ask her father for a field. Then she [rode up to Caleb and] dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”

They came before Eleazar the priest and before Joshua the son of Nun and before the leaders and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” So according to the command of the Lord Joshua gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers.

The sons of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the valley have iron chariots, both those who are in Beth-shean and its towns and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”

Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power; you shall not have only one lot,

The Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us cities to live in, with their pasture lands for our cattle.”

and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have listened to and obeyed my voice in everything that I commanded you.

and he said to them, “Return to your tents with great riches and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and with very many clothes; divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers (fellow tribesmen).”

And the [other] sons of Israel heard it said, “Look, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the edge of the land of Canaan, in the region [west] of the Jordan, on the side belonging to the sons of Israel.”

They came to the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them,

Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the families of Israel,

“So we said, ‘Let us prepare and build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice,

So we said, ‘If your descendants should say this to us or to our descendants in time to come, then we can reply, “See the copy of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but rather it is a witness between us and you.”’

Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this unfaithful act against the Lord; indeed you have saved Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

that Joshua called all Israel, their elders and their heads and their judges and their officers, and said to them, “I am old and advanced in years.

Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, lived beyond the [Euphrates] River in ancient times; and they served other gods.

Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord [if you serve any other gods], for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His]. He will not forgive your transgression [of His law] or your sins.

The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve [only] the Lord.”

Joshua then said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”

“Now then, remove the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your hearts toward the Lord, the God of Israel.”

The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and we will listen to and obey His voice.”

Joshua then said to all the people, “Look, this stone shall serve as a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that [afterward] you do not deny your God.”