The Daily Audio Bible

5 When all the kings of the Emori on the west side of the Yarden and all the kings of the Kena‘ani near the sea heard how Adonai had dried up the Yarden River ahead of the people of Isra’el until they had crossed it, their hearts failed them, and they fell into depression because of the people of Isra’el.

² It was at that time that Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Make yourself knives of flint, and circumcise the people of Isra’el again, a second time. ³ So Y’hoshua made himself knives of flint and circumcised the people of Isra’el at Giv‘at-Ha‘Aralot [the hill of foreskins]. ⁴ The reason Y’hoshua circumcised was that all the people who had left Egypt who were males, all the fighting men, had died in the desert along the way after leaving Egypt. ⁵ For although all the people who left Egypt had been circumcised, all those who had been born in the desert on the way as they went on from Egypt had not been circumcised; ⁶ because the people of Isra’el walked forty years in the desert until the whole nation, that is, the fighting men who had left Egypt, had died out; because they had not heeded what Adonai said. Adonai had sworn that he would not allow them to see the land which Adonai swore to their ancestors that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷ So he raised up their children to take their place, and it was these whom Y’hoshua circumcised; till then they had been uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised while traveling.

⁸ When all the nation had been circumcised, every one of them, they stayed where they were in camp until they had healed. ⁹ Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Today I have rolled off from you the stigma of Egypt.” This is why the place has been called Gilgal [rolling] ever since. ¹⁰ The people of Isra’el camped at Gilgal, and they observed Pesach on the fourteenth day of the month, there on the plains of Yericho. ¹¹ The day after Pesach they ate what the land produced, matzah and roasted ears of grain that day. ¹² The following day, after they had eaten food produced in the land, the man ended. From then on the people of Isra’el no longer had man; instead, that year, they ate the produce of the land of Kena‘an.

¹³ One day, when Y’hoshua was there by Yericho, he raised his eyes and looked; and in front of him stood a man with his drawn sword in his hand. Y’hoshua went over to him and asked him, “Are you on our side or on the side of our enemies?” ¹⁴ “No,” he replied, “but I am the commander of Adonai’s army; I have come just now.” Y’hoshua fell down with his face to the ground and worshipped him, then asked, “What does my lord have to say to his servant?” ¹⁵ The commander of Adonai’s army answered Y’hoshua, “Take your sandals off your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy.” And Y’hoshua did so.

6 Yericho had completely barricaded its gates against the people of Isra’el — no one left, and no one entered. ² Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “I have handed Yericho over to you, including its king and his warriors. ³ You are to encircle the city with all your soldiers and march around it once. Do this for six days. ⁴ Seven cohanim are to carry seven shofars in front of the ark. On the seventh day you are to march around the city seven times, and the cohanim will blow the shofars. ⁵ Then they are to blow a long blast on the shofar. On hearing the sound of the shofar, all the people are to shout as loudly as they can; and the wall of the city will fall down flat. Then the people are to go up into the city, each one straight from where he stands.”

⁶ Y’hoshua the son of Nun called the cohanim and told them, “Take up the ark for the covenant, and have seven cohanim carry seven shofars ahead of the ark of Adonai.” ⁷ To the people he said, “Move on, encircle the city, and have the army march ahead of the ark of Adonai.” ⁸ When Y’hoshua had spoken to the people, the seven cohanim carrying the seven shofars before Adonai passed on and blew on the shofars, with the ark for the covenant of Adonai following them. ⁹ The fighting men went ahead of the cohanim blowing the shofars, while the rearguard marched after the ark, with incessant blowing on the shofars. ¹⁰ Y’hoshua gave this order to the people: “Don’t shout, don’t let your voice be heard, don’t let a single word out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout; then you will shout.”

¹¹ So he had the ark of Adonai make a circle around the city, going around it once; then they returned to camp and stayed in the camp. ¹² The next morning Y’hoshua got up early, and the cohanim took up the ark of Adonai. ¹³ The seven cohanim carrying the seven shofars ahead of the ark of Adonai went on, continually blowing on their shofars, with the fighting men marching ahead of them and the rearguard following after the ark of Adonai; all the while the blowing on the shofars was incessant. ¹⁴ The second day, they went around the city once and returned to camp. They did the same for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up early, at sunrise, and went around the city in the same way seven times. That was the only day they encircled the city seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time, when the cohanim blew on their shofars, Y’hoshua said to the people, “Shout! because Adonai has given you the city! ¹⁷ But the city and everything in it is to be set aside for Adonai and therefore to be destroyed completely; only Rachav the prostitute is to be spared, she and everyone with her in her house, because she hid the messengers we sent. ¹⁸ So you, keep clear of everything reserved for destruction. If you bring a curse on yourselves by taking anything set aside to be destroyed, you will bring a curse on the whole camp of Isra’el and cause great distress there. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold, and all the brass and iron utensils are to be separated out for Adonai and added to the treasury of Adonai.”

²⁰ So the people shouted, with the shofars blowing. When the people heard the sound of the shofars, the people let out a great shout; and the wall fell down flat; so that the people went up into the city, each one straight ahead of him; and they captured the city. ²¹ They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

²² Y’hoshua said to the two men who had reconnoitered the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out with all that she has, as you swore to her.” ²³ The young men, the spies, went in and brought out Rachav with her father, mother, brothers and all she had; they brought out all her relatives and put them safely outside the camp of Isra’el.

