Victory by God’s Grace

9 “Listen, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky!

³⁸ He drove out nations far greater than you, so he could bring you in and give you their land as your special possession, as it is today.

²⁸ Where can we go? Our brothers have demoralized us with their report. They tell us, “The people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are, and their towns are large, with walls rising high into the sky! We even saw giants there—the descendants of Anak!”’

³¹ For you are about to cross the Jordan River to take over the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take that land and are living in it,

²³ Then the Lord will drive out all the nations ahead of you, though they are much greater and stronger than you, and you will take over their land.

¹¹ “Go through the camp and tell the people to get their provisions ready. In three days you will cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

The Privilege of Holiness

7 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and occupy, he will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are greater and more numerous than you.

¹⁹ The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month.^[a] Then they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho.

⁵ He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

¹⁶ the water above that point began backing up a great distance away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea^[a] until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the town of Jericho.