Joshua 4

• 1. When all the people were safely across the river, the LORD said to Joshua,
• 2. "Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe.
• 3. Tell the men to take twelve stones from where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan and pile them up at the place where you camp tonight."
• 4. So Joshua called together the twelve men
• 5. and told them, "Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the LORD your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder--twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes.
• 6. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future, your children will ask, `What do these stones mean to you?'
• 7. Then you can tell them, `They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the LORD's covenant went across.' These stones will stand as a permanent memorial among the people of Israel."
• 8. So the men did as Joshua told them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the LORD had commanded Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.
• 9. Joshua also built another memorial of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. The memorial remains there to this day.
• 10. The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river until all of the LORD's instructions, which Moses had given to Joshua, were carried out. Meanwhile, the people hurried across the riverbed.
• 11. And when everyone was on the other side, the priests crossed over with the Ark of the LORD.
• 12. The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the Israelites across the Jordan, just as Moses had directed.
• 13. These warriors--about forty thousand strong--were ready for battle, and they crossed over to the plains of Jericho in the LORD's presence.
• 14. That day the LORD made Joshua great in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.
• 15. The LORD had said to Joshua,
• 16. "Command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant to come up out of the riverbed."
• 17. So Joshua gave the command.
• 18. And as soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the LORD's covenant came up out of the riverbed, the Jordan River flooded its banks as before.
• 19. The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month--the month that marked their exodus from Egypt. They camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho.
• 20. It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River.
• 21. Then Joshua said to the Israelites, "In the future, your children will ask, `What do these stones mean?'
• 22. Then you can tell them, `This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.'
• 23. For the LORD your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea when he dried it up until we had all crossed over.
• 24. He did this so that all the nations of the earth might know the power of the LORD, and that you might fear the LORD your God forever."

Joshua 5

• 1. When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan River so the people of Israel could cross, they lost heart and were paralyzed with fear.
• 2. At that time the LORD told Joshua, "Use knives of flint to make the Israelites a circumcised people again."
• 3. So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the entire male population of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.
• 4. Joshua had to circumcise them because all the men who were old enough to bear arms when they left Egypt had died in the wilderness.
• 5. Those who left Egypt had all been circumcised, but none of those born after the Exodus, during the years in the wilderness, had been circumcised.
• 6. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years until all the men who were old enough to bear arms when they left Egypt had died. For they had disobeyed the LORD, and the LORD vowed he would not let them enter the land he had sworn to give us--a land flowing with milk and honey.
• 7. So Joshua circumcised their sons who had not been circumcised on the way to the Promised Land--those who had grown up to take their fathers' places.
• 8. After all the males had been circumcised, they rested in the camp until they were healed.
• 9. Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt." So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.
• 10. While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month--the month that marked their exodus from Egypt.
• 11. The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land.
• 12. No manna appeared that day, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.
• 13. As Joshua approached the city of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man facing him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you friend or foe?"
• 14. "Neither one," he replied. "I am commander of the LORD's army." At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. "I am at your command," Joshua said. "What do you want your servant to do?"
• 15. The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for this is holy ground." And Joshua did as he was told.

Joshua 6

• 1. Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go in or out.
• 2. But the LORD said to Joshua, "I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its mighty warriors.
• 3. Your entire army is to march around the city once a day for six days.
• 4. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram's horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the horns.
• 5. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the horns, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the walls of the city will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the city."
• 6. So Joshua called together the priests and said, "Take up the Ark of the Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a ram's horn."
• 7. Then he gave orders to the people: "March around the city, and the armed men will lead the way in front of the Ark of the LORD."
• 8. After Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests with the rams' horns started marching in the presence of the LORD, blowing the horns as they marched. And the priests carrying the Ark of the LORD's covenant followed behind them.
• 9. Armed guards marched both in front of the priests and behind the Ark, with the priests continually blowing the horns.
• 10. "Do not shout; do not even talk," Joshua commanded. "Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!"
• 11. So the Ark of the LORD was carried around the city once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night in the camp.
• 12. Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests again carried the Ark of the LORD.
• 13. The seven priests with the rams' horns marched in front of the Ark of the LORD, blowing their horns. Armed guards marched both in front of the priests with the horns and behind the Ark of the LORD. All this time the priests were sounding their horns.
• 14. On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.
• 15. On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the city as they had done before. But this time they went around the city seven times.
• 16. The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!
• 17. The city and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies.
• 18. Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on all Israel.
• 19. Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the LORD and must be brought into his treasury."
• 20. When the people heard the sound of the horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the city from every side and captured it.
• 21. They completely destroyed everything in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, donkeys--everything.
• 22. Then Joshua said to the two spies, "Keep your promise. Go to the prostitute's house and bring her out, along with all her family."
• 23. The young men went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel.
• 24. Then the Israelites burned the city and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept for the treasury of the LORD's house.
• 25. So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day.
• 26. At that time Joshua invoked this curse: "May the curse of the LORD fall on anyone who tries to rebuild the city of Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn son, he will lay its foundation. At the cost of his youngest son, he will set up its gates."
• 27. So the LORD was with Joshua, and his name became famous throughout the land.

New Living Translation: 66 of 324 days.