Sirach 46 - Contemporary English Version Interconfessional Edition

Joshua

¹ Joshua the son of Nun was a mighty warrior and the next prophet after Moses. His name means, “The Lord rescues,” and Joshua did rescue Israel by defeating their enemies, as he led Israel into the land God had promised them.

² Joshua was glorious as he raised his sword and gave the signal to attack a city.

³ He had more courage than any warrior before him, because he was fighting at the Lord's command.

⁴ Joshua even kept the sun from moving across the sky, so that one day lasted as long as two.

⁵ His enemies attacked all around, but he prayed to our Mighty God, and the Lord, the Most High, made deadly hailstones fall on the enemy army.

⁶ As the battle moved down the mountain slopes Joshua defeated and destroyed the enemy army, so that everyone would know he fought under the command of the Mighty Lord of Israel, and that the Lord himself fought on their side.

Caleb

⁷ Earlier, Caleb son of Jephunneh, along with Joshua, proved he was loyal to God by standing up to the people who rebelled against Moses. These two held back the people from sinning and put an end to their complaints.

⁸ Six hundred thousand men died, but Caleb and Joshua were spared and led Israel into the land rich with milk and honey.

⁹ The Lord kept Caleb strong, and although Caleb was old, he captured the hill country. Then he handed down his land to his descendants

¹⁰ to remind Israel of the benefits of being faithful to the Lord.

The Judges

¹¹ Some of Israel's special leaders were the famous judges who never turned from the Lord to worship idols. And we still honor them because they were faithful.

¹² Though they are now dead, we pray their good names will be honored by the way their descendants live.

The Prophet Samuel

¹³ The Lord loved Samuel, the prophet who appointed the first kings of Israel and other rulers.

¹⁴ Samuel judged the nation according to the Lord's Law, and so the Lord watched over Israel.

¹⁵ The people knew that Samuel spoke for the Lord, because Samuel was faithful, and his words came true.

¹⁶ One time, Israel's enemies attacked from every side, but Samuel prayed to the Mighty Lord and sacrificed a lamb.

¹⁷ Then the Lord thundered his answer from heaven

¹⁸ and defeated the leaders of Tyre and Philistia.

¹⁹ Before Samuel died, he asked the Lord and the king to be his witnesses so that no one could accuse him of ever taking anything that wasn't rightfully his— not even a pair of sandals.

²⁰ And then, after he had died, he spoke from the grave and predicted King Saul's death, which brought to an end Saul's disobedience.