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over before your brethren, and assist them; until the Lord 15 our God shall give your brethren rest, as well as you; and until they possess the land which the Lord our God giveth them. Then you shall return, every one to his possession, which Moses gave you on the east side of the Jordan.

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Thereupon they answered and said to Joshua, All that thou commandest we will do. And wherever thou sendest us we will go. As we have hearkened to Moses in all things, so will 17 we hearken to thee. Let but the Lord our God be with thee, 18 as he was with Moses, and whosoever shall disobey thee, and not hearken to all thy commands which thou shalt give him, let him be put to death. But be thou strong and courageous.

II.

Now Joshua son of Nave had sent from Sattin two young men to spy, saying, Go up, and take a view of the land, and particularly of Jericho. And the two young men, having set out, entered Jericho, and went to the house of a harlot, 2 whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. And news being

carried to the king of Jericho, saying, Some men of the chil3 dren of Israel are come here to spy the land, the king of Je

richo sent a message to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men, who came to thy house to night; for they are come to spy the 4 land. Now the woman had taken the two men, and hid them: 5 so she spoke to the messengers, saying, The men came to me;

but at dark, when the gate was shutting, the men went out, and 6 I do not know where they are gone. Pursue them: perhaps you may overtake them. Now she had taken them up to the top of the house, and concealed them under flax, which was 7 piled up for her on the top of the house. And the men pursued them by the way to the Jordan, to the fords, and the gate 8 was shut. So when the pursuers were gone after them, she

went up to the men, on the top of the house, before they had 9 gone to sleep, and said to them, I know that the Lord hath

given you this land; for the dread of you is fallen upon us : 10 for we have heard that the Lord God dried up the Red sea on your account, when you came out of Egypt, and all that he hath done to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the borders of the Jordan, to Seon and Og, whom you have utterly 11 destroyed: and, upon hearing these things, we became faint hearted, and there was no spirit in any of us because of you.

Since, then, the Lord your God is God in heaven above, and 12 in the earth beneath, swear now to me by the Lord your God, because I shew mercy to you, that you will shew mercy to my 13 father's house; and that you will save alive my father's house

hold, my mother, and my brothers, and all my family, and all that belong to them, and that you will deliver my soul from 14 death. And the men said to her, Our life for yours even to death. Then she said to them. When the Lord delivereth up to you this city, you will deal mercifully and truly with me. 15 So she lowered them down through a window. Now she said 16 to them, Flee to the mountains, lest the pursuers meet you,

and hide yourselves there three days, until they who are in pursuit of you have returned; and afterwards you may go 17 your way. And the men said to her, We are sincere in the 18 oath which we have sworn to thee. Behold when we enter any part of the city, thou shalt put up this signal-Thou shalt tye this scarlet rope to the window, through which thou shalt have let us down; and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brothers, and all thy father's household, home to thy 19 house. And it shall be that whoever goeth out of the door of thy house, into the street, shall incur the guilt of his own death, and we shall be clear of blame in regard to this oath which we have sworn to thee. But for all who are with thee in the house 20 we will be answerable. But if any one injure us, or if thou dis

close these our terms, we shall be clear of this oath to thee. 21 And she said to them, Let it be as you say. So she dismis22 sed them, and they went away, and came to the hilly country,

and stayed there three days. And the pursuers examined all 23 the roads, but did not find them. Then the two young men

turned, and came down from the mountain, and crossed over to Joshua son of Nave, and told him all that had happened to 24 them. And they said to him, Because the Lord hath delivered up all that land into our hands, therefore all the inhabitants of III. the land are in the utmost consternation because of us. Thereupon Joshua arose early next morning, and removed from Sattin; and having come to the Jordan, they halted there some 2 time before they crossed. And after three days the officers went through the camp, and gave a charge to the people, say3 ing, When you see the Ark of the covenant of the Lord our

