Moses my servant is dead; so now get up! Go over Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the children of Israel.

Every place on which you put your foot I have given to you, as I said to Moses.

While you are living, all will give way before you: as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not take away my help from you or give you up.

Take heart and be strong; for you will give to this people for their heritage the land which I gave by an oath to their fathers.

Only take heart and be very strong; take care to do all the law which Moses my servant gave you, not turning from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may do well in all your undertakings.

Let this book of the law be ever on your lips and in your thoughts day and night, so that you may keep with care everything in it; then a blessing will be on all your way, and you will do well.

Have I not given you your orders? Take heart and be strong; have no fear and do not be troubled; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go,

Then Joshua gave their orders to those who were in authority over the people, saying,

Go through the tents and give orders to the people, saying, Get ready a store of food; for in three days you are to go over this river Jordan and take for your heritage the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Keep in mind what Moses, the servant of the Lord, said to you, The Lord your God is sending you rest and will give you this land.

Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle will be kept here in the land which Moses gave you on this side of Jordan; but you, the fighting-men, are to go over before your brothers, armed, to give them help;

Till the Lord has given your brothers rest, as he has given it to you, and they have taken their heritage in the land which the Lord your God is giving them: then you will go back to the land of your heritage which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on the east side of Jordan.

Then they said to Joshua in answer, Whatever you say to us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

As we gave attention to Moses in all things, so we will give attention to you: and may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.

Then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men from Shittim secretly, with the purpose of searching out the land, and Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a loose woman of the town, named Rahab, where they took their rest for the night.

Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Send out the men who have come to you and are in your house; for they have come with the purpose of searching out all the land.

And the woman took the two men and put them in a secret place; then she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I had no idea where they came from;

And when it was the time for shutting the doors at dark, they went out; I have no idea where the men went: but if you go after them quickly, you will overtake them.

And said to them, It is clear to me that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has come on us;

For we have had news of how the Lord made the Red Sea dry before you when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, on the other side of Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you gave up to the curse.

And because of this news, our hearts became like water, and there was no more spirit in any of us because of you; for the Lord your God is God in heaven on high and here on earth.

So now, will you give me your oath by the Lord, that, because I have been kind to you, you will be kind to my father's house,

And that you will keep safe my father and mother and my brothers and sisters and all they have, so that death may not come on us?

And the men said to her, Our life for yours if you keep our business secret; and when the Lord has given us the land, we will keep faith and be kind to you.

Then she let them down from the window by a cord, for the house where she was living was on the town wall.

And she said to them, Get away into the hill-country, or the men who have gone after you will overtake you; keep yourselves safe there for three days, till the searchers have come back, and then go on your way.

And the men said to her, We will only be responsible for this oath which you have made us take,

If, when we come into the land, you put this cord of bright red thread in the window from which you let us down; and get your father and mother and your brothers and all your family into the house;

Then if anyone goes out of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, we will not be responsible; but if any damage comes to anyone in the house, his blood will be on our heads.

But if you say anything about our business here, then we will be free from the oath you have made us take.

And she said, Let it be as you say. Then she sent them away, and they went; and she put the bright red cord in the window.

And they went into the hill-country and were there three days, till the men who had gone after them had come back; and those who went after them were searching for them everywhere without coming across them.

Then the two men came down from the hill-country and went over and came back to Joshua, the son of Nun; and they gave him a complete account of what had taken place.

Giving the people their orders, and saying, When you see the ark of the agreement of the Lord your God lifted up by the priests, the Levites, then get up from your places and go after it;

But let there be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits: come no nearer to it, so that you may see the way you have to go, for you have not been over this way before.

And Joshua said to the people, Make yourselves holy, for tomorrow the Lord will do works of wonder among you.

And the Lord said to Joshua, From now on I will give you glory in the eyes of all Israel, so that they may see that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

And you are to give orders to the priests who take up the ark of the agreement, and say, When you come to the edge of the waters of Jordan, go no further.

And Joshua said, By this you will see that the living God is among you, and that he will certainly send out from before you the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Jebusite.

