²³ the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung^[a] is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession.

¹³ But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”^[a]

³¹ It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down.

²¹ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,^[a] so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

³ for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters.^[a] I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.

³³ This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder.^{[a] 34} You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the Lord, who lives among the people of Israel.”

⁴ The Lord issued the following command to Moses: “Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the Lord in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.”

²⁵ Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out.

²⁶ Then Joshua killed each of the five kings and impaled them on five sharpened poles, where they hung until evening.

²⁷ As the sun was going down, Joshua gave instructions for the bodies of the kings to be taken down from the poles and thrown into the cave where they had been hiding. Then they covered the opening of the cave with a pile of large rocks, which remains to this very day.

²⁹ Joshua impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today.