Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹“In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the LORD your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions.

²If at that time you and your children return to the LORD your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today,

³then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you.

⁴Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the LORD your God will gather you from there and bring you back again.

⁵The LORD your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then he will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors!

⁶“The LORD your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and so you may live!

⁷The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate and persecute you.

⁸Then you will again obey the LORD and keep all his commands that I am giving you today.

⁹“The LORD your God will then make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and he will cause your fields to produce abundant harvests, for the LORD will again delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors.

¹⁰The LORD your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.

¹¹“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach.

¹²It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’

¹³It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’

¹⁴No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it.

¹⁵“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster.

¹⁶For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

¹⁷“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods,

¹⁸then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.

¹⁹“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

²⁰You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

¹When Moses had finished giving these instructions to all the people of Israel,

²he said, “I am now 120 years old, and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has told me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan River.’

³But the LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy the nations living there, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua will lead you across the river, just as the LORD promised.

⁴“The LORD will destroy the nations living in the land, just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites.

⁵The LORD will hand over to you the people who live there, and you must deal with them as I have commanded you.

⁶So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

⁷Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land.

⁸Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

⁹So Moses wrote this entire body of instruction in a book and gave it to the priests, who carried the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant, and to the elders of Israel.

¹⁰Then Moses gave them this command: “At the end of every seventh year, the Year of Release, during the Festival of Shelters,

¹¹you must read this Book of Instruction to all the people of Israel when they assemble before the LORD your God at the place he chooses.

¹²Call them all together — men, women, children, and the foreigners living in your towns — so they may hear this Book of Instruction and learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully obey all the terms of these instructions.

¹³Do this so that your children who have not known these instructions will hear them and will learn to fear the LORD your God. Do this as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.”

¹⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “The time has come for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tabernacle, so that I may commission him there.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tabernacle.

¹⁵And the LORD appeared to them in a pillar of cloud that stood at the entrance to the sacred tent.

¹⁶The LORD said to Moses, “You are about to die and join your ancestors. After you are gone, these people will begin to worship foreign gods, the gods of the land where they are going. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

¹⁷Then my anger will blaze forth against them. I will abandon them, hiding my face from them, and they will be devoured. Terrible trouble will come down on them, and on that day they will say, ‘These disasters have come down on us because God is no longer among us!’

¹⁸At that time I will hide my face from them on account of all the evil they commit by worshiping other gods.

¹⁹“So write down the words of this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Help them learn it, so it may serve as a witness for me against them.

²⁰For I will bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors — a land flowing with milk and honey. There they will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant.

²¹And when great disasters come down on them, this song will stand as evidence against them, for it will never be forgotten by their descendants. I know the intentions of these people, even now before they have entered the land I swore to give them.”

²²So that very day Moses wrote down the words of the song and taught it to the Israelites.

²³Then the LORD commissioned Joshua son of Nun with these words: “Be strong and courageous, for you must bring the people of Israel into the land I swore to give them. I will be with you.”

²⁴When Moses had finished writing this entire body of instruction in a book,

²⁵he gave this command to the Levites who carried the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant:

²⁶“Take this Book of Instruction and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, so it may remain there as a witness against the people of Israel.

²⁷For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Even now, while I am still alive and am here with you, you have rebelled against the LORD. How much more rebellious will you be after my death!

²⁸“Now summon all the elders and officials of your tribes, so that I can speak to them directly and call heaven and earth to witness against them.

²⁹I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and will turn from the way I have commanded you to follow. In the days to come, disaster will come down on you, for you will do what is evil in the LORD’s sight, making him very angry with your actions.”

³⁰So Moses recited this entire song publicly to the assembly of Israel:

¹“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak! Hear, O earth, the words that I say!

²Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants.

³I will proclaim the name of the LORD; how glorious is our God!

⁴He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!

⁵“But they have acted corruptly toward him; when they act so perversely, are they really his children? They are a deceitful and twisted generation.

⁶Is this the way you repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he your Father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?

⁷Remember the days of long ago; think about the generations past. Ask your father, and he will inform you. Inquire of your elders, and they will tell you.

