Entering and settling the promised land.
Explore the book of Joshua - the conquest and settlement of the promised land after the death of Moses.
The full text, World English Bible - start reading here.
ReadA new leader picks up where Moses left off.
Learn MoreJericho, Ai, and a series of military campaigns.
Learn MoreTerritory allotted, and a closing challenge to choose.
Learn MoreJoshua opens immediately after the death of Moses, with Joshua stepping into leadership and the people crossing the Jordan River into the land they had been promised for generations. The crossing is described in language deliberately echoing the earlier crossing of the Red Sea, framing this moment as a second, defining act of deliverance rather than simply the next stage of a journey.
The book's central section describes a military campaign to take control of the land, beginning with the well-known fall of Jericho's walls and continuing through a series of battles against Canaanite cities and coalitions. These chapters are among the most debated in the Old Testament, and readers approach them from very different angles, but within the book's own narrative they are presented as the fulfillment of a long-standing promise rather than as conquest for its own sake.
The later chapters shift from battle to administration, allotting territory to each of the twelve tribes in careful, almost bureaucratic detail. The book closes with Joshua, now old, gathering the people to renew their commitment, delivering the famous challenge to "choose this day whom you will serve" before affirming his own household's choice to remain loyal.