The book follows a common biblical pattern known as mixed-genre format (which literary scholars also call encyclopedic form). The first twelve chapters are narrative, in the specific genres of military conquest story and epic (the story of a nation at a critical point of its history). Chapters 13-21 are documentary history, recording how the Promised Land was divided. The last three chapters return to the narrative mode with the final words and death of Joshua, who is the unifying hero of the book.