Study Desk

"Joshua, you must be strong and brave! You must lead these people so that they can take their land. I promised their fathers that I would give them this land.

The Lord has given you a place to live, and he will do the same for your brothers. But you must help them until they take control of the land the Lord your God is giving them. Then you can come back and settle here on the east side of the river. This is the land that the Lord 's servant Moses said would be yours."

So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: "Do not hide the men who came and stayed in your house. Bring them out. They have come to spy on our country."

So the king's men went out of the city, and the people closed the city gates. The king's men went to look for the two men from Israel. They went to the Jordan River and looked at all the places where people cross the river.

We will protect everyone who stays in this house. If anyone in your house is hurt, we will be responsible. But if they go out of your house and are killed, we will not be responsible. It will be their own fault.

The men left her house and went into the hills. They stayed there for three days. The king's men looked all along the road. After three days, they stopped looking and went back to the city.

Then the two men went back to Joshua. They left the hills and crossed the river. They went to Joshua and told him everything that they had learned.

Early the next morning, Joshua and all the Israelites got up and left Acacia. They traveled to the Jordan River and camped there before they crossed it.

The priests will carry the Holy Box of the Lord . He is the Lord of the whole world. They will carry that Box in front of you into the Jordan River. When they enter the water, the water of the Jordan River will stop flowing and fill behind that place like at a dam."

The priests carried the Box of the Agreement, and the people left the place they had camped. The people started going across the Jordan River.

The ground at that place became dry, and the priests carried the Box of the Agreement of the Lord to the middle of the river and stopped. They waited there while all the Israelites walked across the Jordan River on dry land.

The men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh obeyed Moses. These men crossed the river in front of the other people. These men were prepared for war. They were going to help the rest of the Israelites take the land God had promised to give them.

The priests obeyed Joshua. They carried the Box of the Lord 's Agreement with them and came out of the river. When their feet touched the land on the other side of the river, the water in the river began flowing again. The water again overflowed its banks just as it had before the people crossed.

They carried with them the twelve rocks that they had taken from the Jordan River, and Joshua set them up at Gilgal.

So the Lord dried up the Jordan River until the Israelites finished crossing it. The kings of the Amorites living west of the Jordan River and the Canaanites living by the Mediterranean Sea heard about this and became very frightened. After that they were not brave enough to stand and fight against the Israelites.

This is why Joshua circumcised the men: After the Israelites left Egypt, all the men who were able to serve in the army were circumcised. While in the desert, many of the fighting men did not listen to the Lord . So the Lord promised that they would not see the "land where much food grows." He promised our ancestors to give us that land, but because of those men, he forced the people to wander in the desert for 40 years. That way all those fighting men would die. So all the fighting men died, and their sons took their place. But none of the boys who were born in the desert on the trip from Egypt had been circumcised. So Joshua circumcised them.

The day after Passover, the people ate food that grew in that land. They ate bread made without yeast and roasted grain.

Tell seven of the priests to carry trumpets made from the horns of male sheep and to march in front of the priests who are carrying the Holy Box. On the seventh day march around the city seven times and tell the priests to blow the trumpets while they march.

They will make one loud noise from the trumpets. When you hear that noise, tell all the people to begin shouting. When you do this, the walls of the city will fall down and your people will be able to go straight into the city."

So Joshua made the priests carry the Holy Box of the Lord around the city one time. Then they went back to the camp and spent the night there.