A few years back, Islamic terrorists, ISIS, were brutalizing people all over the world especially in the Middle East. Their torturous deeds were unfathomable to my mind. I could pray, though, to Almighty God, so my prayer friend and I did. God heard our cry. Today, their reign of terror has for the most part ended.

A few years back, I prayed the words found in Psalm 83 against ISIS. Today, I pray these words for all Christians in other countries where the governments are hostile to God.

God hears and remembers all of our prayers. And then our fervent prayers change the world!

Psalm 83 ~

13 O my God, scatter them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind! 14 As a fire burns a forest and as a flame sets mountains ablaze, 15 chase them with your fierce storm; terrify them with your tempest. 16 Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, O LORD . 17Let them be ashamed and terrified forever. Let them die in disgrace. 18Then they will learn that you alone are called the LORD, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.

Sometimes people talk about having to go through Hell on earth. There is a true Hell and it lasts forever. If someone in Hell could express their opinion to earth dwellers what would they say? Since God’s love toward every human is also endless, there is a story that His Son, Jesus, told to cause people to want to avoid Hell at all costs.

There was a beggar named Lazarus, who was infested with sores and so impoverished that he longed to eat the scraps of a rich man that were given to the dogs. The rich man dwelt in all the luxury life could give. But then, on an appointed day, God demanded that the rich man and the poor man’s life on earth come to an end.

The poor man, Lazarus went to Heaven. The rich man went to Hell. Both eternally established. And in the irony of ironies, the rich man became the beggar and poor man became rich. The rich man cried out to God but it was too late.

Luke 16 ~

¹⁹ Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. ²⁰ At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. ²¹ As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.

²² “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet.^[a]The rich man also died and was buried,²³ and he went to the place of the dead.^[b] There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.

²⁴ “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’

²⁵ “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. ²⁶ And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’

²⁷ “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. ²⁸ For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’

²⁹ “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’

³⁰ “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’

³¹ “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

God told Joshua at the start of overtaking the Promised Land to be strong and courageous, neither be afraid or dismayed because He, Himself, would win their battles. God went before the Israelites and struck the hearts of all with fear. God’s hand of favor was on Israel as they fought battles. And God was also their rearguard after each battle was won. All the battles were bloody and messy. It was human to human. The soldiers would look into the eyes of the lands inhabitants and according to God’s command they would kill men, women and children.

After a significant victory in which five kings were captured, Joshua repeated God’s promise to his army of being strong and courageous and letting God Himself fight the battles. Then Joshua took the five kings, killed them and after that impalled them on sharpened poles for everyone to see until the day ended.

Joshua 10 ~

²⁰ So Joshua and the Israelite army continued the slaughter and completely crushed the enemy. They totally wiped out the five armies except for a tiny remnant that managed to reach their fortified towns. ²¹ Then the Israelites returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah. After that, no one dared to speak even a word against Israel.

²² Then Joshua said, “Remove the rocks covering the opening of the cave, and bring the five kings to me.” ²³ So they brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. ²⁴ When they brought them out, Joshua told the commanders of his army, “Come and put your feet on the kings’ necks.” And they did as they were told.

²⁵ “Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged,” Joshua told his men. “Be strong and courageous, for the Lord is going to do this to all of your enemies.”²⁶ Then Joshua killed each of the five kings and impaled them on five sharpened poles, where they hung until evening.

²⁷ As the sun was going down, Joshua gave instructions for the bodies of the kings to be taken down from the poles and thrown into the cave where they had been hiding. Then they covered the opening of the cave with a pile of large rocks, which remains to this very day. 

Death didn’t hold Jesus back and it won’t hold you back from living forever as a Christian.

In Psalm 82 it is apparent that Asaph, the writer, was tired of the oppression of the righteous and the helpless. So he cried out to God.

I’m with Asaph. I’m tired of the thousands, millions of people who are oppressed by cruel governments especially those leaders hostile to Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, along with Asaph, I cry out to the God of the universe, who created it all. All power and authority has been given to His Son, Jesus. Dear God, help my persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ overcome TODAY and bring revival to their countries. I pray that the prosperity in these countries would end up in the hands of all the humble servants of Christ. Heavenly Father, use this prosperity to help them lead their countries and cause the Gospel to spread like wildfire! I know, dear God, that it’s your will that none should perish! And with You, especially, pertaining to the Gospel…Nothing shall be impossible!

