God’s Orders to Joshua

1 Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ ^[a]servant, saying, ² “Moses ^(A)My servant is dead; so now arise, ^(B)cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. ^3 (C)Every place on which the sole of your foot steps, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. ^4 (D)From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. ^5 (E)No one will be able to oppose you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; ^(F)I will not desert you nor abandon you. ^6 (G)Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷ Only be strong and very courageous; ^[b](H)be careful to do according to all the Law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may ^[c]achieve success wherever you go. ^8 (I)This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may ^[d]be careful to do according to all that is written in it; ^(J)for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will ^[e]achieve success. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? ^(K)Be strong and courageous! ^(L)Do not be terrified nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua Assumes Command

¹⁰ Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, ¹¹ “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within ^(M)three days you are going to cross this Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving you, to possess it.’”

¹² But ^(N)to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua ^[f]said, ¹³ “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘^(O)The Lord your God is giving you rest, and will give you this land.’ ¹⁴ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross ahead of your brothers in battle formation, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them, ¹⁵ until the Lord gives your brothers rest, as He is giving you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them. ^(P)Then you may return to ^[g]your own land, and take possession of ^[h]that which Moses ^(Q)the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only ^(R)may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. ¹⁸ Anyone who rebels against your ^[i]command and does not obey your words in all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.”

Joshua Reviews Israel’s History

24 Then ^(A)Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officers; and they presented themselves before God. ² Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates River, namely, ^(B)Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. ³ Then ^(C)I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and ^(D)multiplied his ^[a]descendants and gave him ^(E)Isaac. ⁴ To Isaac I gave ^(F)Jacob and Esau, and ^(G)to Esau I gave Mount Seir, to possess it; but ^(H)Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. ⁵ Then ^(I)I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt ^[b]by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out. ⁶ So I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ^(J)you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the ^[c]Red Sea. ⁷ But when they cried out to the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And ^(K)you lived in the wilderness for a long time. ⁸ Then ^(L)I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; but I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land when I eliminated them before you. ⁹ Then ^(M)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel, and he sent messengers and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. ¹⁰ But I ^(N)was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I saved you from his hand. ^11 (O)You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and ^(P)the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Therefore ^(Q)I handed them over to you. ¹² Then I ^(R)sent the hornet before you and it ^[d]drove out the two kings of the Amorites from you—^(S)not by your sword nor your bow. ¹³ And ^(T)I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

“We Will Serve the Lord”

¹⁴ “Now, therefore, ^[e](U)fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and ^[f]truth; and do away with the gods which your fathers served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or ^(V)the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶ The people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we would abandon the Lord to serve other gods; ¹⁷ for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and did these great signs in our sight and watched over us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. ¹⁸ The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

¹⁹ Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord, ^(W)for He is a holy God. He is ^(X)a jealous God; ^(Y)He will not forgive your wrongdoing or your sins. ^20 (Z)If you abandon the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and destroy you after He has done good to you.” ²¹ And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” ²² So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that ^(AA)you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³ “Now then, do away with the foreign gods which are in your midst, and ^(AB)incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴ And ^(AC)the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and ^[g]obey His voice.” ^25 (AD)So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. ²⁶ And Joshua ^(AE)wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷ Then Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, ^(AF)this stone shall be a witness against us, because it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke ^[h]to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.” ²⁸ Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

²⁹ Now it came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. ³⁰ And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in ^(AG)Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.

^31 (AH)Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who ^[i]survived Joshua, and had known every deed of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

³² Now ^(AI)they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land ^(AJ)which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred ^[j]pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons. ³³ And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of his son ^(AK)Phinehas, which was given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.