Joshua 1-5

Joshua 1

¹Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,

²Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

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

⁴From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.

⁵There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.

⁶Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

⁷Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest.

⁸This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

⁹Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

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

¹¹Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.

¹²And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,

¹³Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God giveth you rest, and will give you this land.

¹⁴Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall abide in the land which Moses gave you beyond Jordan; but ye shall pass over before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and shall help them;

¹⁵until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and possess it, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond Jordan toward the sunrising.

¹⁶And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou hast commanded us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go.

¹⁷According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.

¹⁸Whosoever he be that shall rebel against thy commandment, and shall not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.

Joshua 2

¹And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men as spies secretly, saying, Go view the land, and Jericho. And they went, and came into the house of an harlot whose name was Rahab, and lay there.

²And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to-night of the children of Israel to search out the land.

³And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the land.

⁴And the woman took the two men, and hid them; and she said, Yea, the men came unto me, but I wist not whence they were:

⁵and it came to pass about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.

⁶But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

⁷And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸And before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof;

⁹and she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

¹⁰For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, unto Sihon and to Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

¹¹And as soon as we had heard it, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.

¹²Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that ye also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true token:

¹³and that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.

¹⁴And the men said unto her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business; and it shall be, when the LORD giveth us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

¹⁵Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

¹⁶And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers light upon you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.

¹⁷And the men said unto her, We will be guiltless of this thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.

¹⁸Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt gather unto thee into the house thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household.

¹⁹And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

²⁰But if thou utter this our business, then we will be guiltless of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.

²¹And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

²²And they went, and came unto the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.

²³Then the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun; and they told him all that had befallen them.

²⁴And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; and moreover all the inhabitants of the land do melt away before us.

Joshua 3

¹And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and they lodged there before they passed over.

²And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp;

³and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.

⁴Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.

⁵And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.

⁶And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

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

⁸And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the waters of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.

⁹And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.

¹⁰And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite.

¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.

¹²Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.

¹³And it shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand in one heap.

¹⁴And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, the priests that bare the ark of the covenant being before the people;

¹⁵and when they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brink of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest,)

¹⁶that the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan: and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.

¹⁷And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation were passed clean over Jordan.

Joshua 4

¹And it came to pass, when all the nation were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,

²Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,

³and command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.

⁴Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:

⁵and Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:

⁶that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?

⁷then ye shall say unto them, Because the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

⁸And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.

⁹And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there, unto this day.

¹⁰For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over.

¹¹And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.

¹²And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spake unto them:

¹³about forty thousand ready armed for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, to the plains of Jericho.

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

¹⁵And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,

¹⁶Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of Jordan.

¹⁷Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan.

¹⁸And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry ground, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and went over all its banks, as aforetime.

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

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

²¹And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?

²²Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

²³For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were passed over:

²⁴that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty; that they may fear the LORD your God for ever.

Joshua 5

¹And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were beyond Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard how that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

²At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee knives of flint, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.

³And Joshua made him knives of flint, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

⁴And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: all the people that came forth out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came forth out of Egypt.

⁵For all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, they had not circumcised.

⁶For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the nation, even the men of war which came forth out of Egypt, were consumed, because they hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not let them see the land which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁷And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them did Joshua circumcise: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.

⁸And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the nation, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole.

⁹And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, unto this day.

¹⁰And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.

¹¹And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn, in the selfsame day.

¹²And the manna ceased on the morrow, after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

¹³And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

¹⁴And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?

¹⁵And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.