Study Desk

The Lord told Moses, "You will soon die, so bring Joshua to the sacred tent, and I will appoint him the leader of Israel." Moses and Joshua went to the sacred tent,

and I will be so furious that I will abandon them and ignore their prayers. I will send disasters and suffering that will nearly wipe them out. Finally, they will realize that the disasters happened because I abandoned them.

Moses and Joshua, I am going to give you the words to a new song. Write them down and teach the song to the Israelites. If they learn it, they will know what I want them to do, and so they will have no excuse for not obeying me.

When I punish the Israelites and their descendants with suffering and disasters, I will remind them that they know the words to this song, so they have no excuse for not obeying me. I will give them the land that I promised, but I know the way they are going to live later on.

So call together the leaders and officials of the tribes of Israel. I will bring this book and read every word of it to you, and I will call the sky and the earth as witnesses that all of you know what you are supposed to do.

I am going to die soon, and I know that in the future you will stop caring about what is right and what is wrong, and so you will disobey the Lord and stop living the way I told you to live. The Lord will be angry, and terrible things will happen to you.

Moses called a meeting of all the people of Israel, so he could teach them the words to the song that the Lord had given him. And here are the words:

and said, "You are unfaithful and can't be trusted. So I won't answer your prayers; I'll just watch and see what happens to you.

"I wanted to scatter you, so no one would remember that you had ever lived.

Moses spoke the words of the song so that all the Israelites could hear, and Joshua helped him. When Moses had finished,

So I will give the land to the people of Israel, but you will only get to see it from a distance.

At Massah and Meribah Spring, the Lord tested you, tribe of Levi. You were faithful, and so the priesthood belongs to the Levi tribe.

The sea will make you wealthy, and from the sandy beach you will get treasure. So invite the other tribes to celebrate with you and offer sacrifices to God.

Tribe of Gad, the Lord will bless you with more land. So shout his praises! Your tribe is like a lion ripping up its victim.

And so, Moses the Lord 's servant died there in Moab, just as the Lord had said.

Moses, the Lord 's servant, was dead. So the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, who had been the assistant of Moses. The Lord said:

Long ago I promised the ancestors of Israel that I would give this land to their descendants. So be strong and brave! Be careful to do everything my servant Moses taught you. Never stop reading The Book of the Law he gave you. Day and night you must think about what it says. If you obey it completely, you and Israel will be able to take this land.

to go through the camp and tell everyone: In a few days we will cross the Jordan River to take the land that the Lord our God is giving us. So fix as much food as you'll need for the march into the land.

The Lord 's servant Moses said that the Lord our God has given you land here on the east side of the Jordan River, where you could live in peace. Your wives and children and your animals can stay here in the land Moses gave you. But all of you that can serve in our army must pick up your weapons and lead the men of the other tribes across the Jordan River. They are your relatives, so you must help them

So the king sent soldiers to Rahab's house to arrest the spies. Meanwhile, Rahab had taken the men up to the flat roof of her house and had hidden them under some piles of flax plants that she had put there to dry. The soldiers came to her door and demanded, "Let us have the men who are staying at your house. They are spies." She answered, "Some men did come to my house, but I didn't know where they had come from. They left about sunset, just before it was time to close the town gate. I don't know where they were going, but if you hurry, maybe you can catch them." The guards at the town gate let the soldiers leave Jericho, but they closed the gate again as soon as the soldiers went through. Then the soldiers headed toward the Jordan River to look for the spies at the place where people cross the river.