The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will ¹  worship ²  the Lord!”

The people said to Joshua, “We will worship ¹  the Lord our God and obey him.” ² 

That day Joshua drew up an agreement ¹  for the people, and he established rules and regulations ²  for them in Shechem.

The Israelites did just as Joshua commanded. They picked up twelve stones, according to the number of the Israelite tribes, from the middle of the Jordan as the Lord had instructed Joshua. They carried them over with them to the camp and put them there.

Now the priests carrying the ark of the covenant were standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people was accomplished, in accordance with all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people went across quickly,

When Joshua was near ¹  Jericho, ²  he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him holding a drawn sword. ³  Joshua approached him and asked him, “Are you on our side or allied with our enemies?” ⁴ 

The commander of the Lord’s army answered Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.

Yet Joshua spared ¹  Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, ²  and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel ³  to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho. ⁴ 

Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place ¹  west of Ai, between Bethel ²  and Ai. ³  Joshua spent that night with the army. ⁴ 

The Lord told Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city ¹  over to you.” So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand.

Moses the Lord’s servant passed on the Lord’s commands to Joshua, and Joshua did as he was told. He did not ignore any of the commands the Lord had given Moses. ¹ 

At that time Joshua attacked and eliminated the Anakites from the hill country ¹  – from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel. ²  Joshua annihilated them and their cities.

Joshua conquered ¹  the whole land, just as the Lord had promised Moses, ²  and he assigned Israel their tribal portions. ³  Then the land was free of war.

These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the Israelites defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal Gad in the Lebanon Valley to Mount Halak on up to Seir. Joshua assigned this territory to the Israelite tribes, ¹ 

(Now to one half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had assigned land in Bashan; and to the other half Joshua had assigned land on the west side of the Jordan with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home, ¹  he rewarded ²  them,

Israel worshiped ¹  the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men who outlived him remained alive. ²  These men had experienced firsthand everything the Lord had done for Israel. ³ 

After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:

They told Joshua, “We will do everything you say. We will go wherever you send us.

Then the two men returned – they came down from the hills, crossed the river, ¹  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! ¹  All who live in the land are cringing before us!” ²