See, the ark of the agreement of the Lord of all the earth is going over before you into Jordan.

So take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, a man from every tribe.

And when the feet of the priests who take up the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters of Jordan will be cut off, all the waters flowing down from higher up, and will come together in a mass.

So when the people went out from their tents to go over Jordan, the priests who took up the ark of the agreement were in front of the people;

And when those who took up the ark came to Jordan, and the feet of the priests who took up the ark were touching the edge of the water (for the waters of Jordan are overflowing all through the time of the grain-cutting),

Then the waters flowing down from higher up were stopped and came together in a mass a long way back at Adam, a town near Zarethan; and the waters flowing down to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were cut off: and the people went across opposite Jericho.

And the priests who took up the ark of the agreement of the Lord kept their places, with their feet on dry land in the middle of Jordan, while all Israel went over on dry land, till all the nation had gone over Jordan.

Take twelve men from the people, a man for every tribe,

And say to them, Take up from the middle of Jordan, from the place where the feet of the priests were resting, twelve stones, and take them over with you and put them down in the place where you take your rest tonight.

And he said to them, Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of Jordan, and let every one of you take up a stone on his back, one for every tribe of the children of Israel:

So that this may be a sign among you; when your children say to you in time to come, What is the reason for these stones?

Then you will say to them, Because the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the Lord's agreement; when it went over Jordan the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones will be a sign for the children of Israel, keeping it in their memory for ever.

And Joshua put up twelve stones in the middle of Jordan, where the feet of the priests who took up the ark of the agreement had been placed: and there they are to this day.

For the priests who took up the ark kept there in the middle of Jordan till all the orders given to Joshua by Moses from the Lord had been done: then the people went over quickly.

Give orders to the priests who take up the ark of witness, to come up out of Jordan.

And when the priests who took up the ark of the Lord's agreement came up out of Jordan and their feet came out on to dry land, the waters of Jordan went back to their place, overflowing its edges as before.

For the Lord your God made the waters of Jordan dry before you till you had gone across, as he did to the Red Sea, drying it up before us till we had gone across:

At that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make yourself stone knives and give the children of Israel circumcision a second time.

And this is the reason why Joshua did so: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the fighting-men, had been overtaken by death in the waste land on the way, after they came out of Egypt.

All the people who came out had undergone circumcision; but all the people whose birth had taken place in the waste land on their journey from Egypt had not.

For the children of Israel were wandering in the waste land for forty years, till all the nation, that is, all the fighting-men, who had come out of Egypt, were dead, because they did not give ear to the voice of the Lord: to whom the Lord said, with an oath, that he would not let them see the land which the Lord had given his word to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

And their children, who came up in their place, now underwent circumcision by the hands of Joshua, not having had it before: for there had been no circumcision on the journey.

And the Lord said to Joshua, Today the shame of Egypt has been rolled away from you. So that place was named Gilgal, to this day.

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, lifting up his eyes he saw a man in front of him, with his sword uncovered in his hand: and Joshua went up to him and said, Are you for us or against us?

And he said, No; but I have come as captain of the armies of the Lord. Then Joshua, falling down with his face to the earth in worship, said, What has my lord to say to his servant?

And the captain of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy. And Joshua did so.

And the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given into your hands Jericho with its king and all its men of war.

Now let all your fighting-men make a circle round the town, going all round it once. Do this for six days.

And let seven priests go before the ark with seven loud-sounding horns in their hands: on the seventh day you are to go round the town seven times, the priests blowing their horns.

And at the sound of a long note on the horns, let all the people give a loud cry; and the wall of the town will come down flat, and all the people are to go straight forward.

And the armed men went before the priests who were blowing the horns, and the mass of the people went after the ark, blowing their horns.

And to the people Joshua gave an order, saying, You will give no cry, and make no sound, and let no word go out of your mouth till the day when I say, Give a loud cry; then give a loud cry.

Then on the seventh day they got up early, at the dawn of the day, and went round the town in the same way, but that day they went round it seven times.