⁸When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court.

⁹“For the people of Israel belong to the LORD; Jacob is his special possession.

¹⁰He found them in a desert land, in an empty, howling wasteland. He surrounded them and watched over them; he guarded them as he would guard his own eyes.

¹¹Like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions.

¹²The LORD alone guided them; they followed no foreign gods.

¹³He let them ride over the highlands and feast on the crops of the fields. He nourished them with honey from the rock and olive oil from the stony ground.

¹⁴He fed them yogurt from the herd and milk from the flock, together with the fat of lambs. He gave them choice rams from Bashan, and goats, together with the choicest wheat. You drank the finest wine, made from the juice of grapes.

¹⁵“But Israel soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed! Then they abandoned the God who had made them; they made light of the Rock of their salvation.

¹⁶They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods; they provoked his fury with detestable deeds.

¹⁷They offered sacrifices to demons, which are not God, to gods they had not known before, to new gods only recently arrived, to gods their ancestors had never feared.

¹⁸You neglected the Rock who had fathered you; you forgot the God who had given you birth.

¹⁹“The LORD saw this and drew back, provoked to anger by his own sons and daughters.

²⁰He said, ‘I will abandon them; then see what becomes of them. For they are a twisted generation, children without integrity.

²¹They have roused my jealousy by worshiping things that are not God; they have provoked my anger with their useless idols. Now I will rouse their jealousy through people who are not even a people; I will provoke their anger through the foolish Gentiles.

²²For my anger blazes forth like fire and burns to the depths of the grave. It devours the earth and all its crops and ignites the foundations of the mountains.

²³I will heap disasters upon them and shoot them down with my arrows.

²⁴I will weaken them with famine, burning fever, and deadly disease. I will send the fangs of wild beasts and poisonous snakes that glide in the dust.

²⁵Outside, the sword will bring death, and inside, terror will strike both young men and young women, both infants and the aged.

²⁶I would have annihilated them, wiping out even the memory of them.

²⁷But I feared the taunt of Israel’s enemy, who might misunderstand and say, “Our own power has triumphed! The LORD had nothing to do with this!”’

²⁸“But Israel is a senseless nation; the people are foolish, without understanding.

²⁹Oh, that they were wise and could understand this! Oh, that they might know their fate!

³⁰How could one person chase a thousand of them, and two people put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?

³¹But the rock of our enemies is not like our Rock, as even they recognize.

³²Their vine grows from the vine of Sodom, from the vineyards of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison, and their clusters are bitter.

³³Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras.

³⁴“The LORD says, ‘Am I not storing up these things, sealing them away in my treasury?

³⁵I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them.’

³⁶“Indeed, the LORD will give justice to his people, and he will change his mind about his servants, when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.

³⁷Then he will ask, ‘Where are their gods, the rocks they fled to for refuge?

³⁸Where now are those gods, who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their offerings? Let those gods arise and help you! Let them provide you with shelter!

³⁹Look now; I myself am he! There is no other god but me! I am the one who kills and gives life; I am the one who wounds and heals; no one can be rescued from my powerful hand!

⁴⁰Now I raise my hand to heaven and declare, “As surely as I live,

⁴¹when I sharpen my flashing sword and begin to carry out justice, I will take revenge on my enemies and repay those who reject me.

⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh — the blood of the slaughtered and the captives, and the heads of the enemy leaders.”’

⁴³“Rejoice with him, you heavens, and let all of God’s angels worship him. Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles, and let all the angels be strengthened in him. For he will avenge the blood of his children ; he will take revenge against his enemies. He will repay those who hate him and cleanse his people’s land.”

⁴⁴So Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and recited all the words of this song to the people.

⁴⁵When Moses had finished reciting all these words to the people of Israel,

⁴⁶he added: “Take to heart all the words of warning I have given you today. Pass them on as a command to your children so they will obey every word of these instructions.

⁴⁷These instructions are not empty words — they are your life! By obeying them you will enjoy a long life in the land you will occupy when you cross the Jordan River.”

