Numbers 27:12-23

New International Version - UK

Joshua to succeed Moses

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites. ¹³ After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, ¹⁴ for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honour me as holy before their eyes.’ (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.)

¹⁵ Moses said to the Lord, ¹⁶ ‘May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community ¹⁷ to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd.’

¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership,^[a] and lay your hand on him. ¹⁹ Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. ²⁰ Give him some of your authority so that the whole Israelite community will obey him. ²¹ He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by enquiring of the Urim before the Lord. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.’

²² Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. ²³ Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses.