Courage at the River's Edge

1. Now after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh, Yahweh spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, 2. “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. 3. I have given you every place that the sole of your foot will tread on, as I told Moses. 4. 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, shall be your border. 5. 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. 6. “Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7. 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. 8. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe 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. 9. Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.” 10. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11. “Pass through the middle of the camp, and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare food; for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which Yahweh your God gives you to possess it.’” 12. Joshua spoke to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, saying, 13. “Remember the word which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, saying, ‘Yahweh your God gives you rest, and will give you this land. 14. Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock, shall live in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan; but you shall pass over before your brothers armed, all the mighty men of valor, and shall help them 15. until Yahweh has given your brothers rest, as he has given you, and they have also possessed the land which Yahweh your God gives them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession, and possess it, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.’” 16. They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17. Just as we listened to Moses in all things, so will we listen to you. Only may Yahweh your God be with you, as he was with Moses. 18. Whoever rebels against your commandment, and doesn’t listen to your words in all that you command him shall himself be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.” 1. Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there. 2. The king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land.” 3. Jericho’s king sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land.” 4. The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from. 5. About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6. But she had brought them up to the roof, and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. 7. The men pursued them along the way to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 8. Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof. 9. She said to the men, “I know that Yahweh 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. 10. For we have heard how Yahweh 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, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11. As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath. 12. Now therefore, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true sign; 13. and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.” 14. The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.” 15. Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall. 16. She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way.” 17. The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear. 18. Behold, when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. Gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. 19. It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him. 20. But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you’ve made us to swear.” 21. She said, “Let it be as you have said.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet line in the window. 22. They went, and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but didn’t find them. 23. Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, crossed the river, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. They told him all that had happened to them. 24. They said to Joshua, “Truly Yahweh has delivered all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.” 1. Joshua got up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They camped there before they crossed over. 2. After three days, the officers went through the middle of the camp; 3. and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of Yahweh your God’s covenant, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then leave your place, and follow it. 4. Yet there shall be a space between you and it of about two thousand cubits by measure—don’t come closer to it—that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before.” 5. Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow Yahweh will do wonders among you.” 6. Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and cross over before the people.” They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. 7. Yahweh said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to magnify you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8. You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” 9. Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of Yahweh your God.” 10. Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you. 11. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan. 12. Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. 13. It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters that come down from above shall stand in one heap.” 14. When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people, 15. and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest), 16. the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over near Jericho. 17. The priests who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the nation had passed completely over the Jordan.

1. Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ; I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2. Yes, I beg you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against some, who consider us to be walking according to the flesh. 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh; 4. for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, 5. throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; 6. and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience will be made full. 7. Do you look at things only as they appear in front of your face? If anyone trusts in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ’s, so also we are Christ’s. 8. For though I should boast somewhat abundantly concerning our authority, (which the Lord gave for building you up, and not for casting you down) I will not be disappointed, 9. that I may not seem as if I desire to terrify you by my letters. 10. For, “His letters”, they say, “are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is despised.” 11. Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such are we also in deed when we are present. 12. For we are not bold to number or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But they themselves, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are without understanding. 13. But we will not boast beyond proper limits, but within the boundaries with which God appointed to us, which reach even to you. 14. For we don’t stretch ourselves too much, as though we didn’t reach to you. For we came even as far as to you with the Good News of Christ, 15. not boasting beyond proper limits in other men’s labors, but having hope that as your faith grows, we will be abundantly enlarged by you in our sphere of influence, 16. so as to preach the Good News even to the parts beyond you, not to boast in what someone else has already done. 17. But “he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” 18. For it isn’t he who commends himself who is approved, but whom the Lord commends. 1. I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me. 2. For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3. But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different “good news”, which you did not accept, you put up with that well enough. 5. For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles. 6. But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been revealed to you in all things. 7. Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God’s Good News free of charge? 8. I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might serve you. 9. When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so. 10. As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11. Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows. 12. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion, that in which they boast, they may be found even as we. 13. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles. 14. And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. 15. It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. 16. I say again, let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little. 17. That which I speak, I don’t speak according to the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. 18. Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast. 19. For you bear with the foolish gladly, being wise. 20. For you bear with a man, if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, if he strikes you on the face. 21. I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet in whatever way anyone is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. 22. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23. Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. 24. Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one. 25. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep. 26. I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers; 27. in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness. 28. Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily: anxiety for all the assemblies. 29. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don’t burn with indignation? 30. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness. 31. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forever more, knows that I don’t lie. 32. In Damascus the governor under King Aretas guarded the Damascenes’ city, desiring to arrest me. 33. Through a window I was let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.

1. Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, until disaster has passed. 2. I cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes my requests for me. 3. He will send from heaven, and save me, he rebukes the one who is pursuing me. Selah. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth. 4. My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. 5. Be exalted, God, above the heavens! Let your glory be above all the earth! 6. They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dig a pit before me. They fall into the middle of it themselves. Selah. 7. My heart is steadfast, God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises. 8. Wake up, my glory! Wake up, lute and harp! I will wake up the dawn. 9. I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations. 10. For your great loving kindness reaches to the heavens, and your truth to the skies. 11. Be exalted, God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.