Joshua 1-4

Jubilee Bible 2000

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

² Moses, my slave, is dead; now, therefore, arise, pass this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I give to the sons of Israel.

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

⁴ From 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 borders.

⁵ No one shall 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.

⁶ Be strong and of a good courage; for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land as an inheritance, which I swore unto their fathers to give them.

⁷ Only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest keep and do according to all the law, which Moses my slave commanded thee; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left that thou may be prospered in all the things that thou doest.

⁸ This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou may keep and do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way to prosper, and then thou shalt understand everything.

⁹ See that I command thee to be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for I, the LORD thy God, am with thee wherever thou goest.

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

¹¹ Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, Prepare food; for within three days ye shall pass this Jordan, to enter in to inherit the land, which the LORD your God gives you to inherit.

¹² Also to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to half the tribe of Manasseh, Joshua spoke, saying,

¹³ Remember the word which Moses, the slave of the LORD, commanded you, saying, The LORD your God has given you rest and has given you this land.

¹⁴ Your wives, your little ones, and your beasts shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan; but ye, all the mighty men of valour, shall pass before your brethren armed and help them

¹⁵ until the LORD has given your brethren rest, as he has given you and they also inherit the land which the LORD your God gives them; then ye shall return unto the land of your inheritance and inherit it, which Moses the LORD’s slave has given you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrising.

¹⁶ ¶ Then they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou hast commanded us we will do, and wherever thou dost send us, we will go.

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

¹⁸ Whoever rebels against thy commandment and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou doest command him, let him die; only be strong and of a good courage.

2 ¶ And Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went and came into a harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

² And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, men of the sons of Israel have come here this night to spy out the land.

³ Then the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that have come unto thee, who have entered into thy house; for they are come to spy out all the land.

⁴ And the woman had taken the two men and hidden them and said thus, It is true that some men came unto me, but I did not know where they came from.

⁵ And at the time of shutting the gate, when it was dark, these men went out, and I do not know where the men went; pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.

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

⁷ And the men pursued after them along the way to Jordan unto the fords; and as soon as those who pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸ ¶ And before they went to sleep, she came up unto them upon the roof;

⁹ and she said unto the men, I know that the LORD has given you this land because the fear of you has fallen upon us and 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 ye came out of Egypt and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

¹¹ Hearing this has melted our heart, neither has there remained any more spirit in any man because of you, for the LORD your God is God above in the heavens and in the earth beneath.

¹² Now, therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD since I have showed you mercy that ye will also do the same unto my father’s house, of which thou shalt give me a true sign,

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

¹⁴ And the men answered her, Our life for yours if ye do not declare this our business. And it shall be when the LORD has given us the land, that we will deal with thee according to mercy and truth.

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

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

¹⁷ And the men said unto her, We will be exempted of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear in the following manner.

¹⁸ Behold, when we come into the land, thou shall have bound this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by, and thou shall have brought thy father and thy mother and thy brethren and all thy father’s household home unto thee.

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

²⁰ And if thou should declare this our business, then we will be exempted of thine oath which thou hast made us swear.

²¹ And 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.

²² ¶ And they went and came unto the mountain and abode there three days until their pursuers had returned; and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way but did not find them.

²³ So the two men returned and descended from the mountain and crossed over and came to Joshua, the son of Nun, and told him all the things that had befallen them.

²⁴ And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands; and also all the inhabitants of the land are faint before us.

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

² And after three days, the officers went through the camp,

³ and 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.

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

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

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

⁷ ¶ And the LORD said unto Joshua, From this day I will 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.

⁸ Therefore, thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are entered into the brink of the water of the Jordan, ye shall stand still in the Jordan.

⁹ And Joshua said unto the sons of Israel, Draw near and hear the words of the LORD your God.

¹⁰ And 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.

¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes the Jordan before you.

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

¹³ And 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 the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off; for the waters that come down from above shall stand in a heap.

¹⁴ ¶ And it came to pass when the people removed from their tents to pass the Jordan and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,

¹⁵ when those that bore the ark entered into the Jordan, as soon as the feet of the priests that bore the ark were dipped in the brim of the water (for Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),

¹⁶ that the waters which came down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far from the city of Adam, that is beside Zaretan; and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed and were cut off; and the people passed over right against Jericho.

¹⁷ But the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan until all the people finished passing the Jordan; and all Israel passed on dry ground.

4 ¶ And it came to pass when all the people were finished passing the Jordan, that the LORD spoke unto Joshua, saying,

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

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

⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the sons of Israel, out of each tribe a man;

⁵ and Joshua said unto them, Pass before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan and take ye up each one of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel,

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

⁷ Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off; and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the sons of Israel for ever.

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

⁹ Joshua also set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there unto 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 speak unto the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people made haste and passed.

¹¹ And when all the people were finished passing, the ark of the LORD passed, and the priests, in the presence of the people.

¹² And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh passed armed before the sons of Israel, as Moses had said unto them.

¹³ About forty thousand men prepared for war passed over before the LORD unto battle, towards the plains of Jericho.

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

¹⁵ And the LORD spoke unto Joshua, saying,

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

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

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

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

²⁰ ¶ And Joshua raised up in Gilgal the twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan.

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

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

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

²⁴ that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty; that ye might fear the LORD your God all the days.