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After the death of the LORD's servant Moses, the LORD spoke to Moses' helper, Joshua son of Nun.
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He said, "My servant Moses is dead. Get ready now, you and all the people of Israel, and cross the Jordan River into the land that I am giving them.
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As I told Moses, I have given you and all my people the entire land that you will be marching over.
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Your borders will reach from the desert in the south to the Lebanon Mountains in the north; from the great Euphrates River in the east, through the Hittite country, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
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Joshua, no one will be able to defeat you as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will always be with you; I will never abandon you.
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Be determined and confident, for you will be the leader of these people as they occupy this land which I promised their ancestors.
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Just be determined, be confident; and make sure that you obey the whole Law that my servant Moses gave you. Do not neglect any part of it and you will succeed wherever you go.
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Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship. Study it day and night, and make sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
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Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the LORD your God, am with you wherever you go."
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Then Joshua ordered the leaders to
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go through the camp and say to the people, "Get some food ready, because in three days you are going to cross the Jordan River to occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you."
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Joshua said to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh,
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"Remember how the LORD's servant Moses told you that the LORD your God would give you this land on the east side of the Jordan as your home.
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Your wives, your children, and your livestock will stay here, but your soldiers, armed for battle, will cross over ahead of the other Israelites in order to help them
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until they have occupied the land west of the Jordan that the LORD your God has given them. When he has given safety to all the tribes of Israel, then you may come back and settle here in your own land east of the Jordan, which Moses, the LORD's servant, gave to you."
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They answered Joshua, "We will do everything you have told us and will go anywhere you send us.
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We will obey you, just as we always obeyed Moses, and may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses!
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Whoever questions your authority or disobeys any of your orders will be put to death. Be determined and confident!"
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Then Joshua sent two spies from the camp at Acacia with orders to go and secretly explore the land of Canaan, especially the city of Jericho. When they came to the city, they went to spend the night in the house of a prostitute named Rahab.
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The king of Jericho heard that some Israelites had come that night to spy out the country,
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so he sent word to Rahab: "The men in your house have come to spy out the whole country! Bring them out!"
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"Some men did come to my house," she answered, "but I don't know where they were from. They left at sundown before the city gate was closed. I didn't find out where they were going, but if you start after them quickly, you can catch them." (Now Rahab had taken the two spies up on the roof and hidden them under some stalks of flax that she had put there.)
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The king's men left the city, and then the gate was shut. They went looking for the Israelite spies as far as the place where the road crosses the Jordan.
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Before the spies settled down for the night, Rahab went up on the roof
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and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given you this land. Everyone in the country is terrified of you.
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We have heard how the LORD dried up the Red Sea in front of you when you were leaving Egypt. We have also heard how you killed Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan.
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We were afraid as soon as we heard about it; we have all lost our courage because of you. The LORD your God is God in heaven above and here on earth.
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Now swear by him that you will treat my family as kindly as I have treated you, and give me some sign that I can trust you.
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Promise me that you will save my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families! Don't let us be killed!"
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The men said to her, "May God take our lives if we don't do as we say! If you do not tell anyone what we have been doing, we promise you that when the LORD gives us this land, we will treat you well."
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Rahab lived in a house built into the city wall, so she let the men down from the window by a rope.
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"Go into the hill country," she said, "or the king's men will find you. Hide there for three days until they come back. After that, you can go on your way."
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The men said to her, "We will keep the promise that you have made us give.
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This is what you must do. When we invade your land, tie this red cord to the window you let us down from. Get your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's family together in your house.
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If anyone goes out of the house, his death will be his own fault, and we will not be responsible; but if anyone in the house with you is harmed, then we will be responsible.
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However, if you tell anyone what we have been doing, then we will not have to keep our promise which you have made us give you."
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She agreed and sent them away. When they had gone, she tied the red cord to the window.
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The spies went into the hills and hid. The king's men looked for them all over the countryside for three days, but they did not find them, so they returned to Jericho.
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Then the two spies came down from the hills, crossed the river, and went back to Joshua. They told him everything that had happened,
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and then said, "We are sure that the LORD has given us the whole country. All the people there are terrified of us."
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Don't be worried on account of the wicked; don't be jealous of those who do wrong.
