Joshua 1-4

Young's Literal Translation

1 And it cometh to pass after the death of Moses, servant of Jehovah, that Jehovah speaketh unto Joshua son of Nun, minister of Moses, saying,

² `Moses my servant is dead, and now, rise, pass over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.

³ `Every place on which the sole of your foot treadeth, to you I have given it, as I have spoken unto Moses.

⁴ From this wilderness and Lebanon, and unto the great river, the river Phrath, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great Sea -- the going in of the sun -- is your border.

⁵ `No man doth station himself before thee all days of thy life; as I have been with Moses, I am with thee, I do not fail thee, nor forsake thee;

⁶ be strong and courageous, for thou -- thou dost cause this people to inherit the land which I have sworn to their fathers to give to them.

⁷ `Only, be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded thee; thou dost not turn aside from it right or left, so that thou dost act wisely in every [place] whither thou goest;

⁸ the book of this law doth not depart out of thy mouth, and thou hast meditated in it by day and by night, so that thou dost observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then thou dost cause thy way to prosper, and then thou dost act wisely.

⁹ `Have not I commanded thee? be strong and courageous; be not terrified nor affrighted, for with thee [is] Jehovah thy God in every [place] whither thou goest.'

¹⁰ And Joshua commandeth the authorities of the people, saying,

¹¹ `Pass over into the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, Prepare for yourselves provision, for within three days ye are passing over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God is giving to you to possess it.'

¹² And to the Reubenite, and to the Gadite, and to the half of the tribe of Manasseh, hath Joshua spoken, saying,

¹³ `Remember the word which Moses, servant of Jehovah, commanded you, saying, Jehovah your God is giving rest to you, and He hath given to you this land;

¹⁴ your wives, your infants, and your substance, abide in the land which Moses hath given to you beyond the Jordan, and ye -- ye pass over by fifties, before your brethren, all the mighty ones of valour, and have helped them,

¹⁵ till that Jehovah giveth rest to your brethren as to yourselves, and they have possessed, even they, the land which Jehovah your God is giving to them; then ye have turned back to the land of your possession, and have possessed it, which Moses, servant of Jehovah, hath given to you beyond the Jordan, [at] the sun-rising.'

¹⁶ And they answer Joshua, saying, `All that thou hast commanded us we do; and unto every [place] whither thou dost send us, we go;

¹⁷ according to all that we hearkened unto Moses [in], so we hearken unto thee; surely Jehovah thy God is with thee as He hath been with Moses.

¹⁸ Any man who doth provoke thy mouth, and doth not hear thy words, in all that thou dost command him, is put to death; only, be strong and courageous.'

2 And Joshua son of Nun sendeth from Shittim, two men, spies, silently, saying, `Go, see the land -- and Jericho;' and they go and come into the house of a woman, a harlot, and her name [is] Rahab, and they lie down there.

² And it is told to the king of Jericho, saying, `Lo, men have come in hither to-night, from the sons of Israel, to search the land.

³ And the king of Jericho sendeth unto Rahab, saying, `Bring out the men who are coming in unto thee, who have come into thy house, for to search the whole of the land they have come in.

⁴ And the woman taketh the two men, and hideth them, and saith thus: `The men came in unto me, and I have not known whence they [are];

⁵ and it cometh to pass -- the gate is to [be] shut -- in the dark, and the men have gone out; I have not known whither the men have gone; pursue ye, hasten after them, for ye overtake them;'

⁶ and she hath caused them to go up on the roof, and hideth them with the flax wood, which is arranged for her on the roof.

⁷ And the men have pursued after them the way of the Jordan, by the fords, and the gate they have shut afterwards, when the pursuers have gone out after them.

⁸ And -- before they lie down -- she hath gone up unto them on the roof,

⁹ and she saith unto the men, `I have known that Jehovah hath given to you the land, and that your terror hath fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted at your presence.

¹⁰ `For we have heard how Jehovah dried up the waters of the Red Sea at your presence, in your going out of Egypt, and that which ye have done to the two kings of the Amorite who [are] beyond the Jordan; to Sihon and to Og whom ye devoted.

¹¹ And we hear, and melt doth our heart, and there hath not stood any more spirit in [any] man, from your presence, for Jehovah your God, He [is] God in the heavens above, and on the earth beneath.

¹² `And now, swear ye, I pray you, to me by Jehovah -- because I have done with you kindness -- that ye have done, even ye, kindness with the house of my father, and have given to me a true token,

¹³ and have kept alive my father, and my mother, and my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and have delivered our souls from death.'

¹⁴ And the men say to her, `Our soul for yours -- to die; if ye declare not this our matter, then it hath been, in Jehovah's giving to us this land, that we have done with thee kindness and truth.'

¹⁵ And she causeth them to go down by a rope through the window, for her house [is] in the side of the wall, and in the wall she [is] dwelling;

¹⁶ and she saith to them, `To the mountain go, lest the pursuers come upon you; and ye have been hidden there three days till the turning back of the pursuers, and afterwards ye go on your way.'

¹⁷ And the men say unto her, `We are acquitted of this thine oath which thou hast caused us to swear:

¹⁸ lo, we are coming into the land, this line of scarlet thread thou dost bind to the window by which thou hast caused us to go down, and thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all the house of thy father thou dost gather unto thee, to the house;

¹⁹ and it hath been, any one who goeth out from the doors of thy house without, his blood [is] on his head, and we are innocent; and any one who is with thee in the house, his blood [is] on our head, if a hand is on him;

²⁰ and if thou declare this our matter, then we have been acquitted from thine oath which thou hast caused us to swear.'

