7 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing; and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.

² And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven on the east side of Bethel, and spoke unto them, saying, “Go up and view the country.” And the men went up and viewed Ai.

³ And they returned to Joshua and said unto him, “Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labor thither, for they are but few.”

⁴ So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men, and they fled before the men of Ai.

⁵ And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men, for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim and smote them in their going down. Therefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

⁶ And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.

⁷ And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why hast Thou at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan!

⁸ O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!

⁹ For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt Thou do unto Thy great name?”

¹⁰ And the Lord said unto Joshua, “Get thee up. Why liest thou thus upon thy face?

¹¹ Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them; for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen and dissembled also; and they have put it even among their own stuff.

¹² Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed. Neither will I be with you any more, unless ye destroy the accursed from among you.

¹³ Up, sanctify the people and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel: There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel. Thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

¹⁴ In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes; and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof, and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households, and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man.

¹⁵ And it shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he hath, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.’”

¹⁶ So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken;

¹⁷ and he brought the family of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken;

¹⁸ and he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah was taken.

¹⁹ And Joshua said unto Achan, “My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto Him. And tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.”

²⁰ And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:

²¹ When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it.”

²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.

²³ And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord.

²⁴ And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the garment and the wedge of gold, and his sons and his daughters, and his oxen and his asses and his sheep, and his tent and all that he had; and they brought them unto the Valley of Achor.

²⁵ And Joshua said, “Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day.” And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

²⁶ And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor [that is, Trouble] unto this day.

8 And the Lord said unto Joshua, “Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. Take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai and his people and his city and his land.

² And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king. Only the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall ye take for booty unto yourselves. Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.”

³ So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valor, and sent them away by night.

⁴ And he commanded them, saying, “Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city. Go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready;

⁵ and I and all the people who are with me will approach unto the city. And it shall come to pass, when they come out against us as at the first, that we will flee before them

⁶ (for they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them.

⁷ Then ye shall rise up from the ambush and seize upon the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.

⁸ And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.”

⁹ Joshua therefore sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.

¹⁰ And Joshua rose up early in the morning and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

¹¹ And all the people, even the people of war who were with him, went up and drew nigh, and came before the city and pitched camp on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between them and Ai.

¹² And he took about five thousand men and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.

¹³ And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city and those lying in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

¹⁴ And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hastened and rose up early; and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed before the plain; but he knew not that there lay an ambush against him behind the city.

¹⁵ And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.

¹⁶ And all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue after them, and they pursued after Joshua and were drawn away from the city.

¹⁷ And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who went not out after Israel; and they left the city open and pursued after Israel.

¹⁸ And the Lord said unto Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai, for I will give it into thine hand.” And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.

¹⁹ And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand; and they entered into the city and took it, and hastened and set the city on fire.

²⁰ And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way; and the people who fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.

²¹ And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again and slew the men of Ai.

²² And the others issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape;

²³ and the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

²⁴ And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they had all fallen on the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai and smote it with the edge of the sword.

²⁵ And so it was that all who fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.

²⁶ For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

²⁷ Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord which He commanded Joshua.

²⁸ And Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.

²⁹ And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide; and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones that remaineth unto this day.

³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal,

³¹ as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man hath lifted up any iron.” And they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.

³² And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

³³ And all Israel, and their elders and officers and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as he that was born among them — half of them over against Mount Gerizim and half of them over against Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.

³⁴ And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.

³⁵ There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones and the strangers who walked among them.

9 And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the valleys and in all the borders of the Great Sea over against Lebanon — the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite — heard thereof,

² that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord.

³ And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

⁴ they worked cunningly, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wineskins, old and rent and bound up,

⁵ and old and patched shoes upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.

⁶ And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country. Now therefore make ye a league with us.”

⁷ And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, “Perhaps ye dwell among us. Then how shall we make a league with you?”

⁸ And they said unto Joshua, “We are thy servants.” And Joshua said unto them, “Who are ye? And from whence come ye?”

⁹ And they said unto him, “From a very far country thy servants have come because of the name of the Lord thy God; for we have heard the fame of him and all that he did in Egypt,

¹⁰ and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan — to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth.

¹¹ Therefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey, and go to meet them and say unto them, “We are your servants. Therefore now make ye a league with us.”’

¹² This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry and it is moldy.

¹³ And these skins of wine which we filled were new, and behold, they are rent; and these our garments and our shoes have become old by reason of the very long journey.”

¹⁴ And the men took of their provisions, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.

¹⁵ And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them to let them live; and the princes of the congregation swore unto them.

¹⁶ And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors and that they dwelt among them.

¹⁷ And the children of Israel journeyed and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim.

¹⁸ And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes.

¹⁹ But all the princes said unto all the congregation, “We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them.

²⁰ This we will do to them: we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore unto them.”

²¹ And the princes said unto them, “Let them live, but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation, as the princes had promised them.”

²² And Joshua called for them, and he spoke unto them, saying, “Why have ye beguiled us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when ye dwell among us?

²³ Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

²⁴ And they answered Joshua and said, “Because it was certainly told thy servants how the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.

²⁵ And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.”

²⁶ And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not.

²⁷ And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day, in the place which He should choose.

²¹ And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple.

²² And when he came out, he could not speak unto them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple; for he beckoned unto them and remained speechless.

²³ And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.

²⁴ And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,

²⁵ “Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein He looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.”

²⁶ And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

²⁷ to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

²⁸ And the angel came in unto her and said, “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.”

²⁹ And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast about in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

³⁰ And the angel said unto her, “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.

³¹ And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus.

³² He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David,

³³ and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end.”

³⁴ Then said Mary unto the angel, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”

³⁵ And the angel answered and said unto her, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that Holy Being who shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

³⁶ And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth: she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

³⁷ For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” And the angel departed from her.

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