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They will soon disappear like grass that dries up; they will die like plants that wither.
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Trust in the LORD and do good; live in the land and be safe.
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Seek your happiness in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desire.
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Give yourself to the LORD; trust in him, and he will help you;
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he will make your righteousness shine like the noonday sun.
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Be patient and wait for the LORD to act; don't be worried about those who prosper or those who succeed in their evil plans.
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Don't give in to worry or anger; it only leads to trouble.
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Those who trust in the LORD will possess the land, but the wicked will be driven out.
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Soon the wicked will disappear; you may look for them, but you won't find them;
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but the humble will possess the land and enjoy prosperity and peace.
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The wicked plot against good people and glare at them with hate.
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But the Lord laughs at wicked people, because he knows they will soon be destroyed.
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The wicked draw their swords and bend their bows to kill the poor and needy, to slaughter those who do what is right;
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but they will be killed by their own swords, and their bows will be smashed.
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The little that a good person owns is worth more than the wealth of all the wicked,
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because the LORD will take away the strength of the wicked, but protect those who are good.
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The LORD takes care of those who obey him, and the land will be theirs forever.
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They will not suffer when times are bad; they will have enough in time of famine.
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But the wicked will die; the enemies of the LORD will vanish like wild flowers; they will disappear like smoke.
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The wicked borrow and never pay back, but good people are generous with their gifts.
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Those who are blessed by the LORD will possess the land, but those who are cursed by him will be driven out.
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The LORD guides us in the way we should go and protects those who please him.
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If they fall, they will not stay down, because the LORD will help them up.
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I am old now; I have lived a long time, but I have never seen good people abandoned by the LORD or their children begging for food.
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At all times they give freely and lend to others, and their children are a blessing.
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Turn away from evil and do good, and your descendants will always live in the land;
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for the LORD loves what is right and does not abandon his faithful people. He protects them forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be driven out.
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The righteous will possess the land and live in it forever.
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The words of good people are wise, and they are always fair.
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They keep the law of their God in their hearts and never depart from it.
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Wicked people watch good people and try to kill them;
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but the LORD will not abandon them to their enemy's power or let them be condemned when they are on trial.
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Put your hope in the LORD and obey his commands; he will honor you by giving you the land, and you will see the wicked driven out.
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I once knew someone wicked who was a tyrant; he towered over everyone like a cedar of Lebanon;
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but later I passed by, and he wasn't there; I looked for him, but couldn't find him.
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Notice good people, observe the righteous; peaceful people have descendants,
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but sinners are completely destroyed, and their descendants are wiped out.
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The LORD saves the righteous and protects them in times of trouble.
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He helps them and rescues them; he saves them from the wicked, because they go to him for protection.
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As a matter of fact, my friends, I could not talk to you as I talk to people who have the Spirit; I had to talk to you as though you belonged to this world, as children in the Christian faith.
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I had to feed you milk, not solid food, because you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready for it,
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because you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn't this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards?
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When one of you says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos"---aren't you acting like worldly people?
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After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God's servants, by whom you were led to believe. Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do:
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I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow.
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The one who plants and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow.
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There is no difference between the one who plants and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done.
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For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field. You are also God's building.
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Using the gift that God gave me, I did the work of an expert builder and laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each of you must be careful how you build.
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For God has already placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation, and no other foundation can be laid.
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Some will use gold or silver or precious stones in building on the foundation; others will use wood or grass or straw.
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And the quality of each person's work will be seen when the Day of Christ exposes it. For on that Day fire will reveal everyone's work; the fire will test it and show its real quality.
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If what was built on the foundation survives the fire, the builder will receive a reward.
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But if your work is burnt up, then you will lose it; but you yourself will be saved, as if you had escaped through the fire.
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Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you!
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God will destroy anyone who destroys God's temple. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple.
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You should not fool yourself. If any of you think that you are wise by this world's standards, you should become a fool, in order to be really wise.
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For what this world considers to be wisdom is nonsense in God's sight. As the scripture says, "God traps the wise in their cleverness";
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and another scripture says, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless."
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No one, then, should boast about what human beings can do. Actually everything belongs to you:
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Paul, Apollos, and Peter; this world, life and death, the present and the future---all these are yours,
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and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
