Joshua 1:8-9

New King James Version

^8 (A)This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but ^(B)you^[a] shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. ^9 (C)Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; ^(D)do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

The Order to Cross the Jordan

¹⁰ Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, ¹¹ “Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for ^(E)within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’ ”

¹² And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh Joshua spoke, saying, ¹³ “Remember ^(F)the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.’ ¹⁴ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But you shall ^[b]pass before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and help them, ¹⁵ until the Lord has given your brethren rest, as He gave you, and they also have taken possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them. ^(G)Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

¹⁶ So they answered Joshua, saying, “All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. ¹⁷ Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the Lord your God ^(H)be with you, as He was with Moses. ¹⁸ Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.”

Rahab Hides the Spies^(I)

2 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men ^(J)from ^[c]Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.”

So they went, and ^(K)came to the house of a harlot named ^(L)Rahab, and ^[d]lodged there. ² And ^(M)it was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.”

³ So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.”

^4 (N)Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. ⁵ And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.” ⁶ (But ^(O)she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.) ⁷ Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸ Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, ⁹ and said to the men: ^(P)“I know that the Lord has given you the land, that ^(Q)the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land ^(R)are fainthearted because of you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord ^(S)dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and ^(T)what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you ^(U)utterly destroyed. ¹¹ And as soon as we ^(V)heard these things, ^(W)our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for ^(X)the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. ¹² Now therefore, I beg you, ^(Y)swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to ^(Z)my father’s house, and ^(AA)give me ^[e]a true token, ¹³ and ^(AB)spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.”

¹⁴ So the men answered her, “Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that ^(AC)we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

¹⁵ Then she ^(AD)let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. ¹⁶ And she said to them, “Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way.”

¹⁷ So the men said to her: “We will be ^(AE)blameless^[f] of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, ^18 (AF)unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, ^(AG)and unless you ^[g]bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. ¹⁹ So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be ^[h]guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, ^(AH)his ^[i]blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. ²⁰ And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be ^[j]free from your oath which you made us swear.”

²¹ Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.

²² They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them. ²³ So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. ²⁴ And they said to Joshua, “Truly ^(AI)the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.”

Israel Crosses the Jordan

3 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out ^(AJ)from ^[k]Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. ² So it was, ^(AK)after three days, that the officers went through the camp; ³ and they commanded the people, saying, ^(AL)“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, ^(AM)and the priests, the Levites, ^[l]bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. ^4 (AN)Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵ And Joshua said to the people, ^(AO)“Sanctify^[m] yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” ⁶ Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, ^(AP)“Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.”

So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

⁷ And the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to ^(AQ)exalt^[n] you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, ^(AR)as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. ⁸ You shall command ^(AS)the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, ^(AT)you shall stand in the Jordan.’ ”

⁹ So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰ And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that ^(AU)the living God is among you, and that He will without fail ^(AV)drive out from before you the ^(AW)Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: ¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of ^(AX)the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. ¹² Now therefore, ^(AY)take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. ¹³ And it shall come to pass, ^(AZ)as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, ^(BA)the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they ^(BB)shall stand as a heap.”

¹⁴ So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ^(BC)ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵ and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and ^(BD)the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the ^(BE)Jordan overflows all its banks ^(BF)during the whole time of harvest), ¹⁶ that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away ^[o]at Adam, the city that is beside ^(BG)Zaretan. So the waters that went down ^(BH)into the Sea of the Arabah, ^(BI)the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; ^(BJ)and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

The Memorial Stones

4 And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed ^(BK)over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying: ^2 (BL)“Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, ³ and command them, saying, ‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where ^(BM)the priests’ feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in ^(BN)the lodging place where you lodge tonight.’ ”

⁴ Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; ⁵ and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, ⁶ that this may be ^(BO)a sign among you ^(BP)when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ Then you shall answer them that ^(BQ)the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for ^(BR)a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”

⁸ And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. ⁹ Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

¹⁰ So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over. ¹¹ Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ^(BS)ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. ¹² And ^(BT)the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. ¹³ About forty thousand ^[p]prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho. ¹⁴ On that day the Lord ^(BU)exalted^[q] Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, ¹⁶ “Command the priests who bear ^(BV)the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁷ Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, “Come up from the Jordan.” ¹⁸ And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place ^(BW)and overflowed all its banks as before.

¹⁹ Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped ^(BX)in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. ²⁰ And ^(BY)those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. ²¹ Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: ^(BZ)“When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ ²² then you shall let your children know, saying, ^(CA)‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on ^(CB)dry land’; ²³ for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, ^(CC)which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, ^24 (CD)that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is ^(CE)mighty, that you may ^(CF)fear the Lord your God ^[r]forever.”

The Second Generation Circumcised

5 So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites ^(CG)who were by the sea, ^(CH)heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until ^[s]we had crossed over, that ^[t]their heart melted; ^(CI)and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

² At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make ^(CJ)flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” ³ So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at ^[u]the hill of the foreskins. ⁴ And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: ^(CK)All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt. ⁵ For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. ⁶ For the children of Israel walked ^(CL)forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were ^[v]consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord—to whom the Lord swore that ^(CM)He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, ^(CN)“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ⁷ Then Joshua circumcised ^(CO)their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

⁸ So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp ^(CP)till they were healed. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away ^(CQ)the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called ^(CR)Gilgal^[w] to this day.

¹⁰ Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover ^(CS)on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. ¹¹ And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and ^[x]parched grain, on the very same day. ¹² Then ^(CT)the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.

