The Book of Josue (Joshua)

The Book of Josue opens on the day after the death of Moses and closes with the burial of Josue, Eleazar and the bones of Joseph in the land God had sworn to the patriarchs. Between those two burials, across 24 chapters, Israel crosses the Jordan, sees Jericho fall, conquers the land and receives it by lot. Below this guide every chapter is given with the Latin Vulgate beside the Douay-Rheims.

Who wrote the Book of Joshua?

The Church received the book under the name of its hero, and the common Catholic opinion holds that Josue himself wrote it. Bishop Challoner's preface to the Douay Bible states the tradition plainly: the book "is called JOSUE, because it contains the history of what passed under him, and according to the common opinion was written by him." The Talmud (Baba Bathra 14b–15a) likewise holds that Josue wrote the book that bears his name, and that the account of his death was added afterwards by another hand.

The book itself supports this. At the covenant of Sichem we read that Josue "wrote all these things in the volume of the law of the Lord" (Josue 24:26). Rahab is said to dwell "in the midst of Israel until this present day" (6:25), which suits a writer of her own generation. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) adds that the boundaries of the tribes are drawn with a surveyor's precision, and that the book knows a land in which the Jebusite still holds Jerusalem (15:63), the Chanaanite still dwells in Gazer (16:10), and Sidon, not Tyre, is the great city of Phoenicia. All of this points to an author who lived not long after Josue, and certainly before David took Jerusalem.

The closing verses, which report his death at a hundred and ten years and his burial in Thamnathsare (24:29–33), cannot be his own. Challoner notes: "If Josue wrote this book, as is commonly believed, these last verses were added by Samuel, or some other prophet." Many modern scholars instead see the book as part of a much later historical work compiled from older sources.

Josue was of the tribe of Ephraim, the son of Nun (1 Paralipomenon 7:27). Moses changed his name from Osee to Josue when he sent him to spy out Chanaan (Numbers 13:17). He commanded Israel against Amalec (Exodus 17), served Moses as his minister, and received the laying on of hands as his successor (Numbers 27:18–23), so that he "was filled with the spirit of wisdom" (Deuteronomy 34:9).

When was the Book of Joshua written?

On the traditional view the book was written during Josue's lifetime, with its final verses added soon after his death. It was certainly written before David. As to the conquest itself, Scripture counts four hundred and eighty years from the Exodus to the fourth year of Solomon (3 Kings 6:1). On that reckoning Israel entered Chanaan in the second millennium before Christ, though chronologers have never agreed on an exact year. Within the book, the wars of conquest last about seven years, as may be reckoned from Caleb's words: he was forty when Moses sent him to view the land, and eighty-five when the land was divided, forty-five years later (14:7, 10).

What is the Book of Joshua about? A summary

The Catholic Encyclopedia divides the book into three parts: the conquest (chapters 1–12), the division of the land (13–22), and Josue's farewell (23–24).

The crossing of the Jordan (chapters 1–5)

God charges Josue to be strong and to keep the law day and night (chapters 1–5). Two spies go out from Setim to Jericho, where Rahab hides them and is given the sign of the scarlet cord (Josue 2). When the priests carrying the ark set their feet in the flooded Jordan, the waters above stand "swelling up like a mountain" and the people cross on dry ground (Josue 3).

Twelve stones taken from the riverbed are set up at Galgal, and twelve more are placed in the channel where the priests stood (Josue 4). At Galgal the new generation is circumcised with knives of stone, the Pasch is kept, the manna ceases, and the Prince of the host of the Lord appears to Josue with a drawn sword (Josue 5).

Jericho, Hai and the Gabaonites (chapters 6–9)

For six days the army goes around Jericho in silence behind the ark. On the seventh day it goes around seven times, the priests sound the trumpets, the people shout, and the walls fall (chapters 6–9). Only Rahab and her household are spared. Then Achan of Juda steals from the anathema, and Israel is routed before the little town of Hai until his sin is uncovered and punished in the Valley of Achor (Josue 7). Hai is taken by an ambush, and on Mount Hebal the law is written on stones and read to all the people (Josue 8). The Gabaonites, with worn-out sacks and mended wine-bottles, trick Israel into a treaty. Their lives are spared, and they become hewers of wood and drawers of water for the altar (Josue 9).

The southern and northern campaigns (chapters 10–12)

Five Amorrhite kings attack Gabaon. Josue marches by night, the Lord casts down great hailstones, and at Josue's word "the sun stood still in the midst of heaven" (chapters 10–12). The cities of the south fall one by one. In the north, Jabin of Asor gathers a host "as the sand that is on the sea shore" and is broken at the waters of Merom (Josue 11). Chapter 12 lists the thirty-one kings Israel overcame on both sides of the Jordan.

