Joshua 1 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Around 1400 BC by the earlier dating, or about 1250 BC by the later one, just after the death of Moses and the end of forty years in the wilderness
Location
The plains of Moab on the eastern side of the Jordan River, opposite Jericho, near the northern end of the Dead Sea
Audience
Later generations of Israelites in the land, and eventually exiles asking whether God's promises about the land still held
Situation
With Moses dead, God commissions Joshua to lead Israel across the Jordan, promising presence and repeatedly telling him to be strong and courageous. Joshua orders the people to prepare provisions and reminds the eastern tribes of their pledge to fight alongside their brothers before settling down.
Key Background
Leadership transitions in the ancient world were the moment a movement most often collapsed, so the repeated commissioning language and the promise that God will be with Joshua as he was with Moses function like a public installation ceremony. The instruction to meditate on the book of the law day and night reflects a world where texts were recited aloud and memorised rather than read silently and privately. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh had already been given land east of the Jordan, and the reminder of their promise addresses the obvious risk that troops with their own farms secured would not cross the river to fight.
After the death of Moses, Yahweh's Yahweh spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses'
"Moses my servant is dead. Now get up and cross the -- you and all these people -- into the land I'm to the Israelites.
Every place your foot steps, it to you -- just as I promised Moses.
Your territory will stretch from the in the south to Lebanon in the north, and from the great Euphrates River -- all the -- to the in the west.
No one will be able to you as long as you live. I'll be with you the same way I was with Moses -- I you down and I from you.
Be and because you're the one who will lead these people to of the land I swore to give their ancestors.
Just be strong and very courageous. Be careful to follow all the that Moses my servant gave you. Don't turn from them to the right or to the left, so that you'll wherever you go.
Never stop talking this of it day and night so that you're careful to do everything written in it. Then you'll be and you'll succeed.
Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and courageous! be and be because Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go."
Then Joshua gave orders to the of the people:
"Go through the camp and tell the people: 'Get your ready, because in three days you're going to cross this Jordan River to go in and take possession of the land that Yahweh your God is giving you.'"
Then Joshua said to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the of
"Remember what Moses, Yahweh's servant, commanded you: 'Yahweh your God is giving you and is giving you this land.'
Your wives, your children, and your livestock can stay in the land Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But all your must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites, ready for battle, and help them
until Yahweh gives your rest too, just like he's given you, and they also take possession of the land that Yahweh your God is giving them. Then you can go back to your own land and settle down in the territory that Moses, Yahweh's servant, gave you on the east side of the Jordan."
They answered Joshua: "Everything you've commanded us, we'll do. Wherever you send us, we'll go.
We'll obey you just like we obeyed Moses in everything. We just ask that Yahweh your God be with you the way he was with Moses.
Anyone who and doesn't obey words -- whatever you command -- that person will be put to death. Just be strong and courageous!"