⁴⁸That same day the LORD said to Moses,

⁴⁹“Go to Moab, to the mountains east of the river, and climb Mount Nebo, which is across from Jericho. Look out across the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the people of Israel as their own special possession.

⁵⁰Then you will die there on the mountain. You will join your ancestors, just as Aaron, your brother, died on Mount Hor and joined his ancestors.

⁵¹For both of you betrayed me with the Israelites at the waters of Meribah at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. You failed to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel there.

⁵²So you will see the land from a distance, but you may not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”

¹This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, gave to the people of Israel before his death:

²“The LORD came from Mount Sinai and dawned upon us from Mount Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran and came from Meribah-kadesh with flaming fire at his right hand.

³Indeed, he loves his people; all his holy ones are in his hands. They follow in his steps and accept his teaching.

⁴Moses gave us the LORD’s instruction, the special possession of the people of Israel.

⁵The LORD became king in Israel — when the leaders of the people assembled, when the tribes of Israel gathered as one.”

⁶Moses said this about the tribe of Reuben: “Let the tribe of Reuben live and not die out, though they are few in number.”

⁷Moses said this about the tribe of Judah: “O LORD, hear the cry of Judah and bring them together as a people. Give them strength to defend their cause; help them against their enemies!”

⁸Moses said this about the tribe of Levi: “O LORD, you have given your Thummim and Urim — the sacred lots — to your faithful servants the Levites. You put them to the test at Massah and struggled with them at the waters of Meribah.

⁹The Levites obeyed your word and guarded your covenant. They were more loyal to you than to their own parents. They ignored their relatives and did not acknowledge their own children.

¹⁰They teach your regulations to Jacob; they give your instructions to Israel. They present incense before you and offer whole burnt offerings on the altar.

¹¹Bless the ministry of the Levites, O LORD, and accept all the work of their hands. Hit their enemies where it hurts the most; strike down their foes so they never rise again.”

¹²Moses said this about the tribe of Benjamin: “The people of Benjamin are loved by the LORD and live in safety beside him. He surrounds them continuously and preserves them from every harm.”

¹³Moses said this about the tribes of Joseph: “May their land be blessed by the LORD with the precious gift of dew from the heavens and water from beneath the earth;

¹⁴with the rich fruit that grows in the sun, and the rich harvest produced each month;

¹⁵with the finest crops of the ancient mountains, and the abundance from the everlasting hills;

¹⁶with the best gifts of the earth and its bounty, and the favor of the one who appeared in the burning bush. May these blessings rest on Joseph’s head, crowning the brow of the prince among his brothers.

¹⁷Joseph has the majesty of a young bull; he has the horns of a wild ox. He will gore distant nations, even to the ends of the earth. This is my blessing for the multitudes of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.”

¹⁸Moses said this about the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar : “May the people of Zebulun prosper in their travels. May the people of Issachar prosper at home in their tents.

¹⁹They summon the people to the mountain to offer proper sacrifices there. They benefit from the riches of the sea and the hidden treasures in the sand.”

²⁰Moses said this about the tribe of Gad: “Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad’s territory! Gad is poised there like a lion to tear off an arm or a head.

²¹The people of Gad took the best land for themselves; a leader’s share was assigned to them. When the leaders of the people were assembled, they carried out the LORD’s justice and obeyed his regulations for Israel.”

²²Moses said this about the tribe of Dan: “Dan is a lion’s cub, leaping out from Bashan.”

²³Moses said this about the tribe of Naphtali: “O Naphtali, you are rich in favor and full of the LORD’s blessings; may you possess the west and the south.”

²⁴Moses said this about the tribe of Asher: “May Asher be blessed above other sons; may he be esteemed by his brothers; may he bathe his feet in olive oil.

²⁵May the bolts of your gates be of iron and bronze; may you be secure all your days.”

²⁶“There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor.

²⁷The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; he cries out, ‘Destroy them!’

²⁸So Israel will live in safety, prosperous Jacob in security, in a land of grain and new wine, while the heavens drop down dew.

²⁹How blessed you are, O Israel! Who else is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your protecting shield and your triumphant sword! Your enemies will cringe before you, and you will stomp on their backs!”

