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, saying,

Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you, and all this people, to the land which I give to them, even to the children of Israel.

From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.

No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.

Be strong and of good courage; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.

Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, neither be dismayed: for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

"Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, 'Prepare food; for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess it.'"

Joshua spoke to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, saying,

until the LORD has given your brothers rest, as he has given you, and they have also possessed the land which the LORD your God gives them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession, and possess it, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.'"

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

Just as we listened to Moses in all things, so will we listen to you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses.

Whoever rebels against your commandment, and doesn't listen to your words in all that you command him, he shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage."

Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, "Go, view the land, and Jericho." They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.

The king of Jericho was told, "Behold, men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land."

The king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land."

The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from.

It happened about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went, I do not know. Pursue them quickly; for you will overtake them."

But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.

The men pursued them the way to the Jordan to the fords: and as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof;

and she said to the men, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Sea of Suf before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a true token;

The men said to her, "Our life for yours, if you do not talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when the LORD gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you."

She said to them, "Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way."

The men said to her, "We will be guiltless of this your oath which you have made us to swear.

Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which you did let us down by. You shall gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household.

But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you have made us to swear."

She said, "According to your words, so be it." She sent them away, and they departed. She tied the scarlet line in the window.

They went, and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but did not find them.

Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun; and they told him all that had happened to them.

They said to Joshua, "Truly the LORD has delivered into our hands all the land. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us."

Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They lodged there before they passed over.

Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near to it, that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before."

Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you."

Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people." They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

The LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, 'When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.'"

Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God."

It shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand in one heap."

It happened, when the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people,

and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),

It happened, when all the nation had completely passed over the Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

Joshua said to them, "Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;

that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do you mean by these stones?'

then you shall tell them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.'"

The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as the LORD spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.

Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan, until everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and passed over.

The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them.

About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war passed over before the LORD to battle, to the plains of Jericho.

On that day, the LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.

The LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

It happened, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.

The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.

He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean?'

For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until you had passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Sea of Suf, which he dried up from before us, until we had passed over;

At that time, the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time."

For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD. The LORD swore to them that he wouldn't let them see the land which the LORD swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

The LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you." Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, to this day.

The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.

They ate unleavened cakes and parched grain of the produce of the land on the next day after the Passover, in the same day.

The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The children of Israel did not have manna any more; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

It happened, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him, and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?"

And he said to him, "Truly I am the commander of the LORD's army. Now I have come." And Joshua fell facedown to the ground and worshipped, and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?"

The commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take your shoes off of your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy." Joshua did so.

The LORD said to Joshua, "Behold, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty men of valor.

All your men of war shall march around the city, going around the city once. You shall do this six days.

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

Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD."

They said to the people, "Advance. March around the city, and let the armed men pass on before the LORD's ark."

It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the LORD advanced, and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.

Joshua commanded the people, saying, "You shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout."

So he caused the ark of the LORD to go around the city, going about it once. Then they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

The second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. They did this six days.

It happened on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times.

It happened at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city.

The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy to the LORD. They shall come into the LORD's treasury."

Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house, and bring out from there the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her."

But Rahab the prostitute, her father's household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, "Go up and spy out the land." The men went up and spied out Ai.

They returned to Joshua, and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Do not make all the people to toil there, for there are only a few of them."

The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them, and they chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like water.

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

Joshua said, "Alas, Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan.

For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?"

The LORD said to Joshua, "Get up. Why are you fallen on your face like that?

Therefore the children of Israel can't stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

Joshua said to Achan, "My son, please give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me."

When I saw among the spoil a beautiful garment from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it."

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. Behold, it was hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.

They took them from the middle of the tent, and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel. They laid them down before the LORD.

Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.

Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day." All Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.

They raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. The LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called "The valley of Achor" to this day.

The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid, neither be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land.

You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except its spoil and its livestock, you shall take for a plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it."