The Conquest of Jericho

6 Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. ² But the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have handed Jericho over to you, with ^(A)its king and the valiant warriors. ³ And you shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. ⁴ Also seven priests shall carry seven ^(B)trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵ It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down ^[a]flat, and the people shall go up, everyone ^[b]straight ahead.”

⁶ So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.” ⁷ Then ^[c]he said to the people, “Go forward and march around the city, and the armed men shall go on ahead of the ark of the Lord.” ⁸ And it was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. ⁹ And the armed men went ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and ^(C)the rear guard came after the ark, while they continued to blow the trumpets. ¹⁰ But Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard, nor let a word proceed from your mouth, until the day I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout!” ¹¹ So he had the ark of the Lord ^[d]taken around the city, circling it once; then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

¹² Now Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ Then ^(D)the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew the trumpets; and the armed men went ahead of them, and ^(E)the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while they continued to blow the trumpets. ¹⁴ So the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp; they did the same for six days.

¹⁵ Then on the seventh day they got up early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same way seven times; only on that day did they march around the city seven times. ¹⁶ And at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “^(F)Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. ¹⁷ But the city shall be ^(G)designated for ^[e]destruction, it and everything that is in it belongs to the Lord; only Rahab the prostitute ^[f]and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. ¹⁸ But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things designated for destruction, so that you do not covet them and ^(H)take some of the designated things, and turn the camp of Israel into something designated for destruction and bring disaster on it. ^19 (I)But all the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” ²⁰ So the people shouted, and ^[g]the priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the ^(J)wall fell down ^[h]flat, so that the people went up into the city, everyone straight ^[i]ahead, and they took the city. ^21 (K)They ^[j]utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

²² And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “^(L)Go into the prostitute’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, just as you have sworn to her.” ²³ So the young men who were spies went in and ^(M)brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives, and placed them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴ Then ^(N)they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and the articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the ^[k]house of the Lord. ²⁵ However, ^(O)Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua ^[l]spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because ^(P)she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

²⁶ Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, “^(Q)Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he will set up its gates.” ²⁷ So ^(R)the Lord was with Joshua, and his ^(S)fame was in all the land.

Israel Is Defeated at Ai

7 ^(T)But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully regarding the things designated for destruction, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the designated things; therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.

² Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near ^(U)Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “^[m]Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. ³ Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up; have only about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai; do not trouble all the people there, for they are few.” ⁴ So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but ^(V)they fled ^[n]from the men of Ai. ⁵ And the men of Ai struck and killed about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them ^[o]from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them on the mountainside; and the ^(W)hearts of the people melted and became like water.

⁶ Then Joshua ^(X)tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and ^(Y)they put dust on their heads. ⁷ And Joshua said, “Oh, Lord ^[p]God! Why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan, only to hand us over to the Amorites, to eliminate us? If only we had been willing ^[q]to live beyond the Jordan! ⁸ O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their ^[r]back before their enemies? ^9 (Z)For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear about it, and they will surround us and eliminate our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?”

¹⁰ So the Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned, and ^(AA)they have also violated My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things designated for destruction, and have both stolen and kept it a secret. Furthermore, they have also put them among their own things. ¹² Therefore the ^(AB)sons of Israel cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their ^[s]backs before their enemies, because they have become designated for destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you eliminate from your midst the things designated for destruction. ¹³ Stand up! ^(AC)Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, because the Lord, the God of Israel, has said this: “^(AD)There are things designated for destruction in your midst, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you have removed the designated things from your midst.” ¹⁴ So in the morning you shall come forward by your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which ^(AE)the Lord selects by lot shall come forward by families, and the family which the Lord selects shall come forward by households, and the household which the Lord selects shall come forward man by man. ¹⁵ And ^(AF)it shall be that the one who is selected with the things designated for destruction shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has violated the covenant of the Lord, and because he ^(AG)has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

The Sin of Achan

¹⁶ So Joshua got up early in the morning and brought Israel forward by ^[t]tribes, and the tribe of Judah was selected. ¹⁷ So he brought the family of Judah forward, and he selected the family of the Zerahites; then he brought the family of the Zerahites forward man by man, and Zabdi was selected. ¹⁸ And he brought his household forward man by man; and ^(AH)Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was selected. ¹⁹ Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, ^(AI)give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.” ²⁰ So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and ^[u]this is what I did: ²¹ when I saw among the spoils a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I ^(AJ)wanted them and took them; and behold, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath it. ²³ So they took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel; and they ^[v]laid them out before the Lord. ²⁴ Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his ^[w]oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to ^(AK)the Valley of ^[x]Achor. ²⁵ And Joshua said, “Why have you ^(AL)brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you this day.” And all Israel stoned ^[y]them with stones; and they burned them with fire ^[z]after they had stoned them with stones. ²⁶ Then they erected over him a large heap of stones that stands to this day, and the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called ^(AM)the Valley of ^[aa]Achor to this day.