¹Then Moses went up to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak, which is across from Jericho. And the LORD showed him the whole land, from Gilead as far as Dan;

²all the land of Naphtali; the land of Ephraim and Manasseh; all the land of Judah, extending to the Mediterranean Sea ;

³the Negev; the Jordan Valley with Jericho — the city of palms — as far as Zoar.

⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land.”

⁵So Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, just as the LORD had said.

⁶The LORD buried him in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but to this day no one knows the exact place.

⁷Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever.

⁸The people of Israel mourned for Moses on the plains of Moab for thirty days, until the customary period of mourning was over.

⁹Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him, doing just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹⁰There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.

¹¹The LORD sent him to perform all the miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, and all his servants, and his entire land.

¹²With mighty power, Moses performed terrifying acts in the sight of all Israel.

¹After the death of Moses the LORD’s servant, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said,

²“Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them.

³I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you —

⁴from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’

⁵No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

⁶“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.

⁷Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.

⁸Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

⁹This is my command — be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

¹⁰Joshua then commanded the officers of Israel,

¹¹“Go through the camp and tell the people to get their provisions ready. In three days you will cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

¹²Then Joshua called together the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He told them,

¹³“Remember what Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded you: ‘The LORD your God is giving you a place of rest. He has given you this land.’

¹⁴Your wives, children, and livestock may remain here in the land Moses assigned to you on the east side of the Jordan River. But your strong warriors, fully armed, must lead the other tribes across the Jordan to help them conquer their territory. Stay with them

¹⁵until the LORD gives them rest, as he has given you rest, and until they, too, possess the land the LORD your God is giving them. Only then may you return and settle here on the east side of the Jordan River in the land that Moses, the servant of the LORD, assigned to you.”

¹⁶They answered Joshua, “We will do whatever you command us, and we will go wherever you send us.

¹⁷We will obey you just as we obeyed Moses. And may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses.

¹⁸Anyone who rebels against your orders and does not obey your words and everything you command will be put to death. So be strong and courageous!”

¹Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, “Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.” So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night.

²But someone told the king of Jericho, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

³So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: “Bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land.”

⁴Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, “Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn’t know where they were from.

⁵They left the town at dusk, as the gates were about to close. I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.”

⁶(Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out.)

⁷So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut.

⁸Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them.

⁹“I know the LORD has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror.

¹⁰For we have heard how the LORD made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed.

¹¹No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the LORD your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.

¹²“Now swear to me by the LORD that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that

¹³when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.”

¹⁴“We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety,” the men agreed. “If you don’t betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you when the LORD gives us the land.”

¹⁵Then, since Rahab’s house was built into the town wall, she let them down by a rope through the window.

¹⁶“Escape to the hill country,” she told them. “Hide there for three days from the men searching for you. Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way.”

¹⁷Before they left, the men told her, “We will be bound by the oath we have taken only if you follow these instructions.

¹⁸When we come into the land, you must leave this scarlet rope hanging from the window through which you let us down. And all your family members — your father, mother, brothers, and all your relatives — must be here inside the house.

¹⁹If they go out into the street and are killed, it will not be our fault. But if anyone lays a hand on people inside this house, we will accept the responsibility for their death.

²⁰If you betray us, however, we are not bound by this oath in any way.”

²¹“I accept your terms,” she replied. And she sent them on their way, leaving the scarlet rope hanging from the window.

²²The spies went up into the hill country and stayed there three days. The men who were chasing them searched everywhere along the road, but they finally returned without success.

²³Then the two spies came down from the hill country, crossed the Jordan River, and reported to Joshua all that had happened to them.

²⁴“The LORD has given us the whole land,” they said, “for all the people in the land are terrified of us.”

¹Early the next morning Joshua and all the Israelites left Acacia Grove and arrived at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped before crossing.

²Three days later the Israelite officers went through the camp,

³giving these instructions to the people: “When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God, move out from your positions and follow them.

⁴Since you have never traveled this way before, they will guide you. Stay about half a mile behind them, keeping a clear distance between you and the Ark. Make sure you don’t come any closer.”

⁵Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do great wonders among you.”

