Old/New Testament

Memorial Stones from Jordan

4 So it was when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ² “Take for yourselves the twelve men [chosen] from among the people, one man from each tribe, ³ and command them, ‘Pick up for yourselves twelve stones [one each] from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm; carry them over with you and lay them down at the place where you will spend the night tonight.’” ⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; ⁵ and Joshua said to them, “Cross over again to the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, ⁶ so that this may be a sign among you; when your children ask later, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ then you shall say to them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall become a memorial for Israel forever.”

⁸ So the [twelve men chosen from the] sons of Israel 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 sons of Israel, just as the Lord had spoken to Joshua; and they carried them over with them to the place where they were spending the night and put them down there. ⁹ Then Joshua set up [a second monument of] twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day. ¹⁰ For the priests who carried the ark were standing in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people, in accordance with everything that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried and crossed [the dry riverbed]; ¹¹ and when all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. ¹² The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed for battle before the [other] sons of Israel, just as Moses had spoken to them; ¹³ about 40,000 [men] armed and equipped for war crossed for battle before the Lord to the desert plains of Jericho.

¹⁴ On that day the Lord magnified and exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; so they feared him [with profound awe and reverence], just as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.

¹⁵ Now the Lord said to Joshua, ¹⁶ “Order the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.” ¹⁷ So Joshua commanded the priests, saying, “Come up out of the Jordan.” ¹⁸ When the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of their feet were raised up to the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and flowed over all its banks as before.

¹⁹ Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth [day] of the first month and encamped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. ²⁰ And those twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. ²¹ He said to the sons of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ²² then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, just as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed; ²⁴ so that all the peoples of the earth may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that the hand of the Lord is mighty and extraordinarily powerful, so that you will fear the Lord your God [and obey and worship Him with profound awe and reverence] forever.”

Israel Is Circumcised

5 Now it happened when all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted [in despair], and there was no [fighting] spirit in them any longer because of the Israelites [and what God had done for them].

² At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise the [new generation of the] sons of Israel as [was done] before.” ³ So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at ^[a]Gibeath-haaraloth. ⁴ This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness along the way after they left Egypt. ⁵ All the males who came out were circumcised, but all the males who were born in the wilderness on the way as they left Egypt had not been circumcised. ⁶ For the Israelites walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, died because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord; to them the Lord had sworn [an oath] that He would not let them see the land which He had promised to their fathers to give us, a land [of abundance] ^[b]flowing with milk and honey. ⁷ So it was their uncircumcised sons whom He raised up in their place, whom Joshua circumcised, because circumcision had not been performed on the way.

⁸ Then, when they had finished circumcising all [the males of] the nation, they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach (derision, ridicule) of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal (rolling) to this day.

¹⁰ While the Israelites camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. ¹¹ On the day after Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened bread, and roasted grain.^{(A) 12} And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the Israelites no longer had manna, but they ate some of the produce of the land of Canaan during that year.

¹³ Now when Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up, and behold, ^[c]a man was standing opposite him with his drawn sword in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” ¹⁴ He said, “No; rather I have come now as captain of the army of the Lord.” Then Joshua fell with his face toward the earth and bowed down, and said to him, “What does my lord have to say to his servant?” ¹⁵ The captain of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy (set apart to the Lord).” And Joshua did so.^(B)

The Conquest of Jericho

6 Now Jericho [a fortified city with high walls] was tightly closed because [of the people’s fear] of the sons of Israel; no one went out or came in. ² The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty warriors. ³ Now you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do this [once each day] for six days. ⁴ Also, seven priests shall carry seven trumpets [made] of rams’ horns ahead of the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵ When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall cry out with a great shout (battle cry); and the wall of the city will fall down in its place, and the people shall go up, each man [going] straight ahead [climbing over the rubble].”