²⁴ Then they burned the city to ashes with everything in it, except for the silver, the gold and the brass and iron utensils, which they put in the treasury of the house of Adonai. ²⁵ But Y’hoshua spared Rachav the prostitute, her father’s household and everything she had; and she has continued living with Isra’el from then until now; because she hid the messengers Y’hoshua had sent to reconnoiter Yericho. ²⁶ Y’hoshua then made the people take this oath: “A curse before Adonai on anyone who rises up and rebuilds this city of Yericho: he will lay its foundation with the loss of his firstborn son and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son.” ²⁷ So Adonai was with Y’hoshua, and people heard about him throughout the land.

7 But the people of Isra’el misappropriated some of the goods set aside to be destroyed; for ‘Akhan, the son of Karmi, the son of Zavdi, the son of Zerach, of the tribe of Y’hudah, took some of the things reserved for destruction. In consequence, the anger of Adonai blazed up against the people of Isra’el.

² Y’hoshua sent men from Yericho to ‘Ai, which is next to Beit-Aven, east of Beit-El, telling them to go up and spy out the land. So the men went up, reconnoitered ‘Ai, ³ returned to Y’hoshua and told him, “Don’t have all the people go up; but let perhaps two or three thousand men go up and attack ‘Ai. There’s no point in making all the people exert themselves to get there, because there are only a few of them.” ⁴ So from the people about three thousand men went up there, but they were routed by the men of ‘Ai. ⁵ The men of ‘Ai killed some thirty-six of them and chased them from before their gate all the way to Sh’varim, attacking them on the descent. The hearts of the people melted and turned to water.

⁶ Y’hoshua tore his clothes and fell to his face on the ground before the ark of Adonai until evening, he and the leaders of Isra’el, and they put dust on their heads. ⁷ Y’hoshua said, “Oh, Adonai Elohim! Why did you take the trouble to bring this people across the Yarden if you meant to hand us over to the Emori and have us perish? We should have been satisfied to live on the other side of the Yarden! ⁸ Oh, Adonai! What can I say, after Isra’el has turned their backs and retreated before their enemies? ⁹ For when the Kena‘ani and the other people living in the land hear about it, they will surround us and wipe us off the face of the earth. What will you do then to save the honor of your great name?”

¹⁰ Adonai said to Y’hoshua, “Stand up! Why are you lying there face down? ¹¹ Isra’el has sinned. Yes, they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them. They have taken some of what was to have been set aside for destruction. They have stolen it, lied about it and put it with their own things. ¹² This is why the people of Isra’el cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs on their enemies, because they have come under a curse. I won’t be with you any more unless you destroy the things meant for destruction that you have with you. ¹³ So get up, consecrate the people, and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for here is what Adonai the God of Isra’el says: “Isra’el, you have things under the curse of destruction among you; and you will not be able to stand before your enemies until you remove the things that were to have been destroyed from among you.” ¹⁴ Therefore, tomorrow morning you are to come forward, one tribe at a time; the tribe Adonai takes is to come forward, one family at a time; the family Adonai takes is to come forward, one household at a time; and the household Adonai takes is to come forward, one person at a time. ¹⁵ The person who is caught with things in his possession that were reserved for destruction is to be burned to ashes, he and everything he has, because he has violated the covenant of Adonai and has committed a shameful deed in Isra’el.’”

15 The tax-collectors and sinners kept gathering around to hear Yeshua, ² and the P’rushim and Torah-teachers kept grumbling. “This fellow,” they said, “welcomes sinners — he even eats with them!” ³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “If one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, doesn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? ⁵ When he does find it, he joyfully hoists it onto his shoulders; ⁶ and when he gets home, he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Come, celebrate with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who turns to God from his sins than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.

⁸ “Another example: what woman, if she has ten drachmas and loses one of these valuable coins, won’t light a lamp, sweep the house and search all over until she finds it? ⁹ And when she does find it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Come, celebrate with me, because I have found the drachma I lost.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy among God’s angels when one sinner repents.”

¹¹ Again Yeshua said, “A man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will be mine.’ So the father divided the property between them. ¹³ As soon as he could convert his share into cash, the younger son left home and went off to a distant country, where he squandered his money in reckless living. ¹⁴ But after he had spent it all, a severe famine arose throughout that country, and he began to feel the pinch.

¹⁵ “So he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him any.

¹⁷ “At last he came to his senses and said, ‘Any number of my father’s hired workers have food to spare; and here I am, starving to death! ¹⁸ I’m going to get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.” ’ ²⁰ So he got up and started back to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran and threw his arms around him and kissed him warmly. ²¹ His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son — ’ ²² but his father said to his slaves, ‘Quick, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him; and put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet; ²³ and bring the calf that has been fattened up, and kill it. Let’s eat and have a celebration! ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead, but now he’s alive again! He was lost, but now he has been found!’ And they began celebrating.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. As he came close to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked, ‘What’s going on?’ ²⁷ The servant told him, ‘Your brother has come back, and your father has slaughtered the calf that was fattened up, because he has gotten him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ But the older son became angry and refused to go inside.

“So his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ ‘Look,’ the son answered, ‘I have worked for you all these years, and I have never disobeyed your orders. But you have never even given me a young goat, so that I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ Yet this son of yours comes, who squandered your property with prostitutes, and for him you slaughter the fattened calf!’ ³¹ ‘Son, you are always with me,’ said the father, ‘and everything I have is yours. ³² We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead but has come back to life — he was lost but has been found.’”