He said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

"My time to die has come. Be confident and determined,

If you obey him, the LORD will keep the promise he made when he told me that my descendants would rule Israel as long as they were careful to obey his commands faithfully with all their heart and soul.

Don't put your trust in human leaders; no human being can save you.

When they die, they return to the dust; on that day all their plans come to an end.

Your ancestors and those prophets are no longer alive.

Through my servants the prophets I gave your ancestors commands and warnings, but they disregarded them and suffered the consequences. Then they repented and acknowledged that I, the LORD Almighty, had punished them as they deserved and as I had determined to do.' "

"Now, Lord, you have kept your promise, and you may let your servant go in peace.

For David served God's purposes in his own time, and then he died, was buried with his ancestors, and his body rotted in the grave.

As for me, the hour has come for me to be sacrificed; the time is here for me to leave this life.

There is no record of Melchizedek's father or mother or of any of his ancestors; no record of his birth or of his death. He is like the Son of God; he remains a priest forever.

In the case of the priests the tenth is collected by men who die; but as for Melchizedek the tenth was collected by one who lives, as the scripture says.

There is another difference: there were many of those other priests, because they died and could not continue their work.

And so he is able, now and always, to save those who come to God through him, because he lives forever to plead with God for them.

I know that I shall soon put off this mortal body, as our Lord Jesus Christ plainly told me.

But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and when they leave that foreign land, they will take great wealth with them.

Remember, I will be with you and protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done all that I have promised you."

I will go with you to Egypt, and I will bring your descendants back to this land. Joseph will be with you when you die."

In this book are the words that Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between the town of Paran on one side and the towns of Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab on the other.

On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after they had left Egypt, Moses told the people everything the LORD had commanded him to tell them.

It was while the people were east of the Jordan in the territory of Moab that Moses began to explain God's laws and teachings. He said,

Break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the surrounding regions---to the Jordan Valley, to the hill country and the lowlands, to the southern region, and to the Mediterranean coast. Go to the land of Canaan and on beyond the Lebanon Mountains as far as the great Euphrates River.

Moses said to the people, "While we were still at Mount Sinai, I told you, 'The responsibility for leading you is too much for me. I can't do it alone.

May the LORD, the God of your ancestors, make you increase a thousand times more and make you prosperous, as he promised!

Choose some wise, understanding, and experienced men from each tribe, and I will put them in charge of you.'

So I took the wise and experienced leaders you chose from your tribes, and I placed them in charge of you. Some were responsible for a thousand people, some for a hundred, some for fifty, and some for ten. I also appointed other officials throughout the tribes.

Show no partiality in your decisions; judge everyone on the same basis, no matter who they are. Do not be afraid of anyone, for the decisions you make come from God. If any case is too difficult for you, bring it to me, and I will decide it.'

"We did what the LORD our God commanded us. We left Mount Sinai and went through that vast and fearful desert on the way to the hill country of the Amorites. When we reached Kadesh Barnea,

(SEE 1:20)

"That seemed like a good thing to do, so I selected twelve men, one from each tribe.

They brought us back some fruit they found there, and reported that the land which the LORD our God was giving us was very fertile.

You grumbled to one another: 'The LORD hates us. He brought us out of Egypt just to hand us over to these Amorites, so that they could kill us.

"But I told you, 'Don't be afraid of those people.

and in the desert. You saw how he brought you safely all the way to this place, just as a father would carry his son.'

even though he always went ahead of you to find a place for you to camp. To show you the way, he went in front of you in a pillar of fire by night and in a pillar of cloud by day.

'Not one of you from this evil generation will enter the fertile land that I promised to give your ancestors.

Because of you the LORD also became angry with me and said, 'Not even you, Moses, will enter the land.

"Then the LORD said to all of us, 'Your children, who are still too young to know right from wrong, will enter the land---the children you said would be seized by your enemies. I will give the land to them, and they will occupy it.

"You replied, 'Moses, we have sinned against the LORD. But now we will attack, just as the LORD our God commanded us.' Then each one of you got ready to fight, thinking it would be easy to invade the hill country.

I told you what the LORD had said, but you paid no attention. You rebelled against him, and in your pride you marched into the hill country.

So you cried out to the LORD for help, but he would not listen to you or pay any attention to you.

The LORD himself will lead you and be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you, so do not lose courage or be afraid."

Joshua, no one will be able to defeat you as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will always be with you; I will never abandon you.

Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the LORD your God, am with you wherever you go."

The LORD said to Joshua, "What I do today will make all the people of Israel begin to honor you as a great man, and they will realize that I am with you as I was with Moses.

"Now my time has come to die. Every one of you knows in his heart and soul that the LORD your God has given you all the good things that he promised. Every promise he made has been kept; not one has failed.

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem. He called the elders, the leaders, the judges, and the officers of Israel, and they came into the presence of God.

Then I took Abraham, your ancestor, from the land across the Euphrates and led him through the whole land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,

Later I sent Moses and Aaron, and I brought great trouble on Egypt. But I led you out;

they cried out to me for help, and I put darkness between them and the Egyptians. I made the sea come rolling over the Egyptians and drown them. You know what I did to Egypt. " 'You lived in the desert a long time.

Then the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, fought against you. He sent word to Balaam son of Beor and asked him to put a curse on you.

You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought you, as did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I gave you victory over them all.

I gave you a land that you had never worked and cities that you had not built. Now you are living there and eating grapes from vines that you did not plant, and olives from trees that you did not plant.'

If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the LORD."

The LORD our God brought our fathers and us out of slavery in Egypt, and we saw the miracles that he performed. He kept us safe wherever we went among all the nations through which we passed.

Joshua said to the people, "But you may not be able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God and will not forgive your sins. He will tolerate no rivals,

The people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the LORD."

"Then get rid of those foreign gods that you have," he demanded, "and pledge your loyalty to the LORD, the God of Israel."

So Joshua made a covenant for the people that day, and there at Shechem he gave them laws and rules to follow.

He said to all the people, "This stone will be our witness. It has heard all the words that the LORD has spoken to us. So it will be a witness against you, to keep you from rebelling against your God."

After that, the LORD's servant Joshua son of Nun died at the age of a hundred and ten.

As long as Joshua lived, the people of Israel served the LORD, and after his death they continued to do so as long as those leaders were alive who had seen for themselves everything that the LORD had done for Israel.

Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, the town in the hill country of Ephraim which had been given to his son Phinehas.

The LORD lives! Praise my defender! Proclaim the greatness of the God who saves me.

Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the wealth and all the slaves they had acquired in Haran, and they started out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan,

Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham.

Jacob continued to live in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived,