Bible Gateway passage: Psalm 91, Joshua 1-3 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (2024)

Assurance of God’s Protection

91He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,
who abides in the shadow of the Almighty,
²will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
³For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
⁴he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
⁵You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand;
but it will not come near you.
⁸You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.

⁹Because you have made the Lord your refuge,^[a]
the Most High your habitation,
¹⁰no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.

¹¹For he will give his angels charge of you
to guard you in all your ways.
¹²On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.
¹³You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

¹⁴Because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him,
and show him my salvation.

God’s Commission to Joshua

1After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, ²“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. ³Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. ⁴From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphra′tes, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. ⁵No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. ⁶Be strong and of good courage; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. ⁸This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. ⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Preparations for the Invasion

¹⁰Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, ¹¹“Pass through the camp, and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions; for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to take possession of the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess.’”

¹²And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manas′seh Joshua said, ¹³“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest, and will give you this land.’ ¹⁴Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brethren and shall help them, ¹⁵until the Lord gives rest to your brethren as well as to you, and they also take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them; then you shall return to the land of your possession, and shall possess it, the land which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.” ¹⁶And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses! ¹⁸Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.”

Spies Sent to Jericho

2And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from sh*ttim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went, and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. ²And it was told the king of Jericho, “Behold, certain men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” ³Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring forth the men that have come to you, who entered your house; for they have come to search out all the land.” ⁴But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them; and she said, “True, men came to me, but I did not know where they came from; ⁵and when the gate was to be closed, at dark, the men went out; where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” ⁶But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. ⁷So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords; and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

⁸Before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, ⁹and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. ¹⁰For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. ¹¹And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any man, because of you; for the Lord your God is he who is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. ¹²Now then, swear to me by the Lord that as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign, ¹³and save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” ¹⁴And the men said to her, “Our life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land.”

¹⁵Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she dwelt in the wall. ¹⁶And she said to them, “Go into the hills, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned; then afterward you may go your way.” ¹⁷The men said to her, “We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours which you have made us swear. ¹⁸Behold, when we come into the land, you shall bind this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down; and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. ¹⁹If any one goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we shall be guiltless; but if a hand is laid upon any one who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. ²⁰But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath which you have made us swear.” ²¹And she said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they departed; and she bound the scarlet cord in the window.

²²They departed, and went into the hills, and remained there three days, until the pursuers returned; for the pursuers had made search all along the way and found nothing. ²³Then the two men came down again from the hills, and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun; and they told him all that had befallen them. ²⁴And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands; and moreover all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of us.”

Israel Crosses the Jordan

3Early in the morning Joshua rose and set out from sh*ttim, with all the people of Israel; and they came to the Jordan, and lodged there before they passed over. ²At the end of three days the officers went through the camp ³and commanded the people, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it, ⁴that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, a distance of about two thousand cubits; do not come near it.” ⁵And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” ⁶And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass on before the people.” And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

⁷And the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. ⁸And you shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” ⁹And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come hither, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰And Joshua said, “Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Per′izzites, the Gir′gash*tes, the Amorites, and the Jeb′usites. ¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is to pass over before you into the Jordan. ¹²Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. ¹³And when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be stopped from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”

¹⁴So, when the people set out from their tents, to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), ¹⁶the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zar′ethan, and those flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off; and the people passed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷And while all Israel were passing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.^[a]