Psalm 82 ~

God gave Joshua and the Israeli military the  town of Ai. So, after all the bloody fighting, Joshua made an alter to God and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he read to all of Israel, in order to remind them to follow God, the blessings and cursings that Moses has told them about previously.

Those blessings and cursings can be found in Deuteronomy 28. Joshua was carefully reminding God’s people to follow Him after they had just completed a great victory in Ai.

When God blesses our lives in a big way and we have exciting victory we must NOT forget God. We must not become arrogant but always humble ourselves before the Almighty, who is our provider in all that we have.

Joshua 8~

³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.³¹ He followed the commands that Moses the Lord’s servant had written in the Book of Instruction: “Make me an altar from stones that are uncut and have not been shaped with iron tools.”^[a] Then on the altar they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord. ³² And as the Israelites watched, Joshua copied onto the stones of the altar^[b] the instructions Moses had given them.

³³ Then all the Israelites—foreigners and native-born alike—along with the elders, officers, and judges, were divided into two groups. One group stood in front of Mount Gerizim, the other in front of Mount Ebal. Each group faced the other, and between them stood the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. This was all done according to the commands that Moses, the servant of the Lord, had previously given for blessing the people of Israel.

³⁴ Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction.³⁵ Every word of every command that Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them.

Deuteronomy 28~

1 “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. ² You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:

⁷ “The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!

⁸ “The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

⁹ “If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do.¹⁰ Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.

¹¹ “The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. ¹² The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. ¹³ If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. ¹⁴ You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.

¹⁵ “But if you refuse to listen to the Lordyour God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you:

²⁰ “The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do, until at last you are completely destroyed for doing evil and abandoning me. ²¹ The Lord will afflict you with diseases until none of you are left in the land you are about to enter and occupy. ²² The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew. These disasters will pursue you until you die. ²³ The skies above will be as unyielding as bronze, and the earth beneath will be as hard as iron. ²⁴ The Lord will change the rain that falls on your land into powder, and dust will pour down from the sky until you are destroyed.

²⁵ “The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies. You will attack your enemies from one direction, but you will scatter from them in seven! You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your corpses will be food for all the scavenging birds and wild animals, and no one will be there to chase them away.

²⁷ “The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. ²⁹ You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.

³⁰ “You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox will be butchered before your eyes, but you will not eat a single bite of the meat. Your donkey will be taken from you, never to be returned. Your sheep and goats will be given to your enemies, and no one will be there to help you. ³² You will watch as your sons and daughters are taken away as slaves. Your heart will break for them, but you won’t be able to help them.³³ A foreign nation you have never heard about will eat the crops you worked so hard to grow. You will suffer under constant oppression and harsh treatment. ³⁴ You will go mad because of all the tragedy you see around you.³⁵ The Lord will cover your knees and legs with incurable boils. In fact, you will be covered from head to foot.

³⁶ “The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone!³⁷ You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.

³⁸ “You will plant much but harvest little, for locusts will eat your crops.³⁹ You will plant vineyards and care for them, but you will not drink the wine or eat the grapes, for worms will destroy the vines. ⁴⁰ You will grow olive trees throughout your land, but you will never use the olive oil, for the fruit will drop before it ripens. ⁴¹ You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity.⁴² Swarms of insects will destroy your trees and crops.

⁴³ “The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker.⁴⁴ They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!

⁴⁵ “If you refuse to listen to the Lordyour God and to obey the commands and decrees he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed. ⁴⁶ These horrors will serve as a sign and warning among you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ If you do not serve the Lordyour God with joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits you have received, ⁴⁸ you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. You will be left hungry, thirsty, naked, and lacking in everything. The Lord will put an iron yoke on your neck, oppressing you harshly until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ “The Lord will bring a distant nation against you from the end of the earth, and it will swoop down on you like a vulture. It is a nation whose language you do not understand, ⁵⁰ a fierce and heartless nation that shows no respect for the old and no pity for the young.⁵¹ Its armies will devour your livestock and crops, and you will be destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine, olive oil, calves, or lambs, and you will starve to death. ⁵² They will attack your cities until all the fortified walls in your land—the walls you trusted to protect you—are knocked down. They will attack all the towns in the land the Lordyour God has given you.

