I am handing over to you every place you set foot, as I promised Moses.

I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.”

Just as we obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. But may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses!

Then the two men returned – they came down from the hills, crossed the river, came to Joshua son of Nun, and reported to him all they had discovered.

They told Joshua, “Surely the Lord is handing over all the land to us! All who live in the land are cringing before us!”

When the entire nation was on the other side, the Lord told Joshua,

Joshua summoned the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one per tribe.

He told the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones represent?’

At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites once again.”

The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have taken away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” So that place is called Gilgal even to this day.

The Lord told Joshua, “See, I am about to defeat Jericho for you, along with its king and its warriors.

The seventh time around, the priests blew the rams’ horns and Joshua told the army, “Give the battle cry, for the Lord is handing the city over to you!

They took it all from the middle of the tent, brought it to Joshua and all the Israelites, and placed it before the Lord.

He told them, “Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city; all of you be ready!

I and all the troops who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them.

He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel and Ai.

No men were left in Ai or Bethel; they all went out after Israel. They left the city wide open and chased Israel.

The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live near us. So how can we make a treaty with you?”

So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities – Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.

but all the leaders told the whole community, “We swore an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt them!