Joshua 1

1 After the death of Moses, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, the helper of Moses, [a] 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, get up and cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving them. 3 Every place where the soles of your feet tread, I will give it to you, just as I said to Moses: 4 the wilderness and Anti-Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, and as far as the farthest sea; your borders will be from the setting of the sun. [b] 5 No man will stand against you all the days of your life. And as I was with Moses, so I will be with you too; I will not abandon you and I will not overlook you.

6 Be brave and strong, for you are the one who will divide this land among this people — the land I swore to your fathers to give them. 7 So be brave and strong: be careful to do just as Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn away from what he commanded, to the right or to the left, so that you may have understanding in everything you do. 8 And the book of this law is not to leave your mouth. You are to go over it day and night, so that you may understand how to do everything written in it. Then you will prosper, and you will make your own ways prosper, and then you will have understanding. [c] 9 See, I have given you this command. Be brave and strong. Do not lose your nerve and do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” [d]

10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 “Go into the middle of the camp of the people and give the people this command: ‘Prepare provisions, for in three more days you are crossing this Jordan, to go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.’”

12 And to Reuben and to Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, 13 “Remember the word of the Lord that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you when he said, ‘The Lord your God has given you rest, and he has given you this land.’ 14 Your wives and your children and your cattle are to settle in the land he has given you. But you yourselves are to cross over ahead of your brothers, armed and ready, every one of you who is strong, and you are to fight on their side, 15 until the Lord your God gives your brothers rest, as he has given it to you, and they too inherit the land that the Lord our God is giving them. Then each of you is to go back to his own inheritance, the land Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, toward the sunrise.” [e]

16 And they answered Joshua and said, “Everything you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 In everything that we listened to Moses, we will listen to you. Only let the Lord our God be with you, as he was with Moses. 18 And any man who disobeys you, and whoever will not listen to your words in whatever you command him — let him die. But you: be brave and strong.”