Joshua, he united the forty-five kings of Persia and Media, and
they were joined by the renowned hero Japheth. The allied kings in
a letter informed Joshua of their design against him as follow:
"The noble, distinguished council of the kings of Persia and Media
to Joshua, peace! Thou wolf of the desert, we well know what thou
didst to our kinsmen. Thou didst destroy our palaces; without pity
thou didst slay young and old; our fathers thou didst mow down
with the sword; and their cities thou didst turn into desert. Know,
then, that in the space of thirty days, we shall come to thee, we, the
forty-five kings, each having sixty thousand warriors under him,
all them armed with bows and arrows, girt about with swords, all
of us skilled in the ways of war, and with us the hero Japheth.
Prepare now for the combat, and say not afterward that we took
thee at unawares."

The messenger bearing the letter arrived on the day before the
Feast of Weeks. Although Joshua was greatly wrought up by the
contents of the letter, he kept his counsel until after the feast, in
order not to disturb the rejoicing of the people. Then, at the
conclusion of the feast, he told the people of the message that had
reached him, so terrifying that even he, the veteran warrior,
trembled at the heralded approach of the enemy. Nevertheless
Joshua determined to accept the challenge. From the first words
his reply was framed to show the heathen how little their fear
possessed him whose trust was set in God. The introduction to his
epistle reads as follows: "In the Name of the Lord, the God of
Israel, who saps the strength of the iniquitous warrior, and slays
the rebellious sinner. He breaks up the assemblies of marauding
transgressors, and He gathers together in council the pious and the
just scattered abroad, He the God of all gods, the Lord of all lords,