“My servant Moses is dead. Now you and all these people must cross the Jordan River into the land that I am going to give the people of Israel.

The king of Jericho was told, “Some Israelites have entered the city tonight. They came to gather information about our land.”

Crossing the Jordan River

Joshua got up early the next morning. He and all the Israelites left Shittim. They came to the Jordan River, where they camped before crossing.

Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to honor you in front of all the people of Israel. I will do this to let them know that I am with you just as I was with Moses.

So Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here, and listen to the words of Yahweh your Elohim.”

Choose one man from each of the 12 tribes of Israel.

The priests who carried the ark of Yahweh’s promise stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan River on dry ground.

He said to them, “Go to the middle of the Jordan River in front of the ark of Yahweh your Elohim. Each man must take a stone on his shoulder, one for each tribe of Israel.

You should answer, ‘The water of the Jordan River was cut off in front of the ark of Yahweh’s promise. When the ark crossed the Jordan, the river stopped flowing. These stones are a permanent reminder for the people of Israel.’”

The people of Israel did as Joshua had ordered. They took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes of Israel. They took them from the middle of the Jordan as Yahweh had told Joshua. They carried them to the camp and set them down there.

The men of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh did as Moses had told them. They marched across in battle formation ahead of the people of Israel.

On that day Yahweh honored Joshua in the presence of all the Israelites. As long as Joshua lived, the Israelites respected him in the same way they had respected Moses.

He said to the people of Israel, “In the future when children ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’

the children should be told that Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground.

Preparations for the First Passover in Canaan

All the Amorite kings west of the Jordan River and all the Canaanite kings along the Mediterranean Sea heard that Yahweh had dried up the Jordan River so that the Israelites could cross. So they lost heart and had no courage left to face the people of Israel.

At that time Yahweh spoke to Joshua, “Make flint knives, and circumcise the men of Israel.”

So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the men of Israel at the Hill of Circumcision.

For 40 years the Israelites wandered through the desert until all their soldiers who left Egypt died. They died because they disobeyed Yahweh. Yahweh swore that he would not let them see this land flowing with milk and honey which Yahweh had sworn to give our ancestors.

The people of Israel camped at Gilgal in the Jericho plain. There they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.

The day after that, the manna stopped. The people of Israel never had manna again. That year they began to eat the crops that grew in Canaan.

Jericho Is Destroyed

Jericho was bolted and barred shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one could enter or leave.

But stay away from what has been claimed by the Lord for destruction, or you, too, will be destroyed by the Lord. If you take anything that is claimed by the Lord, you will bring destruction and disaster on the camp of Israel.

The spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, everything she had, and even all of her relatives. They gave them a place outside the camp of Israel.

Then Israel burned the city and everything in it. But they put the silver and gold and everything made of bronze and iron into Yahweh’s treasury.

Joshua spared the prostitute Rahab, her father’s family, and everything she had. She still lives in Israel today because she hid the messengers Joshua had sent to look at Jericho.