Defeat at Ai

7 But the children of Israel ^[a]committed a ^(A)trespass regarding the ^(B)accursed^[b] things, for ^(C)Achan the son of Carmi, the son of ^[c]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, ^(D)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 ^(E)the^[d] hearts of the people melted and became like water.

⁶ Then Joshua ^(F)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 ^(G)put dust on their heads. ⁷ And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord ^[e]God, ^(H)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 ^[f]back before its enemies? ⁹ For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and ^(I)cut off our name from the earth. Then ^(J)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. ^(K)For they have even taken some of the ^[g]accursed things, and have both stolen and ^(L)deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. ^12 (M)Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because ^(N)they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. ¹³ Get up, ^(O)sanctify^[h] the people, and say, ^(P)‘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 ^(Q)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 (R)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 ^(S)transgressed^[i] the covenant of the Lord, and because he ^(T)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, ^(U)was taken.

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

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

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

Excel in Giving

8 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: ² that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and ^(A)their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. ³ For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, ⁴ imploring us with much urgency ^[a]that we would receive the gift and ^(B)the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. ⁵ And not only as we had hoped, but they first ^(C)gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the ^(D)will of God. ⁶ So ^(E)we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. ⁷ But as ^(F)you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see ^(G)that you abound in this grace also.

Christ Our Pattern

^8 (H)I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(I)that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become ^(J)rich.

The Parable of the Unjust Steward

16 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was ^[a]wasting his goods. ² So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an ^(A)account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’

³ “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’

⁵ “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ And he said, ‘A hundred ^[b]measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred ^[c]measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than ^(B)the sons of light.

⁹ “And I say to you, ^(C)make friends for yourselves by unrighteous ^[d]mammon, that when ^[e]you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. ^10 (D)He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. ¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your ^(E)own?

^13 (F)“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

The Law, the Prophets, and the Kingdom

¹⁴ Now the Pharisees, ^(G)who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they ^[f]derided Him. ¹⁵ And He said to them, “You are those who ^(H)justify yourselves ^(I)before men, but ^(J)God knows your hearts. For ^(K)what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.