And the seventh time, at the sound of the priests' horns, Joshua said to the people, Now give a loud cry; for the Lord has given you the town.

And the town will be put to the curse, and everything in it will be given to the Lord: only Rahab, the loose woman, and all who are in the house with her, will be kept safe, because she kept secret the men we sent.

And as for you, keep yourselves from the cursed thing, for fear that you may get a desire for it and take some of it for yourselves, and so be the cause of a curse and great trouble on the tents of Israel.

So the people gave a loud cry, and the horns were sounded; and on hearing the horns the people gave a loud cry, and the wall came down flat, so that the people went up into the town, every man going straight before him, and they took the town.

Then Joshua said to the two men who had been sent to make a search through the land, Go into the house of the loose woman, and get her out, and all who are with her, as you gave her your oath.

But Joshua kept Rahab, the loose woman, and her father's family and all she had, from death, and so she got a living-place among the children of Israel to this day; because she kept safe the men whom Joshua had sent to make a search through the land.

Then Joshua gave the people orders with an oath, saying, Let that man be cursed before the Lord who puts his hand to the building up of this town: with the loss of his first son will he put the first stone of it in place, and with the loss of his youngest son he will put up its doors.

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is by the side of Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and said to them, Go up and make a search through the land. And the men went up and saw how Ai was placed.

Then they came back to Joshua and said to him, Do not send all the people up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and make an attack on Ai; there is no need for all the people to be tired with the journey there, for it is only a small town.

So about three thousand of the people went up, and were sent in flight by the men of Ai.

The men of Ai put to death about thirty-six of them, driving them from before the town as far as the stoneworks, and overcoming them on the way down: and the hearts of the people became like water.

And Joshua said, O Lord God, why have you taken us over Jordan only to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction? If only it had been enough for us to keep on the other side of Jordan!

O Lord, what am I to say now that Israel have given way before their attackers?

For when the news comes to the Canaanites and all the people of the land, they will come up, shutting us in and cutting off our name from the earth: and what will you do for the honour of your great name?

Then the Lord said to Joshua, Get up; what are you doing with your face to the earth?

Israel has done wrong, sinning against the agreement which I made with them: they have even taken of the cursed thing; acting falsely like thieves they have put it among their goods.

For this reason the children of Israel have given way, turning their backs in flight before their attackers, because they are cursed: I will no longer be with you, if you do not put the cursed thing away from among you.

Up! make the people holy; say to them, Make yourselves holy before tomorrow, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, There is a cursed thing among you, O Israel, and you will give way before your attackers in the fight till the cursed thing has been taken away from among you.

So in the morning you are to come near, tribe by tribe; and the tribe marked out by the Lord is to come near, family by family; and the family marked out by the Lord is to come near, house by house; and the house marked out by the Lord is to come near, man by man.

Then the man who is taken with the cursed thing is to be burned, with everything which is his; because he has gone against the agreement of the Lord and has done an act of shame in Israel.

And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give glory and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel; give me word now of what you have done, and keep nothing back from me.

And Achan, answering, said to Joshua, Truly I have done wrong against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I have done:

When I saw among their goods a fair robe of Babylon and two hundred shekels of silver, and a mass of gold, fifty shekels in weight, I was overcome by desire and took them; and they are put away in the earth in my tent, and the silver is under it.

So Joshua sent men quickly, and looking in his tent, they saw where the robe had been put away secretly with the silver under it.

And Joshua said, Why have you been a cause of trouble to us? Today the Lord will send trouble on you. And all Israel took part in stoning him; they had him stoned to death and then burned with fire.

And over him they put a great mass of stones, which is there to this day; then the heat of the Lord's wrath was turned away. So that place was named, The Valley of Achor, to this day.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear and do not be troubled: take with you all the fighting-men and go up against Ai: for I have given into your hands the king of Ai and his people and his town and his land:

And you are to do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king: but their goods and their cattle you may take for yourselves: let a secret force be stationed to make a surprise attack on the town from the back.