Beginning

1 And it was done after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake to Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, and said to him,

² Moses, my servant is dead; rise thou, and pass [over] this Jordan, thou, and all the people with thee, into the land which I shall give to the sons of Israel. (My servant Moses is dead; rise thou up, and cross over the Jordan River to the other side, thou, and all the people with thee, into the land which I shall give to the Israelites.)

³ I shall give to you each place which the step of your foot shall tread, as I spake to Moses,

⁴ from the desert and Lebanon till to the great flood [of] Euphrates; all the land of Hittites, unto the great sea against the going down of the sun, shall be your term. (from the wilderness and Lebanon unto the great Euphrates River; yea, all the Hittites’ land, unto the Great Sea, that is, the Mediterranean Sea, in the west, shall be your land.)

⁵ None shall be able to against-stand you in all the days of thy life (No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of thy life); as I was with Moses, so I shall be with thee; I shall not leave (thee), neither I shall forsake thee.

⁶ Be thou comforted, and be thou strong; for thou shalt part by lot to this people the land, for which I swore to thy fathers, that I should give it to them. (Be thou encouraged, and be thou strong; for thou shalt divide up by lot the land to this people, which I swore to thy fathers, that I would give them.)

⁷ Therefore be thou comforted, and be thou full strong, that thou keep and do all the law, which Moses, my servant, commanded to thee; bow thou not from it to the right side, either to the left side, that thou understand all things which thou doest. (And so be thou encouraged, and be thou strong, so that thou obey and do all the law, which my servant Moses commanded to thee; turn thou not from it to the right, or to the left, so that thou shalt prosper in all things wherever thou goest.)

⁸ The book of this law depart not from thy mouth, but thou shalt think therein in days and nights, that thou keep and do all things that be written therein; then thou shalt (ad)dress thy way, and thou shalt understand it. (Let not this Book of the Law depart from thy mouth, but think thou on it day and night, so that thou obey and do all the things that be written in it; then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and be successful.)

⁹ Lo! I command to thee; be thou comforted, and be thou strong; do not thou dread, nor be thou afeared; for thy Lord God is with thee in all things, to which thou goest. (Lo! I command thee; be thou encouraged, and be thou strong; do not thou fear, nor be thou afraid; for the Lord thy God is with thee in all things, to which thou goest.)

¹⁰ And Joshua commanded to the princes of the people, and said, (And Joshua commanded to the leaders of the people, and said,)

¹¹ Pass ye through the midst of the castles, and command ye to the people, and say ye, Make ye ready meats to you; for after the third day ye shall pass [over] (the) Jordan, and ye shall enter [in] to wield the land, which your Lord God shall give to you. (Go ye through the midst of the tents, or the camp, and command ye to the people, and say ye, Prepare ye food for yourselves; for in three days ye shall cross over the Jordan River, and ye shall go in to take the land, which the Lord your God shall give you.)

¹² Also Joshua said to men of Reuben, and to men of Gad, and to the half lineage of Manasseh, (And Joshua said to the men of Reuben, and the men of Gad, and the men of the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh^[a],)

¹³ Have ye mind of the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded to you, and said, Your Lord God hath given to you rest, and all the land; (Remember what Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded to you, saying, The Lord your God hath given rest to you, and hath given you all of this land;)

¹⁴ your wives, and your sons, and your beasts shall dwell in the land that Moses gave to you beyond (the) Jordan, (that is, on the east side of the river); but pass ye (over) armed, all (the) strong in hand, before your brethren; and fight ye for them,

¹⁵ till the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he gave also to you, and till also they wield the land which your Lord God shall give to them; and so turn ye again into the land of your possession, and ye shall dwell in that land which Moses, [the] servant of the Lord, gave to you over Jordan, against the rising of the sun. (until the Lord give rest to your kinsmen, as he also gave to you, and until they also take the land which the Lord your God shall give them; and then ye shall return to the land of your possession, and ye shall live in that land which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you on this east side of the Jordan River, near to the rising of the sun.)

