Old/New Testament
God tells Joshua what to do
1 The Lord's servant, Moses, had died.[a] Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of Nun, who had helped Moses in his work. 2 The Lord said to Joshua,
‘Moses, my servant, is dead. Now you and all these people must get ready to cross the Jordan River. Lead the people of Israel into the land that I am giving to them. 3 I have given to you every part of the ground that you walk on. I promised Moses that I would do this. 4 You will have all the land from the desert in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north. It will be from the river Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea on the west. You will have all the land of the Hittite people. 5 No one can stop you from taking this land as long as you live. As I was with Moses, I will always be with you. I will never leave you alone.
6 Be strong and do not be afraid. You will lead these people to take the land. That is the land that I promised to give to their ancestors. 7 Be strong and do not be afraid. Be very careful to do all the things that Moses commanded you to do. Then everything will go well with you, everywhere that you go. 8 You must keep on speaking about the words of God's law. Think about what it says, all the time. Be careful to obey it. Then you will do well, and you will win. 9 Remember that I have told you this: Be strong and do not be afraid. Do not be weak but be brave. I, the Lord your God, will be with you, everywhere that you go.’
Joshua speaks to the Israelites
10 So Joshua commanded the leaders of the people, 11 ‘Go through all the places where the people live. Tell them to get food ready for a journey. In three days, you will cross the Jordan River. You will begin to take the land for yourselves. This is the land that the Lord your God is ready to give to you.’
12 Joshua said to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, 13 ‘Remember what Moses, the Lord's servant, told you. The Lord your God is giving to you a place to rest safely.[b] He has given this land to you. 14 Your wives, children and animals can stay in this land that Moses gave to you, on the east side of the Jordan River. But your strong men must cross the river, with their weapons. They must go in front of the other Israelite tribes. You must help them 15 until the Lord gives them a place to rest, as he has already given to you. When all the other tribes are safe in the land, you may return to the land east of the Jordan. Moses gave this land to you.’
16 The people said to Joshua, ‘We will do whatever you tell us. And we will go wherever you send us. 17 As we always obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. The Lord your God was with Moses. So we pray that the Lord will be with you too. 18 If anyone turns against you and he does not obey your commands, we will make sure that he dies. You must be very strong and brave.’
Rahab helps two men of Israel
2 Then Joshua sent two men to go out from Shittim. He sent them in secret to see what the land was like. He told them, ‘Go! Look at all the land. Look very carefully at Jericho city.’
When they came to Jericho city, they arrived at the house of a prostitute. Her name was Rahab. They stayed there.[c]
2 Some people told the king of Jericho, ‘Look! Some Israelite men have come here tonight to see what our land is like.’ 3 So the king of Jericho sent a message to Rahab. He said, ‘Bring out the men who are staying in your house. They have come secretly to see what all our land is like!’
4 But Rahab had hidden the two men. She replied, ‘Yes, some men did come to me. I did not know where they had come from. 5 When it was nearly time to close the gate of the city for the night, they left. I do not know where they went. If you chase after them quickly, you may catch them.’ 6 But she had taken the men up to the roof. She had hidden them under some straw that she had put there.
7 So the king's officers went out of the city to try to find the two Israelite men. They went along the road to the Jordan River, to the place where the road crosses the river. As soon as they had left, people shut the city gate.
8 Rahab went up to the roof of her house. She spoke to the men as they prepared to sleep. 9 She said to them, ‘I know that the Lord has given this land to you. Everyone here is afraid of you Israelites. Everyone who lives in this land is very frightened. 10 We heard how the Lord caused the water of the Red Sea to become dry. In that way he brought you out of Egypt. We heard what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites. We heard how you destroyed them completely on the east side of the Jordan River. 11 When we heard what you had done, we were very frightened. We know that we are not strong enough to fight against you because the Lord, your God, is God. He rules everything in heaven and on earth.
12 Now, please use the Lord's name to make a strong promise. I have been kind to you. So promise me that you will be kind to my family. Show me that you will certainly do what you have promised. 13 When you attack this city, do not kill my family. Save the lives of my father, my mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.’
14 The men replied, ‘We promise to do that. If anyone kills you or your family, may we die too! Do not tell anyone about us. When the Lord gives us this land, we will be kind to you. We will save your lives.’
15 So Rahab put a rope out through the window of her house. (The house that she lived in was part of the city wall.) The men climbed down the rope. 16 Rahab told them, ‘Go to the hills. The men who are chasing you will not find you there. Hide there for three days until they return to this city. Then you can go back to your people.’
17 The men said to her, ‘If you do what we say, we will do what we have promised. 18 We will soon attack this land. So tie this red string in the window that we came through.[d] Bring your father, your mother, your brothers and sisters and all your family into your house. 19 If any of them leaves your house, they may die. If that happens, we will not be guilty. We will only be guilty if our soldiers hurt anyone who is in your house. 20 But if you tell anyone about us, we do not have to do what we have promised to you.’
21 Rahab said, ‘I agree with what you have said.’ She sent the men away. When they had gone, she tied the red string in her window.
