YHWH Commissions Joshua as Leader
Joshua 1Now after the death of Moses the servant of YHWH, YHWH spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go across this Jordan, you and all these people, to the land which I am giving to them, even to the children of Israel. I have given y’all every place that the sole of y’all’s foot will tread on, as I told Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, will be y’all’s border. No man will 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 nor forsake you.
“Be strong and courageous; for you will cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law must not depart from your mouth, but you are to meditate on it day and night, so that you may observe to do all that is written in it; for then you are to make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for YHWH your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua Prepares the People to Enter the Land
Then Joshua ordered the officers of the people, saying, “Y’all go through the middle of the camp, and command the people, saying, ‘Y’all prepare provisions. In three days, y’all are to pass over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which YHWH y’all’s God is giving y’all to possess.’”
Joshua spoke to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, saying, “Remember the word which Moses the servant of YHWH commanded y’all, saying, ‘YHWH y’all’s God gives y’all rest, and will give y’all this land. Y’all’s wives, little ones, and livestock will live in the land that Moses gave y’all beyond the Jordan, but all the valiant warriors must cross over ahead of your* siblings. Y’all are to help them until YHWH has given your* siblings rest, as ʜᴇ has given y’all, and they too have possessed the land that YHWH y’all’s God is giving them. Then y’all are to return to the land of y’all’s possession and possess it, which Moses the servant of YHWH gave y’all beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.’”
They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we listened to Moses in all things, so will we listen to you. Only may YHWH your God be with you, as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your commandment, and doesn’t listen to your words in all that you command him must be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”