¹⁶ And they answered to Joshua, and said, We shall do all things which thou commandest to us, and we shall go, whither ever thou sendest us;

¹⁷ as we obeyed in all things to Moses, so we shall obey also to thee (so shall we also obey thee); only (may) thy Lord God be with thee, as he was with Moses.

¹⁸ Die he that against-saith thy word, and obeyeth not to all thy biddings, which thou commandest to him; only be thou comforted, and do thou manly (only be thou encouraged, and be thou strong).

2 Therefore Joshua, the son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spyers in huddles, and said to them, Go ye, and behold ye the land, and the city of Jericho. Which went, and entered into the house of a woman whore, Rahab by name, and rested at her. (And so Joshua, the son of Nun, secretly sent out two spies from Shittim, and said to them, Go ye, and look ye over the land, and the city of Jericho. And they went, and entered into the house of a whore-woman, Rahab by name, and stayed with her.)

² And it was told, and said to the king of Jericho, Lo! men of the sons of Israel have entered hither by night, to espy the land. (And it was told to the king of Jericho, Lo! some men of the Israelites have come in here by night, to spy out the land.)

³ Therefore the king of Jericho sent to Rahab the whore, and said, Bring out the men, that came to thee, and that entered into thine house; for they be spyers (for they be spies), and they came to behold all the land.

⁴ And the woman took the men, and hid them, and said, I acknowledge, that they came to me, but I wist not of whence they were; (But earlier, the woman had taken the men, and had hid them, and so she said, I acknowledge, that they came to me, but I knew not where they came from;)

⁵ and when the gate was closed in darknesses, and they went out together, I know not whither they went (and tonight before the city gate was closed, they went out together, but I do not know where they went); pursue ye them soon, and ye shall overtake them.

⁶ Forsooth she (had) made the men to go up into the solar of her house, and she (had) covered them with stubble, or sheaves, of flax, that was there.

⁷ And they, that were sent, followed them by the way that leadeth to the fords of (the) Jordan; and when they were gone out, anon the gate was closed. (And they, who were sent there, followed after them by the way that leadeth to the crossings of the Jordan River; and when they were gone out, at once the city gate was closed.)

⁸ [And] They that were hid, slept not yet, and lo! the woman went up to them,

⁹ and said, I know that the Lord hath betaken to you this land; for your fearedfulness is fallen into us, and all the dwellers of the land be abashed. (and she said, I know that the Lord hath delivered this land to you; for we all be afraid of you, and all the inhabitants of the land be greatly panicked.)

¹⁰ We have heard, that the Lord hath dried up the waters of the Red Sea at your entering, when ye went out of Egypt; and what things ye did to the two kings of Amorites, that were beyond (the) Jordan, to Sihon and Og, which ye killed; (We have heard, that the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea, or the Sea of Reeds, before you, when ye went out of Egypt; and what ye did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were on the eastern side of the Jordan River, that is, to Sihon and Og, whom ye killed;)

¹¹ and we heard these things, and we dreaded, and our heart was sick, and spirit dwelled not in us at your entering; for the Lord your God himself is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath (and on the earth below).

¹² Now therefore swear ye to me by the Lord God, that as I did mercy with you, so and ye do with the house(hold) of my father; and give ye to me a very sign, (And so now swear ye to me by the Lord God, that as I did mercy with you, so ye shall also do mercy with my family; and give ye to me a true sign,)

¹³ that ye (shall) save my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and [my] sisters, and all things that be theirs, and (shall) deliver our lives from death.

¹⁴ Which answered to her, Our life be for you into death, if nevertheless thou betrayest not us; and when the Lord hath betaken to us the land, we shall do mercy and truth with thee. (And they answered to her, Our lives be for yours unto death, if thou betrayest us not; and when the Lord hath delivered the land to us, we shall show mercy and faithfulness to thee.)

