Chronological

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ minister,^(A)

² Moses My servant is dead. So now arise [take his place], go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, the Israelites.

³ Every place upon which the sole of your foot shall tread, that have I given to you, as I promised Moses.

⁴ From the wilderness and this Lebanon to the great river Euphrates—all the land of the ^[a]Hittites [Canaan]—and to the Great [Mediterranean] Sea on the west shall be your territory.

⁵ No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.

⁶ Be strong (confident) and of good courage, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

⁷ Only you be strong and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good ^[b]success.

⁹ Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

¹⁰ Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,

¹¹ Pass through the camp and command the people, Prepare your provisions, for within three days you shall pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

¹² And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said,

¹³ Remember what Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God is giving you [of these two and a half tribes a place of] rest and will give you this land [east of the Jordan].

¹⁴ Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall dwell in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan, but all your mighty men of valor shall pass on before your brethren [of the other tribes] armed, and help them [possess their land]

¹⁵ Until the Lord gives your brethren rest, as He has given you, and they also possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, the land Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on the sunrise side of the Jordan.

¹⁶ They answered Joshua, All you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

¹⁷ As we hearkened to Moses in all things, so will we hearken to you; only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses.

¹⁸ Whoever rebels against your commandment and will not hearken to all you command him shall be put to death. Only be strong, vigorous, and of good courage.

2 Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as scouts, saying, Go, view the land, especially Jericho. And they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there.

² It was told the king of Jericho, Behold, there came men in here tonight of the Israelites to search out the country.

³ And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out the land.

⁴ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, Yes, two men came to me, but I did not know from where they had come.

⁵ And at gate closing time, after dark, the men went out. Where they went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.

⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order there.

⁷ So the men pursued them to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone, the city’s gate was shut.

⁸ Before the two men had lain down, Rahab came up to them on the roof,

⁹ And she said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the [east] side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

¹¹ When we heard it, our hearts melted, neither did spirit or courage remain any more in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.^(B)

¹² Now then, I pray you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a sure sign,

¹³ And save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all they have, and deliver us from death.

¹⁴ And the men said to her, Our lives for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.

¹⁵ Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the [town] wall so that she dwelt in the wall.

¹⁶ And she said to them, Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers have returned; and afterward you may go your way.

¹⁷ The men said to her, We will be blameless of this oath you have made us swear. [The responsibility is now yours.]

¹⁸ Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall bring your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household into your house.

¹⁹ And if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless; but if a hand is laid upon anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.

²⁰ But if you tell this business of ours, we shall be guiltless of your oath which you made us swear.

²¹ And she said, According to your words, so it is. Then she sent them away and they departed; and she bound the ^[c]scarlet cord in the window.

²² They left and went to the mountain and stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned, who had searched all along the way without finding them.

²³ So the two men descended from the mountain, passed over [the Jordan], and came to Joshua son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them.

²⁴ They said to Joshua, Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands; for all the inhabitants of the country are faint because of us.

3 Joshua rose early in the morning and they removed from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the Israelites, and lodged there before passing over.

² After three days the officers went through the camp,

³ Commanding the people: When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being borne by the Levitical priests, set out from where you are and follow it.

⁴ Yet a space must be kept between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure; come not near it, that you may [be able to see the ark and] know the way you must go, for you have not passed this way before.

⁵ And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves [that is, separate yourselves for a special holy purpose], for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

⁶ Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant and pass over before the people. And they took it up and went on before the people.

⁷ The Lord said to Joshua, This day I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, so they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

⁸ You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.

⁹ Joshua said to the Israelites, Come near, hear the words of the Lord your God.

¹⁰ Joshua said, Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you and that He will surely drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.

¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan!

¹² So now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.

¹³ When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan coming down from above shall be cut off and they shall stand in one heap.

¹⁴ So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,

¹⁵ And when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were in the brink of the water—for the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest—

¹⁶ Then the ^[d]waters which came down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt [Dead] Sea, were wholly cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.^(C)

¹⁷ And while all Israel passed over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

4 When all the nation had fully passed over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,

² Take twelve men from among the people, one man out of every tribe,

³ And command them, Take twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm; carry them over with you and leave them at the place where you lodge tonight.

⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men of the Israelites whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe.

⁵ And Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of the Jordan, and take up every man of you a stone on his shoulder, as is the number of the tribes of the Israelites,

⁶ That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, What do these stones mean to you?

⁷ Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever.

⁸ And the Israelites did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord told Joshua, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there.

⁹ And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

¹⁰ For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste.

¹¹ When all the people had passed over, the ark of the Lord and the priests went over in the presence of the people.

¹² And the sons of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the [other] Israelites, as Moses had bidden them;

¹³ About 40,000 [of these] prepared for war passed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for battle.

¹⁴ On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to Joshua,

¹⁶ Order the priests bearing the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.

¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, Come up out of the Jordan.

¹⁸ And when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of their feet were lifted up to the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all its banks as they had before.

¹⁹ And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

²⁰ And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan Joshua set up in Gilgal.

²¹ And he said to the Israelites, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, What do these stones mean?

²² You shall let your children know, Israel came over this Jordan on dry ground.

²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up for us until we passed over,

²⁴ That all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and that you may reverence and fear the Lord your God forever.