1Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, 2Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. 3Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 4From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. 5There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 6Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.1.6 unto this…: or, thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land, etc 7Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.1.7 prosper: or, do wisely 8This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.1.8 have…: or, do wisely 9Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
10¶ Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.
12¶ And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, 13Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, The LORD your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. 14Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them;1.14 armed: Heb. marshalled by five 15Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD’s servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising.
16¶ And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. 17According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the LORD thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. 18Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.
እግዚአብሔር ኢያሱን አዘዘ
1የእግዚአብሔር ባሪያ ሙሴ ከሞተ በኋላ፣ እግዚአብሔር የሙሴን አገልጋይ የነዌን ልጅ ኢያሱን እንዲህ አለው፤ 2“እነሆ፤ ባሪያዬ ሙሴ ሞቷል፤ እንግዲህ አሁንም አንተና ይህ ሕዝብ ሁሉ ተነሡ፤ ለእስራኤላውያን ወደምሰጣቸው ምድር ለመግባት የዮርዳኖስን ወንዝ ተሻገሩ። 3ለሙሴ በሰጠሁትም ተስፋ መሠረት፣ እግራችሁ የሚረግጠውን ቦታ ሁሉ እሰጣችኋለሁ። 4የርስታችሁ ዳርቻ ከምድረ በዳው እስከ ሊባኖስ፣ ከታላቁ ወንዝ ከኤፍራጥስ አንሥቶ፣ የኬጢያውያንን ምድር በሙሉ ይዞ፣ በምዕራብ በኩል እስከ ታላቁ ባሕር1፥4 የሜድትራኒያን ባሕር ይደርሳል። 5በሕይወት በምትኖርበት ዘመን ሁሉ ማንም አይቋቋምህም፤ ከሙሴ ጋር እንደ ነበርሁ ሁሉ ከአንተም ጋር እሆናለሁ፤ ከቶ አልጥልህም፤ አልተውህም።
6“ጽና፤ ለቀደሙት አባቶቻቸው እሰጣችኋለሁ ብዬ የማልሁላቸውን ምድር እንዲወርሱ፣ ይህን ሕዝብ የምትመራው አንተ ነህና በርታ። 7አይዞህ፤ ብቻ አንተ በርታ፤ ባሪያዬ ሙሴ የሰጠህን ትእዛዝ ሁሉ በጥንቃቄ ጠብቅ፤ በምትሄድበትም ሁሉ እንዲሳካልህ፣ ወደ ቀኝም ወደ ግራም አትበል። 8ይህ የሕግ መጽሐፍ ከአፍህ አይለይ፤ በውስጡ የተጻፈውን ሁሉ በጥንቃቄ እንድትፈጽመውም ቀንም ሆነ ሌት ከሐሳብህ አትለየው፤ ይህን ካደረግህ ያሰብኸው ይቃናል፤ ይሳካልም፤ 9በምትሄድበት ሁሉ እግዚአብሔር አምላክህ ከአንተ ጋር ነውና አይዞህ፤ በርታ፤ ጽና፤ አትፍራ፤ አትደንግጥ ብዬ አላዘዝሁህምን?”
10ኢያሱም የሕዝቡን አለቆች እንዲህ ሲል አዘዛቸው፤ 11“ወደ ሰፈር ግቡ፤ ለሕዝቡም፣ ‘ስንቃችሁን አዘጋጁ፤ ከአሁን ጀምሮ ባሉት ሦስት ቀናት ውስጥ ዮርዳኖስን ተሻግራችሁ፣ እግዚአብሔር አምላካችሁ ርስት አድርጎ የሚሰጣችሁን ምድር ገብታችሁ ትወርሳላችሁ’ በሏቸው።”
12ኢያሱ የሮቤልን ነገድ፣ የጋድን ነገድና የምናሴን ነገድ እኩሌታ እንዲህ አላቸው፤ 13“የእግዚአብሔር ባሪያ ሙሴ እንዲህ ሲል የሰጣችሁን ትእዛዝ አስቡ፤ ‘እግዚአብሔር አምላካችሁ ያሳርፋችኋል፤ ይህችንም ምድር ይሰጣችኋል።’ 14ሚስቶቻችሁና ልጆቻችሁ እንዲሁም ከብቶቻችሁ ሙሴ በሰጣችሁ ከዮርዳኖስ በስተ ምሥራቅ ባለው ምድር ይቈዩ፤ ነገር ግን ተዋጊዎቻችሁ ሁሉ፣ ከነሙሉ ትጥቃቸው፣ ከወንድሞቻችሁ ቀድመው ይሻገሩ፤ እናንተም ከወንድሞቻችሁ ጐን ተሰለፉ። 15ይህም፣ እግዚአብሔር እስኪያሳርፋቸውና ለእናንተም እንዳደረገው ሁሉ፣ እነርሱም እግዚአብሔር አምላካችሁ የሰጣቸውን ምድር እስኪወርሱ ድረስ ነው። ከዚህ በኋላ እናንተም ተመልሳችሁ የእግዚአብሔር ባሪያ ሙሴ የሰጣችሁን፣ በፀሓይ መውጫ ከዮርዳኖስ በስተ ምሥራቅ ያለውን ምድር ትወርሳላችሁ።”
16እነርሱም ለኢያሱ እንዲህ ሲሉ መለሱለት፤ “ያዘዝኸንን ሁሉ እናደርጋለን፤ ወደምትልከንም ሁሉ እንሄዳለን። 17ለሙሴ ሙሉ በሙሉ እንደ ታዘዝን ሁሉ፣ ለአንተም እንታዘዛለን፤ ብቻ እግዚአብሔር አምላክህ ከሙሴ ጋር እንደ ነበረ፣ አሁንም ከአንተ ጋር ይሁን። 18በትእዛዝህ ላይ የሚያምፅና ለቃልህ የማይታዘዝ ሁሉ ይገደል፤ ብቻ አንተ ጽና፤ አይዞህ፤ በርታ።”