¹⁵ Then she let them down from the window by a cord; for her house was joined to the town wall.

¹⁶ And she said to them, Go ye up to the hilly places, lest peradventure the men turning again meet you; and be ye hid there three days, till they come again; and so ye shall go by your way. (And she said to them, Go ye up to the hills, lest as the men return, they come upon you; and be ye hid there for three days, until they return; and then ye can go on your way.)

¹⁷ Which said to her, We shall be guiltless of this oath, by which thou hast charged us,

¹⁸ if, when we enter into the land, this red cord is not (shown as) a sign, and thou bindest it not in the window, by which thou lettest us down; and thou gatherest not into thine house thy father, and mother, and brethren, and all thy kindred;

¹⁹ the blood of him shall be on his head, that goeth out at the door of thine house, and we shall be guiltless; forsooth the blood of all men that be in the house with thee, shall turn into our head (shall be on our heads), if any man toucheth them.

²⁰ That if thou wilt betray us, and bring forth into the midst this word, we shall be clean of this oath, by which thou hast charged us. (But if thou wilt betray us, and bring forth this word into the midst/and make known our agreement, then we shall be released from this oath, by which thou hast charged us.)

²¹ And she answered, As ye have spoken, so be it done. And she let go them, that they should go forth (And she let them go, so that they could go forth), and (then) she hanged the red cord in her window.

²² And they went forth, and came into the hilly places, and dwelled there three days, till they turned again that (had) pursued them; for they sought them by each way, and found not them. (And they went forth, and came to the hills, and stayed there for three days, until they who had pursued them returned; for they had sought them every place that they could think of, but could not find them anywhere.)

²³ And when the seekers entered into the city again, the spyers turned again, and came down from the hill; and when they had passed [over] (the) Jordan, they came to Joshua, the son of Nun; and they told to him all things that befelled to them, (And after that those who had sought them had entered into the city again, the spies returned, and came down from the hills; and when they had crossed back over the Jordan River, they came to Joshua, the son of Nun; and they told him everything that had happened to them,)

²⁴ and said, The Lord hath betaken all the land into our hands, and all the dwellers thereof be cast down by dread. (and they said, The Lord hath delivered all the land into our hands, and all of its inhabitants be greatly afraid of us.)

3 Therefore Joshua rose by night, and moved thence the tents; and they went out of Shittim, and came to (the) Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel (he and all the Israelites), and dwelled there three days.

² And when those days were passed, criers/beadles went through the midst of the tents,

³ and began to cry, When ye see the ark of [the] bond of peace of your Lord God, and the priests of the generation of Levi bearing it, also then rise ye, and follow the before-goers; (and began to cry, When ye see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, and the levitical priests carrying it, then ye shall rise up, and follow them;)

⁴ and a space of two thousand cubits be betwixt you and the ark, (so) that ye may see (it from) [a]far, and (so that ye can) know by which way ye shall enter, for ye have not gone before by it (for ye have not gone this way before); and be ye ware, that ye nigh not to the ark.

⁵ And Joshua said to the people, Be ye hallowed, for tomorrow the Lord shall make marvels among you.

⁶ And Joshua said to the priests, Take ye the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, and go ye before the people. The which fulfilled the behests of Joshua, and they took the ark, and went before the people. (And Joshua said to the priests, Take ye the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and go ye before the people. And they obeyed Joshua’s commands, and they took the Ark, and went before the people.)

⁷ And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I shall begin to enhance thee before all Israel (Today I shall begin to magnify thee before all Israel), (so) that they know, that as I was with Moses, so I am also with thee.

⁸ Forsooth command thou to the priests, that bear the ark of [the] bond of peace, and say thou to them, When ye have entered into a part of the water of (the) Jordan, stand ye therein. (And command thou to the priests, who carry the Ark of the Covenant, and say thou to them, When ye have entered into a part of the water of the Jordan River, stand ye there.)

