Stepping into Big Shoes

¹Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying,

²“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the children of Israel.

³I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses.

⁴From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.

⁵No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you.

⁶“Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

⁷Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

⁸This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.

⁹Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

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

¹¹“Pass through the middle of the camp, and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare food; for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess.’”

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

¹³“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God gives you rest, and will give you this land.

¹⁴Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall live in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; but you shall pass over before your brothers armed, all the mighty men of valor, and shall help them

¹⁵until the LORD has given your brothers rest, as he has given you, and they have also possessed the land which the LORD your God gives them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and possess it, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.’”

¹⁶They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

¹⁷Just as we listened to Moses in all things, so will we listen to you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses.

¹⁸Whoever rebels against your commandment, and doesn’t listen to your words in all that you command him shall himself be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

¹Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.

²The king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land.”

³Jericho’s king sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land.”

⁴The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from.

⁵About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly. You may catch up with them.”

⁶But she had brought them up to the roof, and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.

⁷The men pursued them along the way to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof.

⁹She said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

¹⁰For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

¹¹As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.

¹²Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true sign;

¹³and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.”

¹⁴The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when the LORD gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

¹⁵Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall.

¹⁶She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way.”

¹⁷The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear.

¹⁸Behold, when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. Gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.

¹⁹It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.

²⁰But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you’ve made us to swear.”

²¹She said, “Let it be as you have said.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet line in the window.

²²They went and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but didn’t find them.

²³Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, crossed the river, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. They told him all that had happened to them.

²⁴They said to Joshua, “Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.”