²⁷ I will ^(A)send My terror ahead of you, and ^(B)throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will ^(C)make all your enemies turn their backs to you. ²⁸ And I will send ^(D)hornets ahead of you so that they will ^(E)drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from you. ^29 (F)I will not drive them out from you in a single year, so that the land will not become desolate and the animals of the field become too numerous for you. ³⁰ I will drive them out from you ^(G)little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.

³ Furthermore, ^(A)you shall not intermarry with them: you shall not give your ^[a]daughters to ^[b]their sons, nor shall you take ^[c]their daughters for your ^[d]sons. ⁴ For ^[e]they will turn your ^[f]sons away from ^[g]following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and ^(B)He will quickly destroy you. ⁵ But this is what you shall do to them: ^(C)you shall tear down their altars, smash their memorial stones, cut their ^[h]Asherim to pieces, and burn their carved images in the fire. ⁶ For you are ^(D)a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be ^(E)a people for His personal possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the ^[i]earth.

²⁴ Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵ So ^(A)all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the ^[a]people of Ai. ²⁶ For Joshua ^(B)did not withdraw his hand with which he reached out with the sword until he had ^[b]utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.