No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

Achan’s Sin

But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.

When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.”

That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

“Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.

Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done:

I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them.

When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city.

The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers.

Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives.

they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.

But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders,

Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon—joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it.

The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.”

The whole army then returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah, and