⁶In the morning Joshua said to the priests, “Lift up the Ark of the Covenant and lead the people across the river.” And so they started out and went ahead of the people.

⁷The LORD told Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses.

⁸Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there.’”

⁹So Joshua told the Israelites, “Come and listen to what the LORD your God says.

¹⁰Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites ahead of you.

¹¹Look, the Ark of the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan River!

¹²Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.

¹³The priests will carry the Ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.”

¹⁴So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them.

¹⁵It was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge,

¹⁶the water above that point began backing up a great distance away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the town of Jericho.

¹⁷Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan on dry ground.

¹When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,

²“Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe.

³Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.’”

⁴So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen — one from each of the tribes of Israel.

⁵He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the LORD your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder — twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

⁶We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’

⁷Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”

⁸So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the LORD had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.

⁹Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. And they are there to this day.

¹⁰The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river until all of the LORD’s commands that Moses had given to Joshua were carried out. Meanwhile, the people hurried across the riverbed.

¹¹And when everyone was safely on the other side, the priests crossed over with the Ark of the LORD as the people watched.

¹²The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the Israelites across the Jordan, just as Moses had directed.

¹³These armed men — about 40,000 strong — were ready for battle, and the LORD was with them as they crossed over to the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴That day the LORD made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.

¹⁵The LORD had said to Joshua,

¹⁶“Command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to come up out of the riverbed.”

¹⁷So Joshua gave the command.

¹⁸As soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant came up out of the riverbed and their feet were on high ground, the water of the Jordan returned and overflowed its banks as before.

¹⁹The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. Then they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho.

²⁰It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River.

²¹Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’

²²Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’

²³For the LORD your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over.

²⁴He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the LORD’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the LORD your God forever.”

¹When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and were paralyzed with fear because of them.

²At that time the LORD told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise this second generation of Israelites. ”

³So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.

⁴Joshua had to circumcise them because all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died in the wilderness.

⁵Those who left Egypt had all been circumcised, but none of those born after the Exodus, during the years in the wilderness, had been circumcised.

⁶The Israelites had traveled in the wilderness for forty years until all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died. For they had disobeyed the LORD, and the LORD vowed he would not let them enter the land he had sworn to give us — a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁷So Joshua circumcised their sons — those who had grown up to take their fathers’ places — for they had not been circumcised on the way to the Promised Land.

⁸After all the males had been circumcised, they rested in the camp until they were healed.

⁹Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month.

¹¹The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land.

¹²No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.

¹³When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?”

¹⁴“Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the LORD’s army.” At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?”

¹⁵The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did as he was told.

¹Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in.

²But the LORD said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors.

³You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days.

⁴Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns.

⁵When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”

⁶So Joshua called together the priests and said, “Take up the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a ram’s horn.”

⁷Then he gave orders to the people: “March around the town, and the armed men will lead the way in front of the Ark of the LORD.”

⁸After Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests with the rams’ horns started marching in the presence of the LORD, blowing the horns as they marched. And the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant followed behind them.

⁹Some of the armed men marched in front of the priests with the horns and some behind the Ark, with the priests continually blowing the horns.

¹⁰“Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!”

¹¹So the Ark of the LORD was carried around the town once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night in the camp.

¹²Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests again carried the Ark of the LORD.

¹³The seven priests with the rams’ horns marched in front of the Ark of the LORD, blowing their horns. Again the armed men marched both in front of the priests with the horns and behind the Ark of the LORD. All this time the priests were blowing their horns.

¹⁴On the second day they again marched around the town once and returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.

¹⁵On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around the town seven times.

¹⁶The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the town!

¹⁷Jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies.

¹⁸“Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel.

¹⁹Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the LORD and must be brought into his treasury.”

²⁰When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.

²¹They completely destroyed everything in it with their swords — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys.

²²Meanwhile, Joshua said to the two spies, “Keep your promise. Go to the prostitute’s house and bring her out, along with all her family.”

²³The men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel.

²⁴Then the Israelites burned the town and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept for the treasury of the LORD’s house.

²⁵So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day.

