Twelve Stones Set Up at Gilgal

4 When the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, ² “Select twelve men from the people, one from each tribe,^{(A) 3} and command them, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood, carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you camp tonight.’ ”^{(B) 4} Then Joshua summoned the twelve men whom he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe. ⁵ Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, ⁶ so that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’^{(C) 7} then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever.”^(D)

⁸ The Israelites did as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua, carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and laid them down there.^{(E) 9} (Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood, and they are there to this day.)^(F)

¹⁰ The priests who bore the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people crossed over in haste. ¹¹ As soon as all the people had finished crossing over, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over to the front of the people. ¹² The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the Israelites, as Moses had ordered them.^{(G) 13} About forty thousand armed for war crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for battle.

¹⁴ On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses all the days of his life.^(H)

¹⁵ The Lord said to Joshua, ¹⁶ “Command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant to come up out of the Jordan.” ¹⁷ Joshua therefore commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” ¹⁸ When the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan and the soles of the priests’ feet touched dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.^(I)

¹⁹ The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.^{(J) 20} Those twelve stones that they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal,^{(K) 21} saying to the Israelites, “When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’^{(L) 22} then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’^{(M) 23} For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea,^[a] which he dried up for us until we crossed over,^{(N) 24} so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”^(O)

The New Generation Circumcised

5 ^[b]When all the kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan to the west and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the Israelites.^(P)

² At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites a second time.”^{(Q) 3} So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth.^{[c] 4} This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the warriors, had died during the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt.^{(R) 5} Although all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people born on the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. ⁶ For the Israelites traveled forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the warriors who came out of Egypt, perished, not having listened to the voice of the Lord. To them the Lord swore that he would not let them see the land that he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(S) 7} So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way.

⁸ When the circumcising of all the nation was done, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. ⁹ The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal^[d] to this day.

The Passover at Gilgal

¹⁰ While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal, they kept the Passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho.^{(T) 11} On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and roasted grain. ¹² The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.^(U)

Joshua’s Vision

¹³ Once when Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you one of us or one of our adversaries?”^{(V) 14} He replied, “Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and he said to him, “What do you command your servant, my lord?”^{(W) 15} The commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.^(X)

Jericho Taken and Destroyed

6 Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the Israelites; no one came out, and no one went in. ² The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have handed Jericho over to you, along with its king and soldiers.^{(Y) 3} You shall march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days, ⁴ with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets.^{(Z) 5} When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and all the people shall charge straight ahead.” ⁶ So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.” ⁷ To the people he said, “Go forward and march around the city; have the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”^(AA)

⁸ As Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. ⁹ And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets; the rear guard came after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually.^{(AB) 10} To the people Joshua gave this command: “You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, nor shall you utter a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” ¹¹ So the ark of the Lord went around the city, circling it once, and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

¹² Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord passed on, blowing the trumpets continually. The armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually.^{(AC) 14} On the second day they marched around the city once and then returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day they rose early, at dawn, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶ And at 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 all that is in it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live because she hid the messengers we sent.^{(AD) 18} As for you, keep away from the things devoted to destruction, so as not to covet^[e] and take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel an object for destruction, bringing trouble upon it.^{(AE) 19} But all silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” ²⁰ So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpets, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so the people charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.^{(AF) 21} Then they devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.^(AG)

²² But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman out of it and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”^{(AH) 23} So the young men who had been spies went in and brought Rahab out, along with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all who belonged to her—they brought all her kindred out—and set them outside the camp of Israel.^{(AI) 24} They burned down the city and everything in it; only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.^{(AJ) 25} But Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, Joshua spared. Her family^[f] has lived in Israel ever since. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.^(AK)

²⁶ Joshua then pronounced this oath, saying,

²⁷ So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.^(AM)

Dedication to Theophilus

1 Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, ² just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,^{(A) 3} I, too, decided, as one having a grasp of everything from the start,^[a] to write a well-ordered account for you, most excellent Theophilus,^{(B) 4} so that you may have a firm grasp of the words in which you have been instructed.

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵ In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.^{(C) 6} Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.^{(D) 7} But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

⁸ Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty,^{(E) 9} he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense.^{(F) 10} Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside.^{(G) 11} Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.^{(H) 14} You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,^{(I) 15} for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.^{(J) 16} He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.^{(K) 17} With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”^{(L) 18} Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.”^{(M) 19} The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.^{(N) 20} But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”^(O)