Jos 1-3

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CHAPTER 1

NOW after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spakeunto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
2 Mosesmy 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.
3 Every place that the sole of yourfoot 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 thegreat sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
5 There shall not any man be able tostand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will notfail thee, nor forsake thee.
6 Be strong and of a good courage:for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which Isware unto their fathers to give them.
7 Only be thou strong and verycourageous, that thou mayest 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 prosperwhithersoever thou goest.
8 This book of the law shall notdepart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, thatthou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for thenthou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
9 Have not I commanded thee? Bestrong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for theLord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
10 ¶ Then Joshuacommanded the officers of the people, saying,
11 Pass through the host, andcommand the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days yeshall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.
12 ¶ And to the Reubenites, and tothe Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh,spake Joshua, saying,
13 Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you thisland.
14 Your wives, your little ones, andyour cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan;but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, andhelp them;
15 Until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also havepossessed the land which the Lordyour God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession,and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord’sservant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising.
16 ¶ And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we willdo, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.
17 According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee:only the Lord thy God be withthee, as he was with Moses.
18 Whosoever he be that doth rebelagainst thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thoucommandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.

CHAPTER 2

AND Joshuathe son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view theland, even Jericho.And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.
2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to nightof the children of Israelto search out the country.
3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forththe men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they become to search out all the country.
4 And the woman took the two men,and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:
5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting ofthe gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wotnot: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.
6 But she had brought them up to theroof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid inorder upon the roof.
7 And the men pursued after them theway to Jordanunto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out,they shut the gate.
8 ¶ And before they were laid down,she came up unto them upon the roof;
9 And she said unto the men, I knowthat the Lord hath given you theland, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants ofthe land faint because of you.
10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red seafor you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of theAmorites, that were on the other sideJordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any morecourage in any man, because of you: for the Lordyour God, he is God in heaven above,and in earth beneath.
12 Now therefore, I pray you, swearunto me by the Lord, since I haveshewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house,and give me a true token:
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, Ourlife for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we willdeal kindly and truly with thee.
15 Then she let them down by a cordthrough the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
16 And she said unto them, Get youto the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there threedays, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.
17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarletthread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thyfather, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, homeunto thee.
19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doorsof 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.
20 And if thou utter this ourbusiness, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
21 And she said, According unto yourwords, so be it. And she sent themaway, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
22 And they went, and came unto themountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned: and thepursuers sought them throughout allthe way, but found them not.
23 ¶ So the two men returned, anddescended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshuathe son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:
24 And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lordhath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of thecountry do faint because of us.

CHAPTER 3

AND Joshuarose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, andlodged there before they passed over.
2 And it came to pass after threedays, that the officers went through the host;
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, thenye shall remove from your place, and go after it.
4 Yet there shall be a space betweenyou and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, thatye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
5 And Joshuasaid unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
6 And Joshuaspake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass overbefore the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went beforethe people.
7 ¶ And the Lord said unto Joshua,This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, thatthey may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
8 And thou shalt command the prieststhat bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of thewater of Jordan,ye shall stand still in Jordan.
9 ¶ And Joshua said unto thechildren of Israel,Come hither, and hear the words of the Lordyour God.
10 And Joshuasaid, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that hewill without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites,and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, andthe Jebusites.
11 Behold, the ark of the covenantof the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.
12 Now therefore take you twelve menout of the tribes of Israel,out of every tribe a man.
13 And it shall come to pass, assoon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shallrest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.
14 ¶ And it came to pass, when thepeople removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan,and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;
15 And as they that bare the arkwere come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark weredipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all thetime of harvest,)
16 That the waters which came downfrom above stood and rose up upon anheap very far from the city 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 passedover right against Jericho.
17 And the priests that bare the arkof the covenant of the Lord stoodfirm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelitespassed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

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