²⁶At that time Joshua invoked this curse: “May the curse of the LORD fall on anyone who tries to rebuild the town of Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn son, he will lay its foundation. At the cost of his youngest son, he will set up its gates.”

²⁷So the LORD was with Joshua, and his reputation spread throughout the land.

¹But Israel violated the instructions about the things set apart for the LORD. A man named Achan had stolen some of these dedicated things, so the LORD was very angry with the Israelites. Achan was the son of Carmi, a descendant of Zimri son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah.

²Joshua sent some of his men from Jericho to spy out the town of Ai, east of Bethel, near Beth-aven.

³When they returned, they told Joshua, “There’s no need for all of us to go up there; it won’t take more than two or three thousand men to attack Ai. Since there are so few of them, don’t make all our people struggle to go up there.”

⁴So approximately 3,000 warriors were sent, but they were soundly defeated. The men of Ai

⁵chased the Israelites from the town gate as far as the quarries, and they killed about thirty-six who were retreating down the slope. The Israelites were paralyzed with fear at this turn of events, and their courage melted away.

⁶Joshua and the elders of Israel tore their clothing in dismay, threw dust on their heads, and bowed face down to the ground before the Ark of the LORD until evening.

⁷Then Joshua cried out, “Oh, Sovereign LORD, why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side!

⁸Lord, what can I say now that Israel has fled from its enemies?

⁹For when the Canaanites and all the other people living in the land hear about it, they will surround us and wipe our name off the face of the earth. And then what will happen to the honor of your great name?”

¹⁰But the LORD said to Joshua, “Get up! Why are you lying on your face like this?

¹¹Israel has sinned and broken my covenant! They have stolen some of the things that I commanded must be set apart for me. And they have not only stolen them but have lied about it and hidden the things among their own belongings.

¹²That is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat. For now Israel itself has been set apart for destruction. I will not remain with you any longer unless you destroy the things among you that were set apart for destruction.

¹³“Get up! Command the people to purify themselves in preparation for tomorrow. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Hidden among you, O Israel, are things set apart for the LORD. You will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.

¹⁴“In the morning you must present yourselves by tribes, and the LORD will point out the tribe to which the guilty man belongs. That tribe must come forward with its clans, and the LORD will point out the guilty clan. That clan will then come forward, and the LORD will point out the guilty family. Finally, each member of the guilty family must come forward one by one.

¹⁵The one who has stolen what was set apart for destruction will himself be burned with fire, along with everything he has, for he has broken the covenant of the LORD and has done a horrible thing in Israel.”

¹⁶Early the next morning Joshua brought the tribes of Israel before the LORD, and the tribe of Judah was singled out.

¹⁷Then the clans of Judah came forward, and the clan of Zerah was singled out. Then the families of Zerah came forward, and the family of Zimri was singled out.

¹⁸Every member of Zimri’s family was brought forward person by person, and Achan was singled out.

¹⁹Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, by telling the truth. Make your confession and tell me what you have done. Don’t hide it from me.”

²⁰Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel.

²¹Among the plunder I saw a beautiful robe from Babylon, 200 silver coins, and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. They are hidden in the ground beneath my tent, with the silver buried deeper than the rest.”

²²So Joshua sent some men to make a search. They ran to the tent and found the stolen goods hidden there, just as Achan had said, with the silver buried beneath the rest.

²³They took the things from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites. Then they laid them on the ground in the presence of the LORD.

²⁴Then Joshua and all the Israelites took Achan, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, tent, and everything he had, and they brought them to the valley of Achor.

²⁵Then Joshua said to Achan, “Why have you brought trouble on us? The LORD will now bring trouble on you.” And all the Israelites stoned Achan and his family and burned their bodies.

²⁶They piled a great heap of stones over Achan, which remains to this day. That is why the place has been called the Valley of Trouble ever since. So the LORD was no longer angry.

¹Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.

²You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the town.”

³So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night

⁴with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action.

⁵When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them.

⁶We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then, while we are running from them,

⁷you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the LORD your God will give it to you.

⁸Set the town on fire, as the LORD has commanded. You have your orders.”

⁹So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.

¹⁰Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.

¹¹All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town and camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the town.

