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After Moses dies, God tells Joshua to lead Israel across the Jordan into the land He is giving them. God promises to be with Joshua as He was with Moses and tells him three times to be strong and courageous. Joshua must keep God's law and think about it day and night. Joshua tells the people to get ready, and the eastern tribes promise to help their brothers.
Joshua sends two spies to Jericho. They stay at the house of a woman named Rahab. When the king looks for them, Rahab hides them under flax on her roof. She says she knows Yahweh has given Israel the land, for He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. She asks them to spare her family. The spies promise, and she lets them down by a cord through her window. She ties a scarlet line in the window as the sign.
The priests carry the ark of the covenant ahead of the people. Joshua tells the people to sanctify themselves, for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders. When the priests' feet touch the Jordan, which overflows its banks at harvest, the water upstream stops and stands in one heap. The priests stand on dry ground in the middle of the river while all Israel crosses over on dry ground.
God tells Joshua to have one man from each tribe take a stone from the middle of the Jordan where the priests stood. Joshua also sets up twelve stones in the river. When the priests carry the ark out, the Jordan flows back. At Gilgal Joshua sets up the twelve stones so that when children ask what they mean, parents can tell them Israel crossed on dry land, and all peoples may know Yahweh's hand is mighty.
The kings of the land hear about the crossing and their hearts melt. At Gilgal God renews the covenant sign for the new generation and rolls away the reproach of Egypt. Israel keeps the Passover, eats food from the land, and the manna stops. Near Jericho, Joshua meets the commander of Yahweh's army, who tells him to take off his sandals because the place is holy.
Jericho is shut up tight. Yahweh tells Joshua He has given Jericho into his hand. For six days the men of war march around the city once, with seven priests blowing trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day they march around seven times. When the priests blow the trumpets and the people shout, the wall falls down flat. Rahab and her family are saved because she hid the messengers. Yahweh is with Joshua, and his fame is in all the land.
Achan takes some of the devoted things from Jericho and hides them in his tent. Israel then loses at Ai, and the people's hearts melt. Joshua tears his clothes and prays. Yahweh tells him that Israel has sinned and cannot stand until the devoted thing is removed. Lots point to Achan. He confesses that he coveted a Babylonian robe, silver, and gold and hid them in his tent. Achan is put to death in the valley of Achor, and Yahweh turns from His anger.
Yahweh tells Joshua not to be afraid and to go up to Ai. Joshua sets an ambush behind the city. When the men of Ai chase Israel out, the ambush takes the city. At Yahweh's word Joshua stretches out his javelin toward Ai. Afterward Joshua builds an altar of uncut stones on Mount Ebal, writes a copy of Moses' law on stones, and reads every word of the law to all Israel, including women, little ones, and foreigners.
The kings of Canaan gather to fight Israel, but the people of Gibeon use a trick. They come with old sacks, torn wineskins, patched sandals, old clothes, and dry, moldy bread, pretending to come from a far country. The men of Israel sample their food but do not ask counsel from Yahweh. Joshua makes peace and a covenant with them. Three days later Israel learns they are neighbors. Because the leaders swore by Yahweh, Israel keeps its oath and lets them live, and the Gibeonites become wood cutters and drawers of water.
Five Amorite kings attack Gibeon. The Gibeonites call to Joshua for help. Yahweh tells Joshua not to fear. Joshua marches all night from Gilgal and comes upon the enemy suddenly. Yahweh hurls great hailstones on them. Joshua speaks to Yahweh and says, Sun, stand still on Gibeon. The sun stays in the middle of the sky about a whole day. There was no day like it, for Yahweh fought for Israel. The five kings hide in a cave at Makkedah, and Joshua tells his people, Don't be afraid; be strong and courageous.
Jabin king of Hazor gathers many kings with armies as many as the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots, at the waters of Merom. Yahweh tells Joshua not to be afraid. Israel wins, and Joshua does as Yahweh said with the horses and chariots. Joshua takes the whole land and does all that Yahweh commanded Moses, leaving nothing undone. Then the land has rest from war.
This chapter lists the kings Israel defeated. East of the Jordan, Moses and Israel defeated Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, and Moses gave that land to Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. West of the Jordan, Joshua and Israel defeated thirty-one kings, from Jericho and Ai to Tirzah. Joshua gave the land to the tribes of Israel for a possession.
Joshua is old, and Yahweh tells him there is still very much land to be possessed. God promises to drive out the peoples and tells Joshua to divide the land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The chapter recalls the land Moses gave east of the Jordan to Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. Moses gave no land to the tribe of Levi, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, is their inheritance.