But let there be

God, and our priests, and the Levites carrying it, you shall 4 remove from your places, and march after it. a considerable distance between you and it. You shall keep at the distance of about two thousand cubits. You must not come near it, that you may know the way you are to march; 5 for you have never heretofore gone this way. Then Joshua said to the people, Purify yourselves against to-morrow; for 6 to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you. And when Joshua said to the priests, Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and march before the people; and the priests had 7 taken up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and were marching before the people, the Lord said to Joshua, This day I begin to exalt thee in the sight of all the children of Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with 8 thee. Now therefore command the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, and say, Soon as you are come to a part of the water of the Jordan, you shall halt at the Jordan. 9 Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, Draw near, and hear 10 the word of the Lord our God. By this you will know that the living God is among you, and that he will surely root out from before you the Chananite, and the Chettite, and the Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Amorite, and Gergasite, and the 11 Jebusite. Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the 13 whole earth is about to cross the Jordan; and it shall come to pass, that when the feet of the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth shall rest in the water of the Jordan, the water of the Jordan shall fail, and the wa14 ter which is coming down shall be stopped. So the people removed from their tents to cross the Jordan, and the priests carried 15 the Ark of the covenant of the Lord before the people. And soon as the priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests, who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, were dipped into a part of the water of the Jordan, though the Jordan overflowed all its banks, as in the days of wheat harvest, 16 yet the waters coming down from above stopped. They stopped like one solid mass, reaching a great way back, even to a part of Kariathiarim; and the water below flowed down into the sea of Araba, the salt sea, until it was entirely gone,

17 and the people stood over against Jericho. Then the priests who carried the Ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground, and all the children of Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had finished crossing the Jordan. IV. And when all the people had entirely crossed the Jordan, 2 the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Take men from among the 3 people, one from every tribe, and give them orders. And you shall take up, out of the middle of the Jordan, twelve smooth stones, and carry them with you, and place them in your en4 campment, wherever you encamp to night. So Joshua called out twelve men of eminent dignity from among the children 5 of Israel, one from every tribe, and said to them, Go on before me in the presence of the Lord, into the middle of the Jordan, and let every one take up thence a stone, and carry it on his shoulders, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Is6 rael; that they may be to you an everlasting memorial; that

when thy son shall hereafter ask thee, saying, What are these 7 stones to us? thou mayst explain them to thy son, and say, Because the river Jordan dried up at the presence of the Ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth, when it crossed it, therefore you shall have these stones for an everlasting memo8 rial for the children of Israel. Accordingly these sons of Israel did as the Lord commanded Joshua, and having taken up twelve stones, out of the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord commanded Joshua, when the Israelites had done crossing, they carried them with them to the place of encampment, and de9 posited them there; and Joshua caused twelve other stones to be placed in the Jordan, in the very spot under the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and 10 they are there at this day. Now the priests, who carried the ark of the covenant, stood in the Jordan, until Joshua had executed all that the Lord commanded him to declare to the people. 11 And the people hasted and crossed over. And when all the

people had done crossing, then the Ark of the covenant of the 12 Lord crossed over, with the stones before them. And the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half of the tribe of Manasses, crossed over well armed before the children of Israel, as Mo13 ses had commanded them. Forty thousand, well equipped for war, crossed over before the Lord, in battle array, to the city

14 Jericho. On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of the whole race of Israel, and they feared him, as they did 15 Moses all the days of his life. Now when the Lord spoke to 16 Joshua, saying, Command the priests who carry the ark of the

covenant of the testimony of the Lord, to come up out of the Jor17 dan; And Joshua had commanded the priests, saying, Come 18 up out of the Jordan, it came to pass that as soon as the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up out of the Jordan, and had set their feet on the land, the water of the Jordan rushed impetuously to its place, and overflowed all its banks, as it did before.

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Now the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and the children of Israel encamped at 20 Galgala, on the eastern border of Jericho; and Joshua set up

at Galgala, the twelve stones which he had taken out of the 21 Jordan, and said, When your children ask you, saying, What 22 stones are these? Tell your children that Israel crossed that 23 Jordan on dry ground, the Lord our God having dried up the

water of the Jordan before them, until they crossed over, as the Lord our God had done to the Red sea, which the Lord 24 our God dried up before us, until we passed through it, that all the nations of the earth might know, that the power of the Lord is great, and that you may worship the Lord our God by every thing which you do.

V.

Now when the kings of the Amorites, who were on the border of the Jordan, and the kings of Phoenicia, who were on the sea coast, heard that the Lord God had dried up the river Jordan before the Israelites, when they crossed, their hearts were melted, and they were struck with consternation, and 2 there was no spirit in them because of the Israelites. And at that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make thee stone knives of the hardest flint, and having again a fixed abode, circumcise 3 the children of Israel. So Joshua made sharp knives of stone, and circumcised the children of Israel at the place called Hill of foreskins. And in this manner Joshua purified the children 4 of Israel-All who had been born on the way, and all who had formerly been uncircumcised, when they came out of Egypt, 5 all these Joshua circumcised; for Israel had been led about for6 ty two years in the wilderness of Mabdaritis, therefore the most

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