Beginning
Chazak! Be strong!
1 Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of Adonai that Adonai spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide saying: 2 “My servant Moses is dead. So now, arise, you and all these people, cross over this Jordan to the land that I am giving to them—to Bnei-Yisrael. 3 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I am giving to you, as I spoke to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—to the Great Sea[a] toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. 5 No one will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 Chazak! Be strong! For you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be very strong, and resolute to observe diligently the Torah which Moses, My servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so you may be successful wherever you go. 8 This book of the Torah should not depart from your mouth—you are to meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will make your ways prosperous and then you will be successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Chazak! Be strong! Do not be terrified or dismayed, for Adonai your God is with you wherever you go.”
10 Then Joshua commanded the officials of the people saying: 11 “Go through the camp and charge the people saying: ‘Prepare provisions, for within three days you will be crossing over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which Adonai your God is giving you to possess it.’”
12 Then Joshua spoke to the Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh saying: 13 “Remember the word that Moses the servant of Adonai commanded you saying: ‘Adonai your God has given you rest, and has assigned to you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your little ones and your cattle will remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you will cross over before your brothers armed, all the mighty men of valor, and will help them 15 until Adonai gives your brothers rest, as He has given you, and they also possess the land that Adonai your God is giving them. Then you will return to the land of your inheritance, and possess what Moses the servant of Adonai gave you, beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”
16 Then 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 may Adonai your God be with you as He was with Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your command and does not obey your words in all that you command him, he will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”
Rahab’s Faith
2 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out two spies from Shittim saying: “Go, explore the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came to the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.[b]
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Some men from Bnei-Yisrael have just come here tonight to spy out the land.”
3 So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab saying: “Bring out the men who came to you, who entered your house—for they have come to spy out all the land.”
4 But the woman took the two men and hid them, and said: “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 So when it was time to shut the gate at dark, the men went out, and I don’t know where they went. Pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” 6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax that she had spread out on the roof. 7 So the men pursued them on the road to the fords of the Jordan. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, they shut the gate.
8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and she said to the men: “I know that Adonai has given you the land—dread of you has fallen on us and all the inhabitants of the land are melting in fear before you. 10 For we have heard how Adonai dried up the water of the Sea of Reeds before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 When we heard about it, our hearts melted, and no spirit remained any more in anyone because of you. For Adonai your God, He is God, in heaven above and on earth beneath. 12 So now, please swear to me by Adonai, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house. Give me a true sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters and all who belong to them, and save our lives from death.”
14 The men said to her: “Our life for yours, if you don’t report this business of ours. Then it will be when Adonai gives us the land that we will deal kindly and loyally with you.”
15 So she lowered them down by a rope through the window—for her house was in the wall; she was living in the wall. 16 Then she said to them: “Go to the hill country, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there for three days, until the pursuers return. Afterward, you may go your way.”
17 Then the men said to her: “We will be released from this oath that you have made us swear, 18 unless when we come into the land, you tie this line of scarlet thread in the window through which you lowered us down, and gather to yourself in the house your father, your mother, your brothers and all your father’s household— 19 whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head and we will be innocent, but whoever is with you in the house, his blood will be on our head if any hand is laid on him. 20 But if you divulge this business of ours, then we will be released from your oath you have made us swear.”
21 So she said: “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window. 22 Then they departed and came to the hill country. They stayed there for three days until the pursuers returned. Now the pursuers had looked for them all along the road, but had not found them. 23 Then the two men returned, came down from the hill country, crossed over and came to Joshua son of Nun.
They reported to him all that had befallen them. 24 “Surely Adonai has given all the land into our hands,” they said to Joshua. “Indeed, all the inhabitants of the land have melted in fear before us.”
Crossing the Jordan
3 Then Joshua rose up early in the morning, and he and all Bnei-Yisrael set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan. They lodged there before crossing over. 2 Now it came about after three days that the officials went through the camp 3 and they charged the people saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of Adonai your God and the Levitical kohanim carrying it, then you must set out from your place and follow it. 4 Yet keep a distance between you and it of about 2,000 cubits by measure. Don’t come near it, so you may know the way by which you should go, for you haven’t travelled this way before.”
5 Then Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow Adonai will do wonders in your midst.” 6 Joshua spoke to the kohanim saying: “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.
7 Now Adonai said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 You are to command the kohanim who are carrying the ark of the covenant saying: ‘When you reach the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you are to stand still in the Jordan.’”
9 So Joshua said to Bnei-Yisrael, “Come here, and listen to the words of Adonai your God.” 10 Joshua said, “By this you will know that the living God is among you, and that He will certainly drive out from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite and the Jebusite. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Sovereign of all the earth is advancing before you into the Jordan. 12 So now, take for yourselves twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. 13 It will come to pass when the soles of the feet of the kohanim who are carrying the ark of Adonai, Sovereign of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the Jordan’s waters will be cut off. The waters coming downstream will stand up in one heap.”
14 So it came to pass. When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the kohanim were carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of the people. 15 Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as those who were carrying the ark came into the Jordan and the feet of the kohanim carrying the ark dipped in the edge of the water, 16 the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the town next to Zarethan. What was flowing down to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Yet the kohanim carrying the ark of the covenant of Adonai stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan.
Twelve Memorial Stones
4 Now when all the nation had finished crossing over the Jordan, Adonai spoke to Joshua saying: 2 “Take for yourself twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, 3 and command them saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the feet of the kohanim are standing firm, and carry them over with you, and deposit them at the place where you will lodge tonight.”
4 Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from Bnei-Yisrael, one man from each tribe. 5 Joshua said to them, “Cross over before the ark of Adonai your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you, lift up a stone on his shoulder, for the number of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael. 6 Let this be a sign among you. When your children ask later saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 then you will say to them: ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Adonai—when it crossed the Jordan—the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones will be a reminder to Bnei-Yisrael forever.”
8 So Bnei-Yisrael did so, as Joshua commanded. They lifted twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as Adonai had said to Joshua, for the number of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael. Then they carried them over with them to the lodging place and put them down there. 9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the spot where the feet of the kohanim carrying the ark of the covenant were standing—they are there to this day.
10 The kohanim who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything that Adonai had commanded Joshua to speak to the people was completed, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried across, 11 and when all the people had finished crossing over, the ark of Adonai and the kohanim crossed over in the presence of the people. 12 Also the children of Reuben, the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed ahead of Bnei-Yisrael, just as Moses had said to them— 13 about 40,000 equipped for war crossed over before Adonai for battle to the plains of Jericho.
14 On that day Adonai exalted Joshua in the eyes of all Israel. So they revered him, just as they had revered Moses all the days of his life.
15 Then Adonai spoke to Joshua saying: 16 “Command the kohanim who are carrying the ark of the testimony to come up from the Jordan.” 17 Joshua therefore commanded the kohanim saying, “Come up from the Jordan!” 18 As soon as the kohanim who were carrying the ark of the covenant of Adonai came up from the middle of the Jordan and the soles of the feet of the kohanim were drawn up to the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.
19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. 20 Those twelve stones, which they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. 21 Then he said to Bnei-Yisrael saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come saying: ‘What are these stones?’ 22 then you will inform your children saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For Adonai your God dried up the waters of Jordan before you until you crossed—just as Adonai your God did to the Sea of Reeds, which He dried up before us until we crossed over— 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know Adonai’s hand is mighty, and so that you may fear Adonai your God forever.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.