I also call on you ¹  to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually ²  in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Gather the people – men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages – so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law.

Then their children, who have not known this law, ¹  will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had placed his hands on him; ¹  and the Israelites listened to him and did just what the Lord had commanded Moses.

For we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan. ¹ 

When we heard the news we lost our courage and no one could even breathe for fear of you. ¹  For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below!

When you hear the signal from the ram’s horn, ¹  have the whole army give a loud battle cry. ²  Then the city wall will collapse ³  and the warriors should charge straight ahead.” ⁴ 

Now Joshua had instructed the army, ¹  “Do not give a battle cry ²  or raise your voices; say nothing ³  until the day I tell you, ‘Give the battle cry.’ ⁴  Then give the battle cry!” ⁵ 

The rams’ horns sounded ¹  and when the army ²  heard the signal, ³  they gave a loud battle cry. ⁴  The wall collapsed ⁵  and the warriors charged straight ahead into the city and captured it. ⁶ 

When the news reached all the kings on the west side of the Jordan ¹  – in the hill country, the lowlands, ²  and all along the Mediterranean coast ³  as far as ⁴  Lebanon (including the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites) –

Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, ¹  heard how Joshua captured Ai and annihilated it and its king as he did Jericho ²  and its king. ³  He also heard how ⁴  the people of Gibeon made peace with Israel and lived among them.

Now, assign me this hill country which the Lord promised me at that time! No doubt you heard at that time that the Anakites live there in large, fortified cities. ¹  But, assuming the Lord is with me, I will conquer ²  them, as the Lord promised.”

The Israelites received this report: ¹  “Look, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the entrance to ²  the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.”

When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, ¹  they were satisfied. ² 

Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. ¹  It will be a witness against you if ²  you deny your God.”

The Lord was furious with Israel. ¹  He said, “This nation ²  has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors ³  by disobeying me. ⁴ 

When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. ¹  Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!”

Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please allow us ¹  to pass through your land.” But the king of Edom rejected the request. ²  Israel sent the same request to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling to cooperate. ³  So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. ¹  He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now.”

The men refused to listen to him, so the Levite ¹  grabbed his concubine and made her go outside. ²  They raped ³  her and abused her all night long until morning. They let her go at dawn.