The Sun Stands Still

10 When King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,^(A)

The Priestly Order of Melchizedek

7 This “Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him,”^(A)

¹⁹ There was not a town that made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon; all were taken in battle.^{(A) 20} For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed and might receive no mercy but be exterminated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.^(B)

¹⁵ And Joshua made peace with them, guaranteeing their lives by a treaty, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.^(A)

¹⁶ But when three days had passed after they had made a treaty with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and were living among them. ¹⁷ So the Israelites set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.^{(B) 18} But the Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders.^{(C) 19} But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we must not touch them. ²⁰ This is what we will do to them: we will let them live, so that wrath may not come upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.” ²¹ The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became woodcutters and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the leaders had decided concerning them.^(D)

²² Joshua summoned them and said to them, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ while in fact you are living among us?^{(E) 23} Now, therefore, you are cursed, and some of you shall always be slaves, woodcutters and drawers of water for the house of my God.”^{(F) 24} They answered Joshua, “Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you, so we were in great fear for our lives because of you and did this thing.^{(G) 25} And now we are in your hand: do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.”^{(H) 26} This is what he did for them: he saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them. ²⁷ But on that day Joshua made them woodcutters and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to continue to this day, in the place that he should choose.^(I)

²² And the other Israelites came out from the city against them, so they were surrounded by Israelites, some on one side and some on the other, and Israel struck them down until no one was left who survived or escaped.^{(A) 23} But the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

²⁴ When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵ The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was twelve thousand—all the people of Ai.^{(B) 26} For Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the sword until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.^{(C) 27} Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel plundered for themselves, according to the word of the Lord that he had issued to Joshua.^{(D) 28} So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day.^{(E) 29} And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, threw it down at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.^(F)

² You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may take its spoil and plunder its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city, behind it.”^(A)

²¹ Then they devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.^(A)

¹⁸ And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High.^[a](A)