Stephen’s Defense

7 Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

² And ^[a]Stephen said, “Listen to me, ^[b](A)brothers and fathers! ^(B)The God of glory ^(C)appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in ^[c]Haran, ³ and He said to him, ‘^(D)Go from your country and your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you.’ ^4 (E)Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in ^[d]Haran. And ^(F)from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. ⁵ But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, ^(G)He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. ⁶ But ^(H)God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and ^[e]they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years. ⁷ ‘And whatever nation to which they are enslaved I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and ^(I)after that they will come out and ^[f]serve Me in this place.’ ⁸ And He ^(J)gave him ^[g]the covenant of circumcision; and so ^(K)Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and ^(L)Isaac fathered Jacob, and ^(M)Jacob, the twelve ^(N)patriarchs.

⁹ “The patriarchs ^(O)became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, ¹⁰ and rescued him from all his afflictions, and ^(P)granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire household.

¹¹ “Now ^(Q)a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers ^[h]could find no food. ¹² But ^(R)when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. ¹³ And on the second visit, ^(S)Joseph ^[i]made himself known to his brothers, and ^(T)Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ Then ^(U)Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, ^(V)seventy-five ^[j](W)people in all. ¹⁵ And ^(X)Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our fathers died there. ¹⁶ And they were brought back from there to ^[k](Y)Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of ^[l]Hamor in ^[m]Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the ^(Z)time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, ^(AA)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸ until ^(AB)another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹ It was he who ^(AC)shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would ^(AD)abandon their infants in the Nile, so that they would not survive. ²⁰ At this time ^(AE)Moses was born; and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father’s home. ²¹ And after he had been put outside, ^(AF)Pharaoh’s daughter ^[n]took him away and nurtured him as her own son. ²² Moses was educated in all ^(AG)the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in ^[o]speaking and action. ²³ But when he was approaching the age of forty, ^(AH)it entered his ^[p]mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel. ²⁴ And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian. ²⁵ And he thought that his brothers understood that God was granting them ^[q]deliverance ^[r]through him; but they did not understand. ^26 (AI)And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting each other, and he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’ ²⁷ But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘^(AJ)Who made you a ruler and judge over us? ^28 (AK)You do not intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ ²⁹ At this remark, ^(AL)Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of ^[s]Midian, where he ^(AM)fathered two sons.

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, ^(AN)an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came: ³² ‘^(AO)I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and did not dare to look closely. ^33 (AP)But the Lord said to him, ‘^[t](AQ)Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. ^34 (AR)I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; and ^(AS)now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵ “This Moses whom they ^(AT)disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God ^[u]sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the ^[v]help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. ^36 (AU)This man led them out, performing ^(AV)wonders and ^[w]signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the ^(AW)wilderness for forty years. ³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘^(AX)God will raise up for you a prophet ^[x]like me from your countrymen.’ ³⁸ This is the one who was in ^(AY)the ^[y]assembly in the wilderness together with ^(AZ)the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received ^(BA)living ^(BB)words to pass on to you. ³⁹ Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him; on the contrary they ^(BC)rejected him and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, ^40 (BD)saying to Aaron, ‘Make us ^[z]a god who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ ^41 [aa]At that time ^(BE)they made a ^[ab]calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in ^(BF)the works of their hands. ⁴² But God ^(BG)turned away and gave them over to ^[ac]serve the heavenly ^[ad]lights; as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘^(BH)You did not offer Me victims and sacrifices ^(BI)for forty years in the wilderness, did you, house of Israel? ^43 (BJ)You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god ^[ae]Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will deport you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had ^(BK)the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it ^(BL)according to the pattern which he had seen. ⁴⁵ Our fathers in turn received it, and they also ^(BM)brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the ^[af]nations that God drove out from our fathers, until the time of David. ^46 [ag](BN)David found favor in God’s sight, and ^(BO)asked that he might ^[ah]find a dwelling place for the ^[ai]house of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was ^(BP)Solomon who built a house for Him. ⁴⁸ However, ^(BQ)the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

⁵¹ “You men who are ^(BT)stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. ^52 (BU)Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of ^(BV)the Righteous One, and ^(BW)you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him; ⁵³ you who received the Law as ^(BX)ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

Stephen Put to Death

⁵⁴ Now when they heard this, they were ^(BY)infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But he, being ^(BZ)full of the Holy Spirit, ^(CA)looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing ^(CB)at the right hand of God; ⁵⁶ and he said, “Behold, I see the ^(CC)heavens opened and ^(CD)the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one ^[aj]mind. ⁵⁸ When they had ^(CE)driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and ^(CF)the witnesses ^(CG)laid aside their cloaks at the feet of ^(CH)a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ They went on stoning Stephen as he ^(CI)called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰ Then he ^(CJ)fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, ^(CK)do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he ^[ak](CL)fell asleep.