²¹ And she saith, `According unto your words, so it [is];' and she sendeth them away, and they go; and she bindeth the scarlet line to the window.

²² And they go, and come in to the mountain, and abide there three days until the pursuers have turned back; and the pursuers seek in all the way, and have not found.

²³ And the two men turn back, and come down from the hill, and pass over, and come in unto Joshua son of Nun, and recount to him all that hath come upon them;

²⁴ and they say unto Joshua, `Surely Jehovah hath given into our hand all the land; and also, all the inhabitants of the land have melted at our presence.'

3 And Joshua riseth early in the morning, and they journey from Shittim, and come in unto the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they lodge there before they pass over.

² And it cometh to pass, at the end of three days, that the authorities pass over into the midst of the camp,

³ and command the people, saying, `When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then ye journey from your place, and have gone after it;

⁴ only, a distance is between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure; ye do not come near unto it, so that ye know the way in which ye go, for ye have not passed over in the way heretofore.'

⁵ And Joshua saith unto the people, `Sanctify yourselves, for to-morrow doth Jehovah do in your midst wonders.'

⁶ And Joshua speaketh unto the priests, saying, `Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people;' and they take up the ark of the covenant, and go before the people.

⁷ And Jehovah saith unto Joshua, `This day I begin to make thee great in the eyes of all Israel, so that they know that as I was with Moses I am with thee;

⁸ and thou, thou dost command the priests bearing the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye come unto the extremity of the waters of the Jordan -- in the Jordan ye stand.'

⁹ And Joshua saith unto the sons of Israel, `Come nigh hither, and hear the words of Jehovah your God;

¹⁰ and Joshua saith, `By this ye know that the living God [is] in your midst, and He doth certainly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite:

¹¹ lo, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into Jordan;

¹² and now, take for you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, one man -- one man for a tribe;

¹³ and it hath been, at the resting of the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of Jehovah, Lord of all the earth, in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan are cut off -- the waters which are coming down from above -- and they stand -- one heap.'

¹⁴ And it cometh to pass, in the journeying of the people from their tents to pass over the Jordan, and of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,

¹⁵ and at those bearing the ark coming in unto the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark have been dipped in the extremity of the waters (and the Jordan is full over all its banks all the days of harvest) --

¹⁶ that the waters stand; those coming down from above have risen -- one heap, very far above Adam the city, which [is] at the side of Zaretan; and those going down by the sea of the plain, the Salt Sea, have been completely cut off; and the people have passed through over-against Jericho;

¹⁷ and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of Jehovah stand on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan -- established, and all Israel are passing over on dry ground till that all the nation hath completed to pass over the Jordan.

4 And it cometh to pass, when all the nation hath completed to pass over the Jordan, that Jehovah speaketh unto Joshua, saying,

² `Take for you out of the people twelve men, one man -- one man out of a tribe;

³ and command ye them, saying, Take up for you from this [place], from the midst of the Jordan, from the established standing-place of the feet of the priests, twelve stones, and ye have removed them over with you, and placed them in the lodging-place in which ye lodge to-night.'

⁴ And Joshua calleth unto the twelve men whom he prepared out of the sons of Israel, one man -- one man out of a tribe;

⁵ and Joshua saith to them, `Pass over before the ark of Jehovah your God unto the midst of the Jordan and lift up for you each, one stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel,

⁶ so that this is a sign in your midst, when your children ask hereafter, saying, What [are] these stones to you?

⁷ that ye have said to them, Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off, at the presence of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah; in its passing over into the Jordan were the waters of the Jordan cut off; and these stones have been for a memorial to the sons of Israel -- to the age.'

⁸ And the sons of Israel do so as Joshua commanded, and take up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, as Jehovah hath spoken unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, and remove them over with them unto the lodging-place, and place them there,

⁹ even the twelve stones hath Joshua raised up out of the midst of the Jordan, the place of the standing of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant, and they are there unto this day.

¹⁰ And the priests bearing the ark are standing in the midst of the Jordan till the completion of the whole thing which Jehovah commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua, and the people haste and pass over.

¹¹ And it cometh to pass when all the people have completed to pass over, that the ark of Jehovah passeth over, and the priests, in the presence of the people;

¹² and the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the half of the tribe of Manasseh, pass over, by fifties, before the sons of Israel, as Moses had spoken unto them;

¹³ about forty thousand, armed ones of the host, passed over before Jehovah for battle, unto the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴ On that day hath Jehovah made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel, and they reverence him, as they reverenced Moses, all days of his life.

¹⁵ And Jehovah speaketh unto Joshua, saying,

¹⁶ `Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony, and they come up out of the Jordan.'

¹⁷ And Joshua commandeth the priests, saying, `Come ye up out of the Jordan.'

¹⁸ And it cometh to pass, in the coming up of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the midst of the Jordan -- the soles of the feet of the priests have been drawn up into the dry ground -- and the waters of the Jordan turn back to their place, and go as heretofore over all its banks.

¹⁹ And the people have come up out of the Jordan on the tenth of the first month, and encamp in Gilgal, in the extremity east of Jericho;

²⁰ and these twelve stones, which they have taken out of the Jordan, hath Joshua raised up in Gilgal.

²¹ And he speaketh unto the sons of Israel, saying, `When your sons ask their fathers hereafter, saying, What [are] these stones?

²² then ye have caused your sons to know, saying, On dry land Israel passed over this Jordan;

²³ because Jehovah your God dried up the waters of the Jordan at your presence, till your passing over, as Jehovah your God did to the Red Sea which He dried up at our presence till our passing over;

²⁴ so that all the people of the land do know the hand of Jehovah that it [is] strong, so that ye have reverenced Jehovah your God all the days.'