¹⁶ You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town^(A) and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God.^(B) That town is to remain a ruin^(C) forever, never to be rebuilt,

²⁸ So Joshua burned^(A) Ai^[a](B) and made it a permanent heap of ruins,^(C) a desolate place to this day.^(D)

A Prophecy Against Damascus

17 A prophecy^(A) against Damascus:^(B)

²⁴ Then they burned the whole city^(A) and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron^(B) into the treasury of the Lord’s house.^(C)

²⁶ At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath:^(A) “Cursed^(B) before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:

² Then Israel made this vow^(A) to the Lord: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy^[a](B) their cities.” ³ The Lord listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites^(C) over to them. They completely destroyed them^(D) and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.^[b](E)