The division of the land (chapters 13–22)

Josue, now old, divides the land by lot (chapters 13–22). Ruben, Gad and half of Manasses already hold their portion east of the Jordan. Caleb, eighty-five years old and still strong, claims Hebron (Josue 14). Juda receives its portion, then Ephraim and Manasses (Josue 15). The tabernacle is set up at Silo, and the remaining seven tribes are surveyed and receive their lots there (Josue 18).

Six cities of refuge (Cedes, Sichem, Hebron, Bosor, Ramoth and Gaulon) are appointed for anyone who has killed a man unawares (Josue 20), and forty-eight cities are given to the Levites. The section closes with the words "Not so much as one word, which he had promised to perform unto them, was made void, but all came to pass" (Josue 21:43). The eastern tribes go home and build a great altar by the Jordan. Civil war is averted when they explain that it is only a witness, "that the Lord is God" (Josue 22).

Josue's farewell and the covenant at Sichem (chapters 23–24)

The old leader warns the princes against mixing with the nations and their gods (chapters 23–24). At Sichem he recounts all that God has done since Abraham, renews the covenant, and sets up a great stone as its witness under the oak in the sanctuary (Josue 24). He dies, and "Israel served the Lord all the days of Josue." The book ends with the bones of Joseph laid in Sichem and Eleazar buried on Mount Ephraim. The story continues in the Book of Judges.

Themes and the Catholic reading of Josue

Josue and Jesus. In Hebrew the two names are one. Challoner explains that both mean "A SAVIOUR", and that "it was not without a mystery" that Osee was renamed Josue. Moses by the law could only bring the people within sight of the inheritance, but Jesus was to bring us into it. The Greek Bible writes his name Iesous, and the Latin of Ecclesiasticus and Hebrews renders it simply as Jesus. Ecclesiasticus praises "Jesus the son of Nave... who was great according to his name, very great for the saving the elect of God" (Ecclesiasticus 46:1–2).

St Stephen says the fathers brought the tabernacle into the land "with Jesus" (Acts 7:45), and the Epistle to the Hebrews builds an argument on this: "if Jesus had given them rest he would never have afterwards spoken of another day" (Hebrews 4:8). St Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho (113), dwells on the renaming of Osee. St Jerome calls Josue "a type of the Lord in name as well as in deed" (Letter 53). We treat the Name itself in our article on the Holy Name of Jesus.

The Jordan and baptism. The Red Sea brought Israel out of Egypt, and the Jordan brought them into their inheritance. In his Homilies on Josue, Origen reads the crossing as a figure of baptism, by which the faithful pass, under the leadership of Jesus, into the inheritance that the law of Moses could only show from afar. Our page on Catholic baptism explains the sacrament the river foreshadowed.

The manna ceases. Once Israel ate the corn of the land, "the manna ceased" (Josue 5:12). Haydock's commentary draws the lesson: as the manna was withheld once Israel entered the land of promise, so "the blessed Eucharist, of which it was a figure, and all the sacraments, will cease" when the Christian people take possession of their heavenly country. On the Sacrament itself, see the Holy Eucharist.

Rahab and the scarlet cord. St Clement of Rome, writing to the Corinthians (ch. 12), says that the spies made manifest by the scarlet thread "that redemption should flow through the blood of the Lord to all them that believe." The New Testament praises Rahab's faith (Hebrews 11:31) and her works (James 2:25). She appears in Our Lord's genealogy as the mother of Booz (Matthew 1:5), whose marriage is told in the Book of Ruth.

Jericho, the Prince of the host, and the holy war. Challoner gives the mystical sense of Jericho: the city signifies iniquity, and the priests' trumpets signify "the preaching of the word of God; by which the walls of Jericho are thrown down, when sinners are converted." He identifies the Prince of the host as St Michael, "prince of the people of Israel" (see St Michael the Archangel). The utter destruction of the Chanaanites troubles many readers. Scripture presents it as God's judgment on a people whose iniquities had come "at the full" (Genesis 15:16). The Book of Wisdom adds that God punished them "by degrees" and gave them "place of repentance" (Wisdom 12:10). Challoner adds that the command was given "that they might not draw the Israelites into the like sins."

Famous verses and chapters of Josue

• Joshua 1:9. "Behold I command thee, take courage, and be strong. Fear not, and be not dismayed: because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go to." Read it in Josue 1.
• The walls of Jericho. "The walls forthwith fell down: and every man went up by the place that was over against him" (Josue 6:20). Hebrews 11:30 gives the cause: "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down."
• The two monuments of twelve stones. One set was raised at Galgal and the other placed in the bed of the Jordan, so that "when your children shall ask... What mean these stones?" the fathers might tell of the crossing (Josue 4).
• The sun stands still. "Move not, O sun, toward Gabaon, nor thou, O moon, toward the valley of Ajalon... There was not before, nor after, so long a day, the Lord obeying the voice of a man" (Josue 10:12–14). The "book of the just" cited there is, as Challoner notes, "in Hebrew Jasher: an ancient book long since lost."
• Joshua 24:15. "Choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom you would rather serve... but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord" (Josue 24).