22 The two Israelite men went into the hills and they hid there. The king's officers looked along the road for them for three days. They did not find them, so they returned to Jericho. 23 Then the two men came down from the hills and they crossed the Jordan River. They went back to Joshua. They told him everything that had happened. 24 They said to him, ‘We are sure that the Lord has given us the whole land. All the people there are very frightened of us.’
The people cross the Jordan
3 Early the next morning, Joshua and all the Israelites left Shittim. They put up their tents beside the Jordan River. They waited to cross the river.
2 Three days later, the Israelite leaders went to every tent. 3 They commanded the people, ‘The Levite priests will carry the Covenant Box of the Lord your God. When you see them, you must leave here and you must follow them. 4 They will show you the way to go because you have never been here before. But do not go too near to the Covenant Box. Stay about 1,000 metres behind it.’
5 Joshua said to the people, ‘Make yourselves ready to serve the Lord as his holy people. Tomorrow, the Lord will do great miracles among you.’
6 He said to the priests, ‘Pick up the Covenant Box, and carry it in front of the people.’ So they picked it up, and they went on in front of the people.
7 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to make all the Israelite people respect you. They will know that I am with you, in the same way that I was with Moses. 8 The priests that are carrying the Covenant Box must go to the shore of the Jordan River. Tell them to go into the water and to stand there.’
9 Joshua said to the Israelites, ‘Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. 10 The God who lives for ever is with you. He will certainly chase the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites out from this land.[e] Then you will have their land. The Lord will show you that he will certainly do this. 11 Look now! The Covenant Box of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan River in front of you. 12 Now choose 12 men, one from each tribe of Israel's family. 13 Watch the priests who are carrying the Covenant Box. As soon as their feet touch the water of the river, you will see that the water stops running. It will rise up like a wall.’
14 So the Israelite people prepared to leave their tents. The priests carried the Covenant Box towards the Jordan River. The people followed them. 15 It was the time of the harvest and there was a lot of water coming down the river. But when the priests reached the shore of the river with the Covenant Box and their feet touched the water, 16 the water stopped. It stopped a long way up the river, at a town called Adam. That is near Zarethan. The water going down to the Salt Sea stopped completely. So the people crossed the river near Jericho city. 17 The priests stood in the middle of the river on dry ground, with the Lord's Covenant Box. While they stood there, all the Israelite people walked across the river on dry ground. In that way, the whole nation arrived on the other side of the river.
Jesus becomes alive again
16 After the day of rest had finished, the women bought some spices. They wanted to mix these with some oil to put on Jesus' body.[a] These women were Mary from Magdala, Salome, and Mary the mother of James. 2 They went out at dawn on the first day of the week, Sunday. They went to the hole in the rock where Joseph had put Jesus' dead body.
3 The women asked each other, ‘Who will roll away the heavy stone for us? It closes the hole in the rock where they put Jesus' dead body.’
4 Then they looked and they saw the stone. It was a very big stone. But someone had already rolled it away from the hole. 5 When the women went into the hole in the rock, they saw a young man there.[b] He was sitting in there on the right side and he wore bright white clothes. The women were very afraid.
6 The young man said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth. The soldiers killed him on a cross, but he has become alive again. He is not here. Look! You can see the place where the men put him. 7 But now you must go to tell his disciples and Peter about this.[c] Tell them, “Jesus is going to Galilee and you must also go there. You will see him there, just as he told you it would happen.” ’
8 Then the women went out of the hole in the rock, and they ran away from that place. They were very upset and they had trouble in their minds. Because they were afraid, they did not say anything to anyone.
The end of Mark's book
9 [d] [Jesus became alive again early on the first day of the week. He appeared first to Mary from Magdala. Jesus had caused seven bad spirits to leave her. 10 She went to the people who had been with Jesus. They were all very sad and they were crying. Mary spoke to them. 11 She told them that Jesus was alive. And she told them that she had seen him. But they did not believe it.
12 After these things had happened, Jesus appeared to two other disciples. They were walking away from Jerusalem to their village. It seemed to them that Jesus was different. 13 Those two disciples went and told all the other disciples. But the other disciples did not believe them.
14 After that, Jesus appeared to the 11 apostles while they were eating. He told them that they were wrong not to believe. They should have been ready to believe. People had seen that he was now alive again. But the disciples had not believed them.
15 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Go to all people everywhere in the world. Tell God's good news to everyone. 16 If a person believes in me, then you should baptize that person. And God will save that person. But if a person does not believe, God will judge that person to be guilty. 17 These miracles will happen when people believe in me. On my behalf, they will send bad spirits out of people. They will speak new languages. 18 If they pick up a snake, it will not hurt them. If they drink poison, it will not hurt them. They will put their hands on ill people, and God will make those people well.’
Jesus goes up to heaven
19 So, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to the disciples, God took him up into heaven. There he sat down at the right side of God.
20 The disciples went out everywhere. They told people God's good news. The Lord worked with them. He did powerful things to show that the message which they spoke was true.]
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