Chapter 1 – Chapter 3

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

1 And it came to pass after the death of Moses, that Jehovah addressed Joshua, saying, —

2 Moses my servant is dead: now therefore rise, pass over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, to the land which I give to them, namely, to the children of Israel.

3 Every place which the sole of your foot shall have trod upon, I have given to you; as I said to Moses,

4 From the desert and that Lebanon, even to the great sea, the river Euphrates, the whole land of the Hittites, even to the great sea toward the setting of the sun, will be your boundary.

5 No one shall stand before thee all the days of thy life; because as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not desert nor forsake thee.

6 Be firm therefore and strong; for thou shall divide to this people as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers that I would give them.

7 Only be firm and strong exceedingly; that thou may keep and do according to the whole law which Moses my servant commanded thee: thou shall not draw back to the right hand or to the left, that thou may act prudently (or prosperously) in all things.

8 Let not the book of this law depart from thy mouth; but meditate in it day and night, that thou may keep and do according to all which has been written in it. For then shall thou render thy ways prosperous, and then shall thou act prudently.

9 Have not I commanded thee to make thyself firm and strong? Fear not, nor be dispirited; since I, Jehovah thy God, am with thee in all the places to which thou goes.

10 Then Joshua commanded the prefects of the people, saying, —

11 Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, Make ready provision for yourselves; for after three days shall you pass over this Jordan, that you may enter and possess the land, which Jehovah your God give you to possess.

12 And to the Reubenites, and Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh, spoke Joshua, saying, —

13 Remember the word which Moses, the servant of Jehovah, commanded you, saying, Jehovah your God has rendered you quiet, and has given you this land:

14 Your wives, your little ones, and your flocks will remain in the land which Moses has given you beyond the Jordan; but you, as many of you as are men of war, will pass over armed before your brethren, and assist them,

15 Until Jehovah shall have given rest to your brethren as to you; and they, too, possess the land which Jehovah your God give to them; and then shall you return to the land of your inheritance, and possess that which Moses, the servant of Jehovah, gave you beyond Jordan toward the rising of the sun.

16 Then they answered Joshua, saying, All things which thou has commanded us will we do, and to all places to which thou shall send us, will we go.

17 As in all things we obeyed Moses, so will we obey thee; only let Jehovah thy God be with thee as he was with Moses.

18 Whoever he shall be that shall rebel against thy mouth, and shall not acquiesce in thy words in all the things which thou shall command him, let him be put to death. Only be thou firm and strong.

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

1 Now, Joshua, the son of Nun, had sent from Sittim two men as spies secretly, saying: Go, examine the land and Jericho. They accordingly set out and entered the house of a woman, a harlot, whose name was Rahab, and slept there.

2 And it was told to the king of Jericho, Behold, men of the children of Israel have come hither to-night to spy out the land.

3 Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men who have gone in to thee, who have come to thy house; for they have come to spy out the whole land.

4 Now the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. Then she says, The men, indeed, came to me, but I knew not whence they were.

5 And it was when the gate was shut in the darkness that the men went out, and I know not whither they went. Follow them quickly, for you shall apprehend them.

6 Now she had caused them to go up upon the roof, and had hidden them under stalks of flax, arranged by her on the roof.

7 And the men pursued them by the way of the Jordan, even to the fords; they, moreover, shut the gate as soon as those who pursued them went out.

8 But before they were asleep, she herself went up on the roof to them.

9 And she says to the men, I know that Jehovah has given you the land, inasmuch as your terror has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land have melted at your presence.

10 For we heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the sea of Suph (the Red Sea) from before you when you went out from Egypt; and what things you did to the two kings of the Amorite, who were beyond Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you slew.

11 We heard, and our heart was melted, neither had we any more spirit before you. For Jehovah your God is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath.

12 Now therefore swear unto me, I pray, by Jehovah, (for I have dealt mercifully with you,) that you will also deal mercifully with the house of my father, and give me a true sign,

13 That you will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brothers, and my sisters, and all who are theirs, and will rescue our souls from death.

14 The men said unto her, Our life for you unto death; only you will not betray this our conversation; then it will be that when Jehovah shall have delivered the land to us, we will deal truly and mercifully with you.

15 She therefore let them down through the window by a rope; for her house was in the building of the wall, and she herself dwelt on the wall.

16 And she said to them, Hasten to the mountain, lest perchance those who are pursuing fall in with you, and keep lurking there for three days, till those who are pursuing return, and afterwards you will go on your way.

17 Then the men said to her, We shall be blameless from this your oath by which you have bound us.

18 Behold, when we shall enter the land, you will bind this line of purple thread in the window by which you have let us down; moreover, you will assemble in the house with you, your father, and your mother, and all the family of your father.

19 And it shall be that whoever shall go outside beyond the doors of the house, his blood shall be upon his head, but we shall be blameless; and whoever shall be with you, his blood shall be upon our head, if a hand be laid upon him.

20 But if you shall betray this our conversation, we shall be free from the oath by which you have bound us.

21 She answered, As you have spoken, so be it. Then she sent them away, and they departed; and she bound the scarlet thread in the window.

22 Having set out, they came to the mountain, and remained there three days, till the return of those who had pursued, who searched over the whole way, and did not find them.

23 Those two, therefore, returning after they came down from the mountain, passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and related to him whatever things had happened to them.

24 And they said to Joshua, Jehovah has delivered the whole land into our hands. For all the inhabitants of the land have become melted before our face.

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

1 And Joshua rose up very early in the morning, and he and all the children of Israel set out from Sittim, and came as far as the Jordan, and passed the night there before crossing.

2 And it was at the end of three days, and the prefects passed through the midst of the camp,

3 And commanded the people, saying, When you see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests bearing it, you shall set out from your place, and go after it.

4 Nevertheless, between it and you there will be an interval of about two thousand cubits in length: do not approach it that you may know the way by which you are to go. For you have not passed by that way yesterday or the day before yesterday.

5 Now Joshua had said to the people, Sanctify (or Prepare) yourselves: for to-morrow Jehovah will do wonders in the midst of you.

6 And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass before the people. They accordingly bare the ark of the covenant, and walked before the people.

7 Now Jehovah had said to Joshua, To-day will I begin to magnify thee in the eyes of all Israel, that they may know that in the same way as I was with Moses will I be with thee.

8 Thou, therefore, wilt command the priests bearing the ark of the covenant, saying, When you shall have gone in as far as the extremity (outer edge) of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.

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

10 Joshua likewise said, Hereby shall you know that there is a living God in the midst of you, and that he will thoroughly drive out before you the Canaanite, 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 ruler of the whole earth will pass before you through the Jordan.

12 Now, therefore, select for you twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one for each tribe.

13 And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of Jehovah, the ruler of the whole earth, shall have rested in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, and the waters flowing from above shall stand in one heap.

14 And it was that when the people set out to cross the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant were before the people.

15 And after those who bare the ark came even to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the extremity of the waters, (now the Jordan was full beyond all its banks the whole time of harvest,)

16 The waters which descended from above stood, and rose up into one heap very far, from the city Adam which is at the side of Sarthan, and those which descended to the sea of the desert, the sea of salt, were consumed, were cut off: and the people crossed over against Jericho.

17 And the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood unencumbered (or prepared) on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed through dry ground, until the whole people made an end of passing the Jordan.