Its place in the canon and the liturgy

Josue is the sixth book of the Bible. It comes after the five books of Moses, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, and before Judges and Ruth. It is not part of the Torah. In the Hebrew Bible it heads the "Former Prophets", and as the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, the Christian canon has always kept it in the same place. Every Christian Bible contains it, and the Council of Trent names it in its list of sacred books (Session IV, 1546). The Douay-Rheims follows the Vulgate (Liber Iosue) in calling it Josue, where modern Bibles say Joshua, and in forms such as Hai for Ai. On these translations, see the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Latin Vulgate.

In the Roman Breviary the "Scripture occurring" at Matins is arranged so that nearly every book of the Bible is at least begun during the year. Josue is one of the few exceptions, together with Judges, Ruth, Paralipomenon and the Canticle of Canticles. You can follow the Office day by day in our online Breviary.

How to read the Book of Joshua

Read chapters 1 to 12 straight through, as a story, in one or two sittings. Take the survey chapters 13 to 21 more slowly: they show God keeping His promise acre by acre, and they map the rest of the Old Testament. Keep the two farewell speeches of chapters 23 and 24 for last, for they gather up the meaning of the whole. On each chapter page the Latin stands beside the English, ad Iosue filium Nun beside "to Josue, the son of Nun".

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote the Book of Joshua?

According to the common Catholic opinion, recorded in Challoner's preface to the Douay Bible, Josue himself wrote the book. The Talmud says the same, and Josue 24:26 says he "wrote all these things in the volume of the law of the Lord." The final verses about his death were added afterwards, Challoner suggests "by Samuel, or some other prophet." Many modern scholars propose a much later compilation.

What is the Book of Joshua about?

It tells how Israel, under Josue, crossed the Jordan, conquered the Promised Land and divided it among the twelve tribes. The main episodes are Rahab and the spies, the fall of Jericho, the sin of Achan, the treaty with the Gabaonites, the day the sun stood still, and the covenant at Sichem.

What is the main message of the Book of Joshua?

Above all, the book shows God keeping His word. "Not so much as one word, which he had promised to perform unto them, was made void" (Josue 21:43), and the dying Josue reminds the people that of all the Lord's promises "not one hath failed" (23:14). Victory follows obedience to the law, and defeat follows sin, as at Hai. The book ends with a choice set before every generation: "choose this day... whom you would rather serve" (24:15).

Who was the Book of Joshua written for?

It was written for the people of Israel, first for the generation that entered the land and then for their children. The book itself says why: the stones of the Jordan were set up so that fathers could answer when their children asked "What mean these stones?" (Josue 4:21), and the great stone at Sichem was raised as a testimony against forgetting the covenant (24:27). The Church reads it as written for us also, since the Christian is led by Jesus into the true land of promise.

How many chapters are in the Book of Joshua?

The Book of Josue has 24 chapters and 658 verses in the Douay-Rheims. Chapters 1–12 tell of the conquest, chapters 13–22 of the division of the land, and chapters 23–24 of Josue's farewell and death.

Is the Book of Joshua in the Catholic Bible?

Yes. It is the sixth book of the Old Testament in every Catholic Bible, and the Council of Trent lists it among the canonical books. The Douay-Rheims calls it the Book of Josue; Protestant Bibles contain it too, as Joshua.

Is the Book of Joshua part of the Torah?

No. The Torah, or Pentateuch, is the five books of Moses, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. Josue follows them, and in the Hebrew Bible it opens the section called the Former Prophets. In Catholic Bibles it is the first of the historical books.

What does "Ai" mean in the Book of Joshua?

Ai, written Hai in the Douay-Rheims, is the town near Bethel where Israel was defeated because of Achan's sin and which Josue later took by an ambush (Josue 7–8). The name is generally understood to mean "the heap" or "the ruin". The book itself says Josue "burnt the city, and made it a heap forever" (8:28).

How is Jesus revealed in the Book of Joshua?

Josue bears the very name of Jesus, which means saviour, and he leads God's people into the inheritance that Moses could only see. The Fathers saw in the crossing of the Jordan a figure of baptism, in the scarlet cord a sign of the redeeming Blood, and in Josue's conquest the victory of Christ. St Jerome calls him "a type of the Lord in name as well as in deed."

Read the whole Book of Josue verse by verse, in Latin and English side by side, in the Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app.

Sources. The Book of Josue, Douay-Rheims (Challoner) and Clementine Vulgate, with Challoner's preface and notes; Haydock's commentary on Josue; Council of Trent, Session IV (1546); the Talmud, Baba Bathra 14b–15a; St Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians 12; St Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 113; Origen, Homilies on Josue; St Jerome, Letter 53 to Paulinus; Catholic Encyclopedia, "Josue" (1910); E. J. Quigley, The Divine Office: A Study of the Roman Breviary (1920).