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.

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,

"Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, 'The LORD your God gives you rest, and will give you this land.

Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock, shall live in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; but you shall pass over before your brothers armed, all the mighty men of valor, and shall help them

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.

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 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.

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.

As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.

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;

and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death."

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."

Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall.

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."

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.

It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.

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.

It happened after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp;

and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then you shall move from your place, and follow it.

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 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.

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

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

Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan.

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."

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),

that the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over right against Jericho.

The priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.

and command them, saying, 'Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging place, where you will lodge tonight.'"

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;

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.

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.

It happened, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we had passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

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

Joshua made himself flint knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the Hill of the Foreskins.

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.

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

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?"

Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.

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

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.

It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him."

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.

The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the ark went after them. The trumpets sounded as they went.

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.

Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD.

The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually, and blew the trumpets: and the armed men went before them. The rear guard came after the ark of the LORD. The trumpets sounded as they went.

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.

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 as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it.

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."

So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. It happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

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."

The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.

They burnt the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron into the treasury of the LORD's house.

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 commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed be the man before the LORD, who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up its gates."

So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.

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."

So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai.

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?"

Israel has sinned, and they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken of the devoted things, and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff.

Get up. Sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for the LORD, the God of Israel, says, "There is a devoted thing in the midst of you, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you."

It shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.'"

So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes. The tribe of Judah was selected.

He brought near the family of Judah; and he selected the family of the Zerahites. He brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was selected.

He brought near his household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.

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."