Bible verse
Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9 · BSB
God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous three times in nine verses. Commands do not usually get repeated to people who find them easy.
The setting is a handover: Moses is dead, and Joshua is taking a nation into a war he did not ask for. "Have I not commanded you" frames courage as an order rather than a mood — something to obey on a morning you do not feel it.
The reason attached is the same one Isaiah gives: the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
The verses around it, from Joshua 1.
5 No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall give these people the inheritance of the land that I swore to their fathers I would give them.
7 Above all, be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe all the law that My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper wherever you go.
8 This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.
9 Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people:
11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”
12 But to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said,
13 “Remember what Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you when he said, ‘The LORD your God will give you rest, and He will give you this land.’
KJV
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God [is] with thee whithersoever thou goest.
ASV
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for Jehovah thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
ERV
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
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Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is free of copyright restrictions for use on websites. Read the full Bible on Great Faith.