Berean Standard Bible
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.”
King James Version
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.
About this verse
The wording is easy to miss: courage arrives here as a command, not a compliment. "Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous?" You cannot command a feeling, but you can command a way of acting — which means courage in this verse is obedience you can practice while still afraid. And the command comes with its grounds attached: "for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
God speaks these words to Joshua just after the death of Moses. Joshua is inheriting an impossible assignment — leading Israel across the Jordan into a land of walled cities, as the successor to the only leader the nation has ever known. Three times in this one chapter he is told to be strong and courageous, which tells you something about how he must have felt.
This is a verse for transitions: the new job, the move, the role you did not feel ready for, stepping in after someone you cannot replace. Its logic still holds. The command is not "feel brave." It is "go" — and the reason you can go is not your adequacy but the company: wherever you go.
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