Joshua 1

₁Moses, the servant of the Lord, died. Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, Moses' helper. The Lord said: ₂‘My servant Moses is dead. Now you and all the Israelites must get ready, and you must go over the Jordan River and into the land that I am giving you. ₃I have promised Moses that I will give this land to you. Now I will give you every place where you will go, ₄from the desert and Mount Lebanon up to the big river, the Euphrates River. All the land from the Hittite people to the big sea in the west will be yours. ₅As long as you live, no one will win a war_against you. I was with Moses and I will be with you. I will not let you go. I will not leave you. ₆Joshua, you must be strong and brave. You must lead these people to take the land that I have promised to give to their forefathers. ₇Yes, you must be strong and brave. My servant Moses gave you the laws. Make sure that you do what the laws say. If you do everything that the laws say, then you will be able to do what you must do. ₈You must keep on reading the words of the laws of God. You must think about them every day and every night, then you will be sure to do everything they say and you will be able to do what you must do. ₉I have told you to be strong and brave. You must not be afraid. You must fear nothing, because I, the Lord your God, will be with you everywhere you go.’

₁₀Joshua spoke to the elders of the people. He said: ₁₁‘Go and tell all the people in the camp to get food ready to take with them, because you will go over the Jordan River after 3 days. You will take the land that the Lord your God is giving to you.’

₁₂Then Joshua said to the men of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh: _13-14‘You must remember what Moses told you. Moses the servant of the Lord said: “The Lord your God defeated your enemies and He gave you the land on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Your wives, your children and your animals can stay here in the land that Moses gave you, but all of your men who can fight must go with them. All the men who can go to war must go with the army and they must bring their weapons and go with the men of the other tribes over the Jordan River, and they must go first. The people from the other tribes are their brothers. They must help them ₁₅to defeat the people who live there. You must help your brothers to get the land that the Lord is giving to our people. The Lord will give peace to them also, in the same way as He has given peace to you, and then you can come back and stay here in the land that Moses, the servant of the Lord, promised to give to you.” ’

₁₆The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh then said to Joshua: ‘We will go over the Jordan River and help our brothers. We will go where you send us. ₁₇Joshua, we will listen to you like we listened to Moses. The Lord will be with you like He was with Moses. We are sure of that. ₁₈Every man who does not listen to you, and who does not do what you say, will have to die. Joshua, you must be strong and brave.’