⁶ So Joshua the son of Nun called for the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and have seven priests carry seven trumpets made of rams’ horns ahead of the ark of the Lord.” ⁷ He said to the people, “Go forward! March around the city, and let the armed men go ahead of the ark of the Lord.” ⁸ And it was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets made of rams’ horns went on before the Lord and blew the trumpets; then the ark of the covenant of the Lord went behind them. ⁹ The armed men went in front of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued to blow the trumpets. ¹⁰ But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout [the battle cry] nor let your voice be heard nor let a word come out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout!” ¹¹ So Joshua had the ark of the Lord taken around the city [on the first day], circling it once; then they came back into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

¹² Then Joshua got up early in the morning [on the second day], and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets made of rams’ horns ahead of the ark of the Lord went on continually, blowing the trumpets; and the armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued to blow the trumpets. ¹⁴ On the second day they marched around the city once, and returned to the camp; they did this for six days.

¹⁵ Then on the seventh day they got up early at daybreak and marched around the city in the same way seven times; only on that day they marched around the city ^[d]seven times. ¹⁶ And the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. ¹⁷ The city and everything that is in it shall be under the ban [that is, designated to be destroyed as a form of tribute] to the Lord; only Rahab the prostitute and all [the people] who are with her in her house shall [be allowed to] live, because she hid and protected the messengers (scouts) whom we sent. ¹⁸ But as for you, keep yourselves [away] from the things under the ban [which are to be destroyed], so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban [for personal gain], and put the camp of Israel under the ban (doomed to destruction), and bring disaster upon it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy (consecrated) to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” ²⁰ So the people shouted [the battle cry], and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they raised a great shout and the wall [of Jericho] fell down, so that the sons of Israel went up into the city, every man straight ahead [climbing over the rubble], and they overthrew the city. ²¹ Then they utterly destroyed everything that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

²² But Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring the woman and all that she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.” ²³ So the young men, the spies, went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and everything that she had; they also brought out all her relatives and allowed them to stay outside the camp of Israel [at Gilgal during the time required for ceremonial cleansing].^{(C) 24} Then they completely burned the city and everything that was in it. They put only the silver and the gold, and the articles of bronze and of iron, into the treasury of the house (tabernacle) of the Lord. ²⁵ So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her father’s household and everything that she had; and she has lived among Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers (scouts) whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

²⁶ Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates.”^{(D) 27} So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

Introduction

1 Since [as is well known] many have undertaken to compile an orderly account of the things which have been fulfilled among us [by God], ² exactly as they were handed down to us by those [with personal experience] who from the beginning [of Christ’s ministry] were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word [that is, of the teaching concerning salvation through faith in Christ], ³ it seemed fitting for ^[a]me as well, [and so I have decided] after having carefully searched out and investigated all the events accurately, from the very beginning, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus;^{(A) 4} so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been ^[b]taught [that is, the history and doctrine of the faith].

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵ In the days of Herod [the Great], king of Judea, there was a certain priest whose name was ^[c]Zacharias, of ^[d]the division of Abijah. His wife was ^[e]a descendant of Aaron [the first high priest of Israel], and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ They both were righteous (approved) in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. ⁷ But they were childless, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both far advanced in years.

⁸ Now it happened while Zacharias was serving as priest before God in the appointed order of his priestly division, ⁹ as was the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter [the sanctuary of] the temple of the Lord and ^[f]burn incense [on the altar of incense].^{(B) 10} And all the congregation was praying outside [in the court of the temple] at the hour of the incense offering. ¹¹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zacharias saw the angel, he was troubled and overcome with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, because your petition [in prayer] was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him ^[g]John. ¹⁴ You will have great joy and delight, and many will rejoice over his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great and distinguished in the sight of the Lord; and will never drink wine or liquor, and he will be filled with and empowered to act by the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb.^{(C) 16} He will turn many of the sons of Israel back [from sin] to [love and serve] the Lord their God. ¹⁷ It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous [which is to seek and submit to the will of God]—in order to make ready a people [perfectly] prepared [spiritually and morally] for the Lord.”^(D)

¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I be certain of this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in age.” ¹⁹ The angel replied and said to him, “I am Gabriel; I stand and minister in the [very] presence of God, and I have been sent [by Him] to speak to you and to bring you this good news.^{(E) 20 [h]}Listen carefully, you will be continually silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe what I told you; but my words will be fulfilled at their proper time.”