⁹ And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, Nigh ye hither, and hear ye the word of your Lord God. (And Joshua said to the Israelites, Come ye here, and hear ye the word of the Lord your God.)

¹⁰ And again he said, In this ye shall know that the Lord God living is in the midst of you (And he said, By this ye shall know that the living God is in the midst of you); and he shall destroy in your sight (the) Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, and Perizzites, and Girgashites, and Jebusites, and Amorites.

¹¹ Lo! the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord of all earth shall go before you through Jordan. (Lo! the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth shall go before you across the Jordan River.)

¹² Make ye ready twelve men of the twelve lineages of Israel, by each lineage one man. (Make ye ready twelve men of the twelve tribes of Israel, one man out of each tribe.)

¹³ And when the priests, that bear the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord God of all earth (who carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord God of all the earth), have set the steps of their feet in the waters of (the) Jordan, the waters that be lower shall run down, and shall fail; soothly the waters that come from above shall stand together in one gathering, or (in) a certain place.

¹⁴ Therefore the people went out of their tabernacles for to pass over (the) Jordan; and the priests that bare the ark of [the] bond of peace went before the people. (And so the people went out of their tents to cross over the Jordan River; and the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant went before the people.)

¹⁵ And when the priests entered into (the) Jordan, and their feet were dipped in the part of [the] water; forsooth (the) Jordan had filled the brinks of his trough in the time of ripe corn (for the Jordan River was filled to the brim of its trough at that time of harvest);

¹⁶ the waters (that) went down (from above halted), and stood in one place, and waxed great at the likeness of an hill, and appeared far from the city that was called Adam, till to the place of Zaretan; soothly the waters that were lower went down into the sea of (the) wilderness, which is now called the dead sea, till the waters failed utterly. Forsooth the people went through (the) Jordan; (the waters, that went down from above, stood in one place, and grew great like a hill, going back as far away as the city called Adam, which is close to the city of Zaretan; and the waters that were lower, or below, went down into the Sea of the Wilderness, which is now called the Dead Sea, until there was no water. And then the people crossed over opposite Jericho;)

¹⁷ and the priests, that bare the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, stood girded on the dry earth in the midst of (the) Jordan, and all the people passed [over] through the dry trough. (and the priests, who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, stood firmly on the dry earth in the midst of the Jordan River, until all the people had crossed over through the dry trough.)

4 And when the sons of Israel were passed over (the) Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, (And when all the Israelites had crossed over the Jordan River, the Lord said to Joshua,)

² Choose thou twelve men, by each lineage one man, (Choose thou twelve men, one man out of each tribe,)

³ and command thou to them, that they take from the midst of the trough of (the) Jordan, where the feet of [the] priests stood, twelve hardest stones; the which thou shalt set in [the] place of the tents, where ye shall set (the) tents in this night. (and command thou to them, that they take out of the middle of the trough, or the river bed, of the Jordan River, twelve stones, from where the feet of the priests had firmly stood; which thou shalt put in the place of the camp, where ye shall pitch the tents tonight.)

⁴ And Joshua called (the) twelve men, which he had chosen of the sons of Israel, of each lineage one man; (And Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had chosen out of the Israelites, one man out of each tribe;)

⁵ and he said to them, Go ye before the ark of your Lord God to the midst of (the) Jordan, and bear ye from thence in your shoulders each man one stone, by the number of the sons of Israel, (and he said to them, Go ye before the Ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan River, and each man carry ye out from there a stone on his shoulders, one for each of the tribes of Israel,)

⁶ that it be a sign betwixt you. And when your sons shall ask you tomorrow, that is, in time to coming, and shall say, What will these stones be mean(ing)? (that shall become a sign for all of you. And so when your sons and daughters shall ask you tomorrow, that is, in the time to come, and shall say, What mean ye by these stones?)

