Passage results

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

Joshua 7

Israel Defeated at Ai

 ²Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near^(B) Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land." And the men went up and spied out Ai. ³And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few." ⁴So about 3,000 men went up there from the people. And^(C) they fled before the men of Ai, ⁵and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people^(D) melted and became as water.

 ⁶Then Joshua^(E) tore his clothes and^(F) fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put^(G) dust on their heads. ⁷And Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord GOD,^(H) why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! ⁸O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! ⁹For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and^(I) cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?"

The Sin of Achan

 ¹⁶So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the^(U) Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son,^(V) give glory to the LORD God of Israel and^(W) give praise^[b] to him. And^(X) tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me." ²⁰And Achan answered Joshua, "Truly^(Y) I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: ²¹when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels,^[c] then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

 ²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. ²³And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the LORD. ²⁴And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the^(Z) Valley of Achor. ²⁵And Joshua said, "Why did you^(AA) bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today." And all Israel^(AB) stoned him with stones.^(AC) They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. ²⁶And they raised over him^(AD) a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then^(AE) the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.^[d]

Joshua 8

The Fall of Ai

 ³So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. ⁴And he commanded them, "Behold,^(AJ) you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. ⁵And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us^(AK) just as before, we shall flee before them. ⁶And they will come out after us, until we have^(AL) drawn them away from the city. For they will say, 'They are fleeing from us, just as before.' So we will flee before them. ⁷Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will give it into your hand. ⁸And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the LORD.^(AM) See, I have commanded you." ⁹So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.

 ¹⁰Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ¹¹And^(AN) all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. ¹²He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. ¹³So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley. ¹⁴And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place^[e] toward^(AO) the Arabah to meet Israel in battle.^(AP) But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel^(AQ) pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. ¹⁶So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they^(AR) were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.

 ¹⁸Then the LORD said to Joshua,^(AS) "Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand." And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire. ²⁰So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. ²¹And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. ²²And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was^(AT) left none that survived or escaped. ²³But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.

 ²⁴When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword. ²⁵And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. ²⁶But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he^(AU) stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.^{[f] 27}Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the LORD that he^(AV) commanded Joshua. ²⁸So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a^(AW) heap of ruins, as it is to this day. ^29(AX) And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening.^(AY) And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and^(AZ) raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.

Joshua Renews the Covenant

Joshua 9

The Gibeonite Deception

 ³But when the inhabitants of^(BM) Gibeon heard what Joshua had done^(BN) to Jericho and^(BO) to Ai, ⁴they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn-out and torn and mended, ⁵with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. ⁶And they went to Joshua in^(BP) the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us." ⁷But the men of Israel said to^(BQ) the Hivites, "Perhaps you live among us; then^(BR) how can we make a covenant with you?" ⁸They said to Joshua,^(BS) "We are your servants." And Joshua said to them, "Who are you? And where do you come from?" ⁹They said to him,^(BT) "From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God.^(BU) For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, ^10(BV) and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in^(BW) Ashtaroth. ¹¹So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, 'Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, "We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us."' ¹²Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly. ¹³These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey." ¹⁴So the men took some of their provisions, but^(BX) did not ask counsel from the LORD. ¹⁵And Joshua^(BY) made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

 ¹⁶At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors^(BZ) and that they lived among them. ¹⁷And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day.^(CA) Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. ¹⁸But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. ¹⁹But all the leaders said to all the congregation, "We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. ²⁰This we will do to them: let them live, lest^(CB) wrath be upon us,^(CC) because of the oath that we swore to them." ²¹And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they became^(CD) cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders^(CE) had said of them.

 ²²Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, "Why did you deceive us, saying,^(CF) 'We are very far from you,' when^(CG) you dwell among us? ²³Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be anything but servants,^(CH) cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God." ²⁴They answered Joshua, "Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the LORD your God had^(CI) commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you—so^(CJ) we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing. ²⁵And now, behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it." ²⁶So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. ²⁷But Joshua made them that day^(CK) cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this day,^(CL) in the place that he should choose.

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

²¹And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in^(A) the temple. ²²And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in^(B) the temple. And^(C) he kept making signs to them and remained mute. ²³And^(D) when his time of^(E) service was ended, he went to his home.

 ²⁴After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, ²⁵"Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me,^(F) to take away my reproach among people."

Birth of Jesus Foretold

 ³⁴And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?"^[c]

 ³⁵And the angel answered her,^(U) "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of^(V) the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born^[d] will be called^(W) holy—^(X) the Son of God. ³⁶And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her^(Y) who was called barren. ³⁷For^(Z) nothing will be impossible with God." ³⁸And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant^[e] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And^(AA) the angel departed from her.