¹²That night Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town.

¹³So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley.

¹⁴When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town.

¹⁵Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten.

¹⁶Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town.

¹⁷There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the town was left wide open.

¹⁸Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.” Joshua did as he was commanded.

¹⁹As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.

²⁰When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers.

²¹When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai.

²²Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped.

²³Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

²⁴When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of Ai in the open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside.

²⁵So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day — 12,000 in all.

²⁶For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed.

²⁷Only the livestock and the treasures of the town were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these as plunder for themselves, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

²⁸So Joshua burned the town of Ai, and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day.

²⁹Joshua impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today.

³⁰Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.

³¹He followed the commands that Moses the LORD’s servant had written in the Book of Instruction: “Make me an altar from stones that are uncut and have not been shaped with iron tools.” Then on the altar they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.

³²And as the Israelites watched, Joshua copied onto the stones of the altar the instructions Moses had given them.

³³Then all the Israelites — foreigners and native-born alike — along with the elders, officers, and judges, were divided into two groups. One group stood in front of Mount Gerizim, the other in front of Mount Ebal. Each group faced the other, and between them stood the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant. This was all done according to the commands that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had previously given for blessing the people of Israel.

³⁴Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction.

³⁵Every word of every command that Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them.

¹Now all the kings west of the Jordan River heard about what had happened. These were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who lived in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far north as the Lebanon mountains.

²These kings combined their armies to fight as one against Joshua and the Israelites.

³But when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

⁴they resorted to deception to save themselves. They sent ambassadors to Joshua, loading their donkeys with weathered saddlebags and old, patched wineskins.

⁵They put on worn-out, patched sandals and ragged clothes. And the bread they took with them was dry and moldy.

⁶When they arrived at the camp of Israel at Gilgal, they told Joshua and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land to ask you to make a peace treaty with us.”

⁷The Israelites replied to these Hivites, “How do we know you don’t live nearby? For if you do, we cannot make a treaty with you.”

⁸They replied, “We are your servants.” “But who are you?” Joshua demanded. “Where do you come from?”

⁹They answered, “Your servants have come from a very distant country. We have heard of the might of the LORD your God and of all he did in Egypt.

¹⁰We have also heard what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River — King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan (who lived in Ashtaroth).

¹¹So our elders and all our people instructed us, ‘Take supplies for a long journey. Go meet with the people of Israel and tell them, “We are your servants; please make a treaty with us.”’

¹²“This bread was hot from the ovens when we left our homes. But now, as you can see, it is dry and moldy.

¹³These wineskins were new when we filled them, but now they are old and split open. And our clothing and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.”

¹⁴So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the LORD.

¹⁵Then Joshua made a peace treaty with them and guaranteed their safety, and the leaders of the community ratified their agreement with a binding oath.

¹⁶Three days after making the treaty, they learned that these people actually lived nearby!

¹⁷The Israelites set out at once to investigate and reached their towns in three days. The names of these towns were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.

¹⁸But the Israelites did not attack the towns, for the Israelite leaders had made a vow to them in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. The people of Israel grumbled against their leaders because of the treaty.

¹⁹But the leaders replied, “Since we have sworn an oath in the presence of the LORD, the God of Israel, we cannot touch them.

²⁰This is what we must do. We must let them live, for divine anger would come upon us if we broke our oath.

²¹Let them live.” So they made them woodcutters and water carriers for the entire community, as the Israelite leaders directed.

²²Joshua called together the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you lie to us? Why did you say that you live in a distant land when you live right here among us?

²³May you be cursed! From now on you will always be servants who cut wood and carry water for the house of my God.”

²⁴They replied, “We did it because we — your servants — were clearly told that the LORD your God commanded his servant Moses to give you this entire land and to destroy all the people living in it. So we feared greatly for our lives because of you. That is why we have done this.

²⁵Now we are at your mercy — do to us whatever you think is right.”

²⁶So Joshua did not allow the people of Israel to kill them.

²⁷But that day he made the Gibeonites the woodcutters and water carriers for the community of Israel and for the altar of the LORD — wherever the LORD would choose to build it. And that is what they do to this day.