Jos 3, Jos 5, Jos 13 | ESV | STEP | Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim . And they came to the Jordan , he and all the people of Israel , and lodged there before they passed over .

1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out ^afrom Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. 2 ^bAt the end of three days the officers went through the camp 3 and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by ^cthe Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. 4 ^dYet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits ^{▼▼A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters} in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” 5 Then Joshua said to the people, ^f“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” 6 And Joshua said to the priests, ^g“Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to ^hexalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, ⁱas I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 And as for you, command ^jthe priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, ^kyou shall stand still in the Jordan.’” 9 And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” 10 And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that ^lthe living God is among you and that he will without fail ^mdrive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of ⁿthe Lord of all the earth ^{▼▼Hebrew the ark of the covenant, the Lord of all the earth} ^pis passing over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore ^qtake twelve men from the tribes of Israel, ^rfrom each tribe a man. 13 And ^swhen the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, ^tthe Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall ^ustand in one heap.”

14 So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing ^vthe ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and ^wthe feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now ^xthe Jordan overflows all its banks ^ythroughout the time of harvest), 16 the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside ^zZarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of ^aathe Arabah, ^abthe Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. 17 Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, ^acand all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

Joshua 5

The New Generation Circumcised

1 As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites ^adwho were by the sea, ^aeheard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts ^afmelted and ^agthere was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make ^ahflint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. ^{▼▼ Gibeath-haaraloth means the hill of the foreskins} 4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: ^ajall the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5 Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the people of Israel walked ^akforty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord ^alswore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, ^ama land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So it was ^antheir children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the ^aoreproach of Egypt from you.” And so the name of that place is called ^apGilgal ^{▼▼ Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew for to roll} to this day.

First Passover in Canaan

10 While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the Passover ^aron the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. 11 And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 And ^asthe manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

The Commander of the Lord’s Army

13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, ^ata man was standing before him ^auwith his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua ^avfell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, ^aw“Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Joshua 13

Land Still to Be Conquered

1 Now Joshua ^axwas old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land ^ayto possess. 2 ^azThis is the land that yet remains: all the ^baregions of the Philistines, and all those of the Geshurites 3 (from the ^bbShihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron, it is counted as Canaanite; ^bcthere are five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron), and those of ^bdthe Avvim, 4 in the south, all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the boundary of ^bethe Amorites, 5 and the land of the ^bfGebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from ^bgBaal-gad below Mount Hermon to ^bhLebo-hamath, 6 all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to ^biMisrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I myself will drive ^bjthem out from before the people of Israel. Only ^bkallot the land to Israel ^blfor an inheritance, as I have commanded you. 7 Now therefore ^bmdivide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

The Inheritance East of the Jordan

8 With the other half of the tribe of Manasseh ^{▼▼Hebrew With it} the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, ^bowhich Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, as Moses the servant of the Lord gave them: 9 ^bpfrom Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and ^bqall the tableland of Medeba as far as Dibon; 10 ^brand all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the Ammonites; 11 and Gilead, and the ^bsregion of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all Mount Hermon, and ^btall Bashan to Salecah; 12 ^buall the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he alone was left of ^bvthe remnant of the Rephaim); ^bwthese Moses had struck and driven out. 13 ^bxYet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.

14 ^byTo the tribe of Levi alone Moses gave no inheritance. The offerings by fire to the Lord God of Israel are their inheritance, as he said to him.

15 And Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the people of Reuben according to their clans. 16 So their territory was from Aroer, ^bzwhich is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the tableland by ^caMedeba; 17 with Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the tableland; ^cbDibon, and Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon, 18 ^ccand Jahaz, and Kedemoth, and Mephaath, 19 and ^cdKiriathaim, and ^ceSibmah, and Zereth-shahar on the hill of the valley, 20 and ^cfBeth-peor, and ^cgthe slopes of Pisgah, and ^chBeth-jeshimoth, 21 that is, ^ciall the cities of the tableland, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, ^cjwhom Moses defeated with ^ckthe leaders of Midian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land. 22 ^clBalaam also, the son of Beor, the one who practiced divination, was killed with the sword by the people of Israel among the rest of their slain. 23 And the border of the people of Reuben was the Jordan as a boundary. This was the inheritance of the people of Reuben, according to their clans with their cities and villages.

24 Moses gave an inheritance also to the tribe of Gad, to the people of Gad, according to their clans. 25 ^cmTheir territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites, to Aroer, which is east of ^cnRabbah, 26 and from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from ^coMahanaim to the territory of Debir, ^{▼▼Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew Lidebir} 27 and in the valley Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, ^cqSuccoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, having the Jordan as a boundary, to the lower end of the Sea of ^crChinnereth, eastward beyond the Jordan. 28 This is the inheritance of the people of Gad according to their clans, with their cities and villages.

29 And Moses gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh. It was allotted to the half-tribe of the people of Manasseh according to their clans. 30 Their region extended from ^csMahanaim, through all Bashan, the whole kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all ^ctthe towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, sixty cities, 31 and half Gilead, and ^cuAshtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. These were allotted to the people of ^cvMachir the son of Manasseh for the half of the people of Machir according to their clans.

32 These are the inheritances that Moses distributed ^cwin the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho. 33 ^cxBut to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, ^cyjust as he said to them.