Numbers 27:12-23

New Century Version

Joshua Is the New Leader

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Climb this mountain in the Abarim Mountains, and look at the land I have given to the Israelites. ¹³ After you have seen it, you will die and join your ancestors as your brother Aaron did, ¹⁴ because you both acted against my command in the Desert of Zin. You did not honor me as holy before the people at the waters of Meribah.” (This was at Meribah in Kadesh in the Desert of Zin.)

¹⁵ Moses said to the Lord, ¹⁶ “The Lord is the God of the spirits of all people. May he choose a leader for these people, ¹⁷ who will go in and out before them. He must lead them out like sheep and bring them in; the Lord’s people must not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, because my Spirit is in him. Put your hand on him, ¹⁹ and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the people. Then give him his orders as they watch. ²⁰ Let him share your honor so that all the Israelites will obey him. ²¹ He must stand before Eleazar the priest, and Eleazar will get advice from the Lord by using the Urim. At his command all the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will all come in.”

²² Moses did what the Lord told him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the people, ²³ and he put his hands on him and gave him orders, just as the Lord had told him.