One Year Bible.

Crossing the Jordan

¹Early the next morning Joshua got up and left Shittim with all the Israelites. They went as far as the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over.

²After three days the officers went through the camp ³and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you are to set out from your positions and follow it. ⁴But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between yourselves and the ark. Do not go near it, so that you can see the way to go, since you have never traveled this way before.”

⁵Then Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” ⁶And he said to the priests, “Take the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them.

⁷Now the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you just as I was with Moses. ⁸Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the waters, stand in the Jordan.’”

⁹So Joshua told the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.” ¹⁰He continued, “This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that He will surely drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. ¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go ahead of you into the Jordan.

¹²Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. ¹³When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD — the Lord of all the earth — touch down in the waters of the Jordan, its flowing waters will be cut off and will stand up in a heap.”

¹⁴So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of them.

¹⁵Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over the dry ground, until the entire nation had crossed the Jordan.

Twelve Stones from the Jordan

¹When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, ²“Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, ³and command them: ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests were standing, carry them with you, and set them down in the place where you spend the night.’”

⁴So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, ⁵and said to them, “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, ⁶to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷you are to tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters were cut off.’ Therefore these stones will be a memorial to the Israelites forever.”

⁸Thus the Israelites did as Joshua had commanded them. They took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each tribe of Israel, just as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them to the camp, where they set them down.

⁹Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood. And the stones are there to this day.

¹⁰Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until the people had completed everything the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell them, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried across, ¹¹and after everyone had finished crossing, the priests with the ark of the LORD crossed in the sight of the people. ¹²The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over before the Israelites, armed for battle as Moses had instructed them. ¹³About 40,000 troops armed for battle crossed over before the LORD into the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him all the days of his life, just as they had revered Moses.

¹⁵Then the LORD said to Joshua, ¹⁶“Command the priests who carry the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.”

¹⁷So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up from the Jordan.”

¹⁸When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up out of the Jordan and their feet touched the dry land, the waters of the Jordan returned to their course and overflowed all the banks as before.

The Camp at Gilgal

¹⁹On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. ²⁰And there at Gilgal Joshua set up the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.

²¹Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’ ²²you are to tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as He did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over. ²⁴He did this so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God.”

The Circumcision and Passover at Gilgal

¹Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and their spirits failed for fear of the Israelites.

²At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel once again.” ³So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.

⁴Now this is why Joshua circumcised them: All those who came out of Egypt— all the men of war— had died on the journey in the wilderness after they had left Egypt. ⁵Though all who had come out were circumcised, none of those born in the wilderness on the journey from Egypt had been circumcised.

⁶For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷And He raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. Until this time they were still uncircumcised, since they had not been circumcised along the way.

⁸And after all the nation had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they were healed.

⁹Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.

¹⁰On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover. ¹¹The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.

¹²And the day after they had eaten from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. There was no more manna for the Israelites, so that year they began to eat the crops of the land of Canaan.

The Commander of the LORD’s Army

¹³Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?”

¹⁴“Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the LORD’s army.”

Then Joshua fell facedown in reverence and asked Him, “What does my Lord have to say to His servant?”

¹⁵The Commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.”

And Joshua did so.

The Lord of the Sabbath

¹One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them. ²But some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

³Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴He entered the house of God, took the consecrated bread and gave it to his companions, and ate what is lawful only for the priests to eat.”

⁵Then Jesus declared, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

⁶On another Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. ⁷Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath.

⁸But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand among us.” So he got up and stood there.

⁹Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰And after looking around at all of them, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and it was restored.

¹¹But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

The Twelve Apostles

¹²In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God. ¹³When daylight came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated as apostles: ¹⁴Simon, whom He named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alphaeus and Simon called the Zealot; ¹⁶Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Heals the Multitudes

¹⁷Then Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of His disciples was there, along with a great number of people from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸They had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, and those troubled by unclean spirits were healed. ¹⁹The entire crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming from Him and healing them all.

The Beatitudes

²⁰Looking up at His disciples, Jesus said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

²²Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. ²³Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For their fathers treated the prophets in the same way.

Woes to the Satisfied

²⁴But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

²⁵Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will hunger.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

²⁶Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

for their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way.

Love Your Enemies

²⁷But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well. ³⁰Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back. ³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³²If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. ³⁴And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

³⁵But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Judging Others

³⁷Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

³⁹Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

⁴¹Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? ⁴²How can you say, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while you yourself fail to see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles. ⁴⁵The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

The House on the Rock

⁴⁶Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say? ⁴⁷I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them: ⁴⁸He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

⁴⁹But the one who hears My words and does not act on them is like a man who built his house on ground without a foundation. The torrent crashed against that house, and immediately it fell — and great was its destruction!”