Tuesday, 19 March

1.   After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: 2.   "Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them––the children of Israel. 3.   "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. 4.   "From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as 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 territory. 5.   "No man shall 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 leave you nor forsake you. 6.   "Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7.   "Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8.   "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9.   "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." 10.   Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11.   "Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’" 12.   And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh Joshua spoke, saying, 13.   "Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.’ 14.   "Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But you shall pass before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and help them, 15.   "until the LORD has given your brethren rest, as He gave you, and they also have taken possession of the land which the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD’S servant gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise." 16.   So they answered Joshua, saying, "All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17.   "Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses. 18.   "Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage."

1.   Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. 2.   And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country." 3.   So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country." 4.   Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5.   "And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them." 6.   (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.) 7.   Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. 8.   Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9.   and said to the men: "I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. 10.   "For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11.   "And as soon as we heard these things , our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. 12.   "Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token, 13.   "and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death." 14.   So the men answered her, "Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the LORD has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you." 15.   Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. 16.   And she said to them, "Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way." 17.   So the men said to her: "We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, 18.   "unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. 19.   "So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20.   "And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear." 21.   Then she said, "According to your words, so be it." And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window. 22.   They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them . 23.   So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. 24.   And they said to Joshua, "Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us."

1.   Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2.   So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3.   and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4.   "Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before." 5.   And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." 6.   Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. 7.   And the LORD said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt 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 have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.’" 9.   So Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God." 10.   And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: 11.   "Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. 12.   "Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. 13.   "And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap." 14.   So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15.   and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16.   that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17.   Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

1.   And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2.   he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." 3.   And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John’s baptism." 4.   Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." 5.   When they heard this , they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6.   And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. 7.   Now the men were about twelve in all. 8.   And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. 9.   But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10.   And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 11.   Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, 12.   so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. 13.   Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." 14.   Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15.   And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" 16.   Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17.   This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18.   And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19.   Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20.   So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.