1A mighty man of valor was Joshua son of Nun, Moses’s servant in prophecy, who was created to be in his days a great salvation for his chosen ones,
2to take vengeance on the enemy and give Israel its inheritance. How glorious he was when he stretched out his hand, when he brandished his javelin against a city.
3Who could stand before him? For he fought the wars of Yahweh.
4Did not the sun stand still by his hand? One day became as two.
5For he called to God Most High when his enemies pressed him on every side, and the Most High answered him with hailstones and great stones.
6He cast them down upon the enemy nation, and destroyed the fugitives on the slope, so that all the nations of the ban might know that Yahweh was watching their battle.
7And because he followed God fully, he also showed loyalty in the days of Moses—he and Caleb son of Jephunneh—by standing firm against the rebellious assembly,
8to turn wrath away from the congregation and stop the evil report. Therefore they alone, the two of them, were spared from six hundred thousand foot soldiers,
9to bring them into their inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. And he gave strength to Caleb, which remained with him into his old age,
10to tread upon the high places of the land, so his descendants inherited a possession, so that all the children of Jacob might know that it is good to follow Yahweh fully.
11And the judges, each by his name, all whose hearts did not go astray and who did not turn back from God—may their memory be for a blessing.
12May their bones flourish from their place, and may their name be renewed in their sons.
13Beloved by his Lord and favored by his Maker was Samuel, asked for from his mother’s womb. A nazirite of Yahweh in prophecy, a judge and a priest, by the word of God he established a kingdom and anointed rulers over his people.
14By the law of Yahweh he judged the congregation, and Yahweh visited Jacob.
15By his faithfulness he was known as a seer, and by his word he was trusted in vision.
16He too called upon God when his enemies pressed him on every side, and when he offered a suckling lamb, Yahweh thundered from heaven.
17And with a mighty crash his voice was heard. He subdued the governors of Tyre and destroyed all the lords of the Philistines.
18Even at the time of his rest, he testified before Yahweh and his anointed.
19“From whom have I taken a bribe or a pair of sandals?” And no one could answer him. And even at the time of his end, he was found upright in the eyes of Yahweh,
20and in the eyes of all the living. And even after his death he prophesied.
21He declared to the king his end, and lifted his voice from the earth in prophecy.
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