The Commander of the Army of the Lord

¹³ And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(CU)a Man stood opposite him ^(CV)with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

¹⁴ So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

And Joshua ^(CW)fell on his face to the earth and ^(CX)worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”

¹⁵ Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, ^(CY)“Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

The Destruction of Jericho

6 Now ^(CZ)Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. ² And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! ^(DA)I have given Jericho into your hand, its ^(DB)king, and the mighty men of valor. ³ You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. ⁴ And seven priests shall bear seven ^(DC)trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city ^(DD)seven times, and ^(DE)the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵ It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”

⁶ Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.” ⁷ And he said to the people, “Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord.”

⁸ So it was, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. ⁹ The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, ^(DF)and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. ¹⁰ Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.” ¹¹ So he had ^(DG)the ark of the Lord circle the city, going around it once. Then they came into the camp and ^[y]lodged in the camp.

¹² And Joshua rose early in the morning, ^(DH)and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. ¹⁴ And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days.

¹⁵ But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶ And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city! ¹⁷ Now the city shall be ^(DI)doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only ^(DJ)Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because ^(DK)she hid the messengers that we sent. ¹⁸ And you, ^(DL)by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, ^(DM)and trouble it. ¹⁹ But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are ^[z]consecrated to the Lord; they ^[aa]shall come into the treasury of the Lord.”

²⁰ So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that ^(DN)the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. ²¹ And they ^(DO)utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

²² But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, “Go into the harlot’s house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, ^(DP)as you swore to her.” ²³ And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, ^(DQ)her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴ But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. ²⁵ And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So ^(DR)she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

²⁶ Then Joshua ^[ab]charged them at that time, saying, ^(DS)“Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates.”

²⁷ So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country.

Defeat at Ai

7 But the children of Israel ^[ac]committed a ^(DT)trespass regarding the ^(DU)accursed^[ad] things, for ^(DV)Achan the son of Carmi, the son of ^[ae]Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.

² Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. ³ And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” ⁴ So about three thousand men went up there from the people, ^(DW)but they fled before the men of Ai. ⁵ And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore ^(DX)the^[af] hearts of the people melted and became like water.

⁶ Then Joshua ^(DY)tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they ^(DZ)put dust on their heads. ⁷ And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord ^[ag]God, ^(EA)why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! ⁸ O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its ^[ah]back before its enemies? ⁹ For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and ^(EB)cut off our name from the earth. Then ^(EC)what will You do for Your great name?”

The Sin of Achan

¹⁰ So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. ^(ED)For they have even taken some of the ^[ai]accursed things, and have both stolen and ^(EE)deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. ^12 (EF)Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because ^(EG)they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. ¹³ Get up, ^(EH)sanctify^[aj] the people, and say, ^(EI)‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” ¹⁴ In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which ^(EJ)the Lord takes shall come according to families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. ^15 (EK)Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has ^(EL)transgressed^[ak] the covenant of the Lord, and because he ^(EM)has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’ ”

¹⁶ So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷ He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸ Then he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, ^(EN)was taken.

¹⁹ Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, ^(EO)give glory to the Lord God of Israel, ^(EP)and make confession to Him, and ^(EQ)tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

²⁰ And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed ^(ER)I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: ²¹ When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I ^[al]coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”

²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. ²³ And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. ²⁴ Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and ^(ES)all that he had, and they brought them to ^(ET)the Valley of Achor. ²⁵ And Joshua said, ^(EU)“Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” ^(EV)So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

²⁶ Then they ^(EW)raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So ^(EX)the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called ^(EY)the Valley of ^[am]Achor to this day.

The Fall of Ai

8 Now the Lord said to Joshua: ^(EZ)“Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, ^(FA)I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. ² And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to ^(FB)Jericho and its king. Only ^(FC)its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.”

³ So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying: “Behold, ^(FD)you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. ⁵ Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that ^(FE)we shall flee before them. ⁶ For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them. ⁷ Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸ And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the Lord you shall do. ^(FF)See, I have commanded you.”

⁹ Joshua therefore sent them out; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people. ¹⁰ Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ^11 (FG)And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near; and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a valley lay between them and Ai. ¹² So he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of ^[an]the city. ¹³ And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

¹⁴ Now it happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he ^(FH)did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵ And Joshua and all Israel ^(FI)made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. ¹⁶ So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel.

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹ So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire. ²⁰ And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.

²¹ Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. ²² Then the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down, so that they ^(FJ)let none of them remain or escape. ²³ But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

²⁴ And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when they all had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵ So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the people of Ai. ²⁶ For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had ^(FK)utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ^27 (FL)Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He had ^(FM)commanded Joshua. ²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it ^(FN)a heap forever, a desolation to this day. ^29 (FO)And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. ^(FP)And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and ^(FQ)raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

Joshua Renews the Covenant^(FR)

³⁰ Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel ^(FS)in Mount Ebal, ³¹ as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: ^(FT)“an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And ^(FU)they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. ³² And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, ^(FV)he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. ³³ Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, ^(FW)who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ^(FX)the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, ^(FY)as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. ³⁴ And afterward ^(FZ)he read all the words of the law, ^(GA)the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the ^(GB)Book of the Law. ³⁵ There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, ^(GC)with the women, the little ones, ^(GD)and the strangers who were living among them.

The Treaty with the Gibeonites

9 And it came to pass when ^(GE)all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of ^(GF)the Great Sea toward Lebanon—^(GG)the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—heard about it, ² that they ^(GH)gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one ^[ao]accord.

³ But when the inhabitants of ^(GI)Gibeon ^(GJ)heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, ⁴ they worked craftily, and went and ^[ap]pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and ^[aq]mended, ⁵ old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. ⁶ And they went to Joshua, ^(GK)to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a ^[ar]covenant with us.”

⁷ Then the men of Israel said to the ^(GL)Hivites, “Perhaps you dwell among us; so ^(GM)how can we make a covenant with you?”

⁸ But they said to Joshua, ^(GN)“We are your servants.”

And Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and where do you come from?”