Just like the nations the Lord is about to destroy from your sight, so he will do to you because you would not obey him.

They include the Anakites, a numerous and tall people whom you know about and of whom it is said, "Who is able to resist the Anakites?"

The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger of God, and on them was everything he said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly.

And he said to me, "Get up, go down at once from here because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have sinned! They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a cast metal image."

Moreover, he said to me, "I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn lot!

I lay flat on the ground before the Lord for forty days and nights, for he had said he would destroy you.

At that same time the Lord said to me, "Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark.

At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord's covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings in his name, as they do to this very day.

Then he said to me, "Get up, set out leading the people so they may go and possess the land I promised to give to their ancestors."

For the land where you are headed is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand like a vegetable garden.

Teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up.

Every place you set your foot will be yours; your border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, the Euphrates) as far as the Mediterranean Sea.

When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, "I want to eat meat just as I please," you may do so as you wish.

You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord's sight.

Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, "Let us follow other gods" -- gods whom you have not previously known -- "and let us serve them."

You must be certain to tithe all the produce of your seed that comes from the field year after year.

If you set them free, you must not send them away empty-handed.

You must set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks.

Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, for the Lord has said you must never again return that way.

The Lord then said to me, "What they have said is good.

you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.

Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, and stay in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations with her and become her husband and she your wife.

If the owner does not live near you or you do not know who the owner is, then you must corral the animal at your house and let it stay with you until the owner looks for it; then you must return it to him.

You must not plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed; otherwise the entire yield, both of the seed you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled.

When a man is newly married, he need not go into the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to the wife he has married.

The priest will then take the basket from you and set it before the altar of the Lord your God.

So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground's produce that you, Lord, have given me." Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him.

Then he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. You will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

Then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to you.

"You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it.

The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,

Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."

"When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you.

And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, "Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

"Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.

Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!

He said to them, "Today I am a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, and the Lord has said to me, 'You will not cross the Jordan.'

As for the Lord your God, he is about to cross over before you; he will destroy these nations before you and dispossess them. As for Joshua, he is about to cross before you just as the Lord has said.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "The day of your death is near. Summon Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting so that I can commission him." So Moses and Joshua presented themselves in the tent of meeting.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going. They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly.

He said, "I will reject them, I will see what will happen to them; for they are a perverse generation, children who show no loyalty.

"I said, 'I want to cut them in pieces. I want to make people forget they ever existed.

The Lord will judge his people, and will change his plans concerning his servants; when he sees that their power has disappeared, and that no one is left, whether confined or set free.

he said to them, "Keep in mind all the words I am solemnly proclaiming to you today; you must command your children to observe carefully all the words of this law.

Then the Lord said to Moses that same day,

He said:The Lord came from Sinai and revealed himself to Israel from Seir. He appeared in splendor from Mount Paran, and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. With his right hand he gave a fiery law to them.

Surely he loves the people; all your holy ones are in your power. And they sit at your feet, each receiving your words.

And this is the blessing to Judah. He said, Listen, O Lord, to Judah's voice, and bring him to his people. May his power be great, and may you help him against his foes.

Of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Urim belong to your godly one, whose authority you challenged at Massah, and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah.

He said to his father and mother, "I have not seen him," and he did not acknowledge his own brothers or know his own children, for they kept your word, and guarded your covenant.

Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the Lord will live safely by him; he protects him all the time, and the Lord places him on his chest.

Of Joseph he said: May the Lord bless his land with the harvest produced by the sky, by the dew, and by the depths crouching beneath;

with the harvest of the earth and its fullness and the pleasure of him who resided in the burning bush. May blessing rest on Joseph's head, and on the top of the head of the one set apart from his brothers.

Of Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, when you go outside, and Issachar, when you are in your tents.

Of Gad he said: Blessed be the one who enlarges Gad. Like a lioness he will dwell; he will tear at an arm -- indeed, a scalp.

He has selected the best part for himself, for the portion of the ruler is set aside there; he came with the leaders of the people, he obeyed the righteous laws of the Lord and his ordinances with Israel.

Of Dan he said: Dan is a lion's cub; he will leap forth from Bashan.

Of Naphtali he said: O Naphtali, overflowing with favor, and full of the Lord's blessing, possess the west and south.

Of Asher he said: Asher is blessed with children, may he be favored by his brothers and may he dip his foot in olive oil.

The everlasting God is a refuge, and underneath you are his eternal arms; he has driven out enemies before you, and has said, "Destroy!"

Then the Lord said to him, "This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have let you see it, but you will not cross over there."

So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said.

After Moses the Lord's servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant:

I am handing over to you every place you set foot, as I promised Moses.

Your wives, children and cattle may stay in the land that Moses assigned to you east of the Jordan River. But all you warriors must cross over armed for battle ahead of your brothers. You must help them

Meanwhile the king's men tried to find them on the road to the Jordan River near the fords. The city gate was shut as soon as they set out in pursuit of them.

She said to the men, "I know the Lord is handing this land over to you. We are absolutely terrified of you, and all who live in the land are cringing before you.

For we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan.

The men said to her, "If you die, may we die too! If you do not report what we've been up to, then, when the Lord hands the land over to us, we will show unswerving allegiance to you."

The men said to her, "We are not bound by this oath you made us swear unless the following conditions are met:

She said, "I agree to these conditions." She sent them on their way and then tied the red rope in the window.

But stay about three thousand feet behind it. Keep your distance so you can see which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before."

The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan. All Israel crossed over on dry ground until the entire nation was on the other side.

When the entire nation was on the other side, the Lord told Joshua,

Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan in the very place where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood. They remain there to this very day.

The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan, and as soon as they set foot on dry land, the water of the Jordan flowed again and returned to flood stage.

Now Joshua set up in Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.

When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites.

The Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have taken away the disgrace of Egypt from you." So that place is called Gilgal even to this day.

When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him holding a drawn sword. Joshua approached him and asked him, "Are you on our side or allied with our enemies?"

The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies we sent.

If only we had been satisfied to live on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say now that Israel has retreated before its enemies?

So Joshua said to Achan, "My son, honor the Lord God of Israel and give him praise! Tell me what you did; don't hide anything from me!"

Joshua said, "Why have you brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you today!" All Israel stoned him to death. (They also stoned and burned the others.)

Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!"

He told them, "Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don't go very far from the city; all of you be ready!

When you capture the city, set it on fire. Do as the Lord says! See, I have given you orders."

All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city. They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley.

He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel and Ai.

When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

All the people, rulers, leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there. Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord's servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony.

When the news reached all the kings on the west side of the Jordan -- in the hill country, the lowlands, and all along the Mediterranean coast as far as Lebanon (including the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites) --

They came to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant land. Make a treaty with us."

The men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you live near us. So how can we make a treaty with you?"

But they said to Joshua, "We are willing to be your subjects." So Joshua said to them, "Who are you and where do you come from?"

and all he did to the two Amorite kings on the other side of the Jordan -- King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan in Ashtaroth.

So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities -- Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.