⁵³ “The siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you. ⁵⁴ The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children. ⁵⁵ He will refuse to share with them the flesh he is devouring—the flesh of one of his own children—because he has nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns. ⁵⁶ The most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter.⁵⁷ She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns.

⁵⁸ “If you refuse to obey all the words of instruction that are written in this book, and if you do not fear the glorious and awesome name of the Lord your God,⁵⁹ then the Lord will overwhelm you and your children with indescribable plagues. These plagues will be intense and without relief, making you miserable and unbearably sick. ⁶⁰ He will afflict you with all the diseases of Egypt that you feared so much, and you will have no relief. ⁶¹ The Lord will afflict you with every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this Book of Instruction, until you are destroyed. ⁶² Though you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, few of you will be left because you would not listen to the Lord your God.

⁶³ “Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy. ⁶⁴ For the Lord will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone! ⁶⁵ There among those nations you will find no peace or place to rest. And the Lordwill cause your heart to tremble, your eyesight to fail, and your soul to despair. ⁶⁶ Your life will constantly hang in the balance. You will live night and day in fear, unsure if you will survive.⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were night!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ For you will be terrified by the awful horrors you see around you. ⁶⁸ Then the Lord will send you back to Egypt in ships, to a destination I promised you would never see again. There you will offer to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will buy you.”

Joshua was a mighty military leader. He carefully obeyed orders given to him by God. He put into action and had the mindset to be strong and courageous with God. His men trusted him.

Israel had to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best soldiers and proceeded to take the town of Ai. They did an ambush. They bluffed out the men of Ai by pretending to fearfully run from their army. Meanwhile, Israelite soldiers waited until all the men left the town chasing after the ‘fleeing’ army of Israel and then the Israelites conquered the vulnerable town and burned it. After that, the Israelites went after the Ai men who had just seen their town burning up and attacked them from both sides and killed them all except for the king who they they impaled on a pole outside the town gate.

Joshua was a man’s man who followed God fully. He was a powerful commander for Israel. He was trained by Moses always put God first even when God gave him difficult orders.

Joshua 8 ~

8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land. ² You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the town.”

³ So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night ⁴ with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action. ⁵ When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them. ⁶ We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then, while we are running from them, ⁷ you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the Lord your God will give it to you. ⁸ Set the town on fire, as the Lord has commanded. You have your orders.”

⁹ So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.¹⁰ Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.¹¹ All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town and camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the town. ¹² That night Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town. ¹³ So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley.

¹⁴ When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley.^[a] But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town. ¹⁵ Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten. ¹⁶ Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town. ¹⁷ There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel^[b] who did not chase after the Israelites, and the town was left wide open.

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.” Joshua did as he was commanded. ¹⁹ As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.

²⁰ When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers. ²¹ When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai.²² Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped. ²³ Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

²⁴ When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of Ai in the open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside. ²⁵ So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day—12,000 in all. ²⁶ For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed.^{[c] 27} Only the livestock and the treasures of the town were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these as plunder for themselves, as the Lordhad commanded Joshua. ²⁸ So Joshua burned the town of Ai,^[d] and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day.

²⁹ Joshua impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today.

³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.

I love the words of Jesus.

Every Sunday at church, when it’s time to pray at the end with people who want to let Jesus rule their life, something miraculous and amazing happens. In Heaven, a party gets started. According to the words of Jesus, angels are rejoicing in that moment. Soul battles have been won!!

Luke 15 ~

15 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. ² This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

³ So Jesus told them this story: ⁴ “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. ⁶ When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Joshua helped Moses lead the Israelites. When they surveyed the Promised Land Joshua and Caleb were the only ones who gave a good report that they could take the land from its inhabitants. God, Himself, encouraged Joshua as he took the lead in Moses’ place. God showed the people He was with Joshua when he parted the Jordan River. Then God told Joshua, at the start, to do something difficult and that was to circumcise the Israelite men before they started taking over in the Promised Land.

