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, ^(A)a Man stood opposite him ^(B)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 ^(C)fell on his face to the earth and ^(D)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, ^(E)“Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

The Destruction of Jericho

6 Now ^(F)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! ^(G)I have given Jericho into your hand, its ^(H)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 ^(I)trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city ^(J)seven times, and ^(K)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, ^(L)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 ^(M)the ark of the Lord circle the city, going around it once. Then they came into the camp and ^[a]lodged in the camp.

¹² And Joshua rose early in the morning, ^(N)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 ^(O)doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only ^(P)Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because ^(Q)she hid the messengers that we sent. ¹⁸ And you, ^(R)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, ^(S)and trouble it. ¹⁹ But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are ^[b]consecrated to the Lord; they ^[c]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 ^(T)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 ^(U)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, ^(V)as you swore to her.” ²³ And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, ^(W)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 ^(X)she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

²⁶ Then Joshua ^[d]charged them at that time, saying, ^(Y)“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 ^[e]committed a ^(Z)trespass regarding the ^(AA)accursed^[f] things, for ^(AB)Achan the son of Carmi, the son of ^[g]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, ^(AC)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 ^(AD)the^[h] hearts of the people melted and became like water.

⁶ Then Joshua ^(AE)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 ^(AF)put dust on their heads. ⁷ And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord ^[i]God, ^(AG)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 ^[j]back before its enemies? ⁹ For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and ^(AH)cut off our name from the earth. Then ^(AI)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. ^(AJ)For they have even taken some of the ^[k]accursed things, and have both stolen and ^(AK)deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. ^12 (AL)Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because ^(AM)they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. ¹³ Get up, ^(AN)sanctify^[l] the people, and say, ^(AO)‘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 ^(AP)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 (AQ)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 ^(AR)transgressed^[m] the covenant of the Lord, and because he ^(AS)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, ^(AT)was taken.

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

²⁰ And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed ^(AX)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 ^[n]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 ^(AY)all that he had, and they brought them to ^(AZ)the Valley of Achor. ²⁵ And Joshua said, ^(BA)“Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” ^(BB)So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

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

Prayer for Relief from Contempt

A Song of Ascents.