The land west of the Jordan is divided by lot. Caleb comes to Joshua at Gilgal. He reminds Joshua that forty-five years earlier, at forty years old, he was sent to spy out the land and brought back word as it was in his heart. Others made the people's hearts melt, but Caleb wholly followed Yahweh. Moses promised him the land where he walked. Now eighty-five and still strong, Caleb asks for the hill country where the Anakim live. Joshua blesses him and gives him Hebron, because he followed Yahweh wholeheartedly.
The lot for Judah reaches from the border of Edom to the Salt Sea and the Great Sea. Caleb receives Hebron and drives out the three sons of Anak. Caleb promises his daughter Achsah as wife to the man who takes Kiriath Sepher; Othniel takes it. Achsah asks her father for a blessing: since he gave her land in the South, she asks for springs of water, and Caleb gives her the upper springs and the lower springs. The chapter lists the many cities of Judah and notes that Judah could not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem.
The lot comes out for the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, from the Jordan at Jericho through the hill country to Bethel. The chapter traces the border of Ephraim from Ataroth Addar to Upper Beth Horon and on to the sea. Some cities for Ephraim are set apart within Manasseh's land. Ephraim does not drive out the Canaanites who live in Gezer; they stay and become servants doing forced labor.
The tribe of Manasseh receives its lot. Zelophehad had no sons, only daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They come to Eleazar the priest and Joshua and remind them that Yahweh commanded Moses to give them an inheritance, and they receive land among their father's brothers. Manasseh does not fully drive out the Canaanites. The children of Joseph complain that they have only one lot, and Joshua tells them to clear the forest of the hill country, for they are a numerous people and will drive out the Canaanites though they have chariots of iron.
The whole congregation gathers at Shiloh and sets up the Tent of Meeting. Seven tribes have not yet received their land. Joshua asks how long they will neglect to go in and possess the land Yahweh has given them. He sends three men from each tribe to walk through the land and write a description of it in seven parts in a book. Joshua casts lots before Yahweh at Shiloh. The first lot goes to Benjamin, between Judah and Joseph.
The remaining lots come out for Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. Simeon's land is in the middle of Judah's, because Judah's portion was too much for them. The children of Dan go up against Leshem, take it, and call it Dan. When the land is fully divided, the children of Israel give Joshua the city he asked for, Timnathserah in the hill country of Ephraim, and he builds it and lives there. Eleazar, Joshua, and the heads of the tribes finish dividing the land by lot at Shiloh before Yahweh.
Yahweh tells Joshua to assign the cities of refuge that He spoke of by Moses. A person who kills someone accidentally may flee to one of these cities, stand at the gate, and tell his case to the elders. They take him in, and the avenger of blood may not hand him over. He stays until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest. Six cities are set apart: Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron west of the Jordan, and Bezer, Ramoth in Gilead, and Golan east of it. They are for Israelites and for the alien who lives among them.
The heads of the Levites come to Eleazar, Joshua, and the heads of the tribes at Shiloh and remind them that Yahweh commanded through Moses to give them cities to dwell in, with pasture lands for their livestock. The tribes give the Levites cities by lot out of their own inheritance, forty-eight cities in all. The chapter ends with a summary: Yahweh gave Israel all the land He swore to give their fathers, gave them rest all around, and nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
Joshua sends the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh home across the Jordan, praising them for not leaving their brothers and urging them to love Yahweh, walk in His ways, and serve Him with all their heart. Near the Jordan they build a great altar. The rest of Israel gathers at Shiloh to go to war against them, but first sends Phinehas the son of Eleazar and ten princes to ask why. The eastern tribes explain that the altar is not for burnt offering or sacrifice but a witness, so their children will not be told they have no portion in Yahweh. Phinehas and the leaders are pleased, Israel blesses God, and the altar is named A Witness Between Us that Yahweh is God.
After many days, when Yahweh had given Israel rest and Joshua is old, he calls all Israel's leaders together. He reminds them that Yahweh their God has fought for them. He urges them to be very courageous to keep all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, not turning to the right or the left, and to hold fast to Yahweh. One man of them will chase a thousand, for Yahweh fights for them, so they must take good heed to love Yahweh their God. Joshua says he is going the way of all the earth, and that not one thing has failed of all the good things Yahweh spoke. He warns that if they turn to other gods, they will perish from the good land.
Joshua gathers all the tribes to Shechem. He retells what Yahweh says He did, from Abraham's fathers who served other gods beyond the River, through Egypt, the wilderness, and the gift of a land they had not labored on. Joshua calls them to fear Yahweh and serve Him in sincerity and truth, and says, choose today whom you will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh. The people promise to serve Yahweh. Joshua warns that Yahweh is a holy and jealous God, and the people answer that they will serve Yahweh. Joshua makes a covenant, writes the words in the book of the law of God, and sets up a great stone under the oak as a witness. Joshua dies at one hundred ten years old. Joseph's bones are buried at Shechem, and Eleazar dies.