Joshua was a godly leader. When they were beginning to take land, the city of Jericho, Joshua met the angel commander of God’s army. God’s army was preparing to fight the battle! Joshua was humble. This great leader fell to his knees in front of the mighty angel.

We need leaders among Christians and in our government; local, state and federal, who are mighty, humble and obedient like Joshua! Even in countries that are hostile to Christianity, we need such leaders to bring the Gospel to their land.

Joshua 5 ~

¹³ When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?”

¹⁴ “Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the Lord’s army.”

At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. “I am at your command,” Joshua said. “What do you want your servant to do?”

¹⁵ The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did as he was told.

I asked my son to read a blog I wrote. He said it was too lengthy.

Today, I write a lengthy blog. It don’t mind if the short attention spans of social media enthusiasts don’t read it. I trust that those who need to read it will, simply because it’s the Word of God. God’s Word will accomplish all that He wants it to accomplish.

So, the following two chapters from the Bible are about Joshua when he became the leader of the Israelites. He had to fill big shoes. He followed Moses but God helped him.

Joshua 3 ~

1 Early the next morning Joshua and all the Israelites left Acacia Grove^[a] and arrived at the banks of the Jordan River, where they camped before crossing. ² Three days later the Israelite officers went through the camp,³ giving these instructions to the people: “When you see the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, move out from your positions and follow them. ⁴ Since you have never traveled this way before, they will guide you. Stay about half a mile^[b] behind them, keeping a clear distance between you and the Ark. Make sure you don’t come any closer.”

⁵ Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.”

⁶ In the morning Joshua said to the priests, “Lift up the Ark of the Covenant and lead the people across the river.” And so they started out and went ahead of the people.

⁷ The Lord told Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses. ⁸ Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there.’”

⁹ So Joshua told the Israelites, “Come and listen to what the Lord your God says. ¹⁰ Today you will know that the living God is among you. He will surely drive out the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites ahead of you.¹¹ Look, the Ark of the Covenant, which belongs to the Lord of the whole earth, will lead you across the Jordan River!¹² Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.¹³ The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.”

¹⁴ So the people left their camp to cross the Jordan, and the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. ¹⁵ It was the harvest season, and the Jordan was overflowing its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priests who were carrying the Ark touched the water at the river’s edge, ¹⁶ the water above that point began backing up a great distance away at a town called Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water below that point flowed on to the Dead Sea^[c] until the riverbed was dry. Then all the people crossed over near the town of Jericho.

¹⁷ Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan on dry ground.

Joshua 4 ~

1 When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,² “Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. ³ Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. Carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight.’”

⁴ So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. ⁵ He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁶ We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ⁷ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”

⁸ So the men did as Joshua had commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River, one for each tribe, just as the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the place where they camped for the night and constructed the memorial there.

⁹ Joshua also set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, at the place where the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant were standing. And they are there to this day.

¹⁰ The priests who were carrying the Ark stood in the middle of the river until all of the Lord’s commands that Moses had given to Joshua were carried out. Meanwhile, the people hurried across the riverbed. ¹¹ And when everyone was safely on the other side, the priests crossed over with the Ark of the Lordas the people watched.

¹² The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh led the Israelites across the Jordan, just as Moses had directed.¹³ These armed men—about 40,000 strong—were ready for battle, and the Lord was with them as they crossed over to the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴ That day the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.

¹⁵ The Lord had said to Joshua,¹⁶ “Command the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant^[d] to come up out of the riverbed.” ¹⁷ So Joshua gave the command. ¹⁸ As soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant came up out of the riverbed and their feet were on high ground, the water of the Jordan returned and overflowed its banks as before.

¹⁹ The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month.^[e] Then they camped at Gilgal, just east of Jericho. ²⁰ It was there at Gilgal that Joshua piled up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River.

²¹ Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ²² Then you can tell them, ‘This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did at the Red Sea^[f] when he dried it up until we had all crossed over.²⁴ He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord’s hand is powerful, and so you might fear the Lord your God forever.”