⁷ ye shall answer to them, The waters of (the) Jordan failed before the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, when the ark passed over (the) Jordan; therefore these stones be set into mind of the sons of Israel, till into without end. (ye shall answer to them, The waters of the Jordan River stopped flowing before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, when the Ark crossed over the Jordan River; and so these stones be here to help the Israelites to remember this forevermore.)

⁸ Therefore the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded to them, and bare from the midst of the trough of (the) Jordan twelve stones, as the Lord commanded to him, by the number of the sons of Israel, unto the place in which they setted tents (one for each of the tribes of Israel, unto the place where they pitched their tents); and there they putted those stones.

⁹ Also Joshua putted (an)other twelve stones in the midst of the trough of (the) Jordan, where the priests (had) stood, that bare the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord (who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord); and those stones be there unto this present day.

¹⁰ Forsooth the priests, that bare the ark, stood in the midst of (the) Jordan, till all things were [ful]filled, which the Lord commanded, that Joshua should speak to the people (that Joshua should tell the people to do), as Moses had said to him. And the people hasted, and passed over (the) Jordan.

¹¹ And when all men had passed [over], also the ark of the Lord passed [over], and (then) the priests went before the people (again).

¹² Also the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and half the lineage of Manasseh, went armed before the sons of Israel, as Moses commanded to them. (And the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of the eastern half of the tribe of Manasseh, went armed before the Israelites, as Moses had commanded them to do.)

¹³ And forty thousand of fighters went by their companies, and by their gatherings, on the plain and field places of the city of Jericho. (And forty thousand fighting men went by their companies, over the plains and fields, near the city of Jericho.)

¹⁴ In that day the Lord magnified Joshua before all Israel, that they should dread him, as they dreaded Moses, while he lived yet. (On that day the Lord magnified Joshua before all Israel, so that they would fear him, like they had feared Moses/so that they would revere him, like they had revered Moses, while he was yet alive.)

¹⁵ And the Lord said to Joshua,

¹⁶ Command thou to the priests that bear the ark of [the] bond of peace, that they go up from (the) Jordan. (Command thou to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant, that they come up from the Jordan River.)

¹⁷ And Joshua commanded to them, and said, Go ye up from (the) Jordan. (And Joshua commanded to them, and said, Come ye up from the Jordan River.)

¹⁸ And when they had gone up, bearing the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, and had begun to tread on the dry earth, the waters turned again into their trough, and flowed again, as they were wont (to) before. (And when they had come up, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and had begun to tread on the dry earth, the waters returned to their place, and flowed again, as they were wont to before.)

¹⁹ And the people went up from (the) Jordan in the tenth day of the first month, and they setted tents in Gilgal, against the east coast of the city of Jericho. (And the people went up from the Jordan River on the tenth day of the first month, and they pitched their tents in Gilgal, east of the city of Jericho.)

²⁰ Also Joshua putted in Gilgal the twelve stones, which they had taken from the trough of (the) Jordan.

²¹ And he said to the sons of Israel, When your sons shall ask tomorrow their fathers, and shall say to them, What will these stones be mean(ing)? (And he said to the Israelites, When your sons and daughters shall ask their fathers tomorrow, and shall say to them, What mean ye by these stones?)

²² ye shall teach them, and say, We passed this Jordan by the dry bottom, (ye shall teach them, and say, We crossed over the Jordan River on dry land,)

²³ for our Lord God dried the waters thereof in our sight, till that we over-passed it, as he did before in the Red Sea, which he dried while we passed [over], (for the Lord our God dried up its waters before us, until we had crossed over it, like he did before at the Sea of Reeds, which he dried up so we could cross over it,)

²⁴ that all the peoples of (the) earth learn, or know, (of) the full strong might of the Lord, and that ye dread your Lord God in all time. (so that all the peoples of the earth can learn, or come to know, of the strong might, or the powerful hand, of the Lord, and so that ye shall fear the Lord your God forevermore/and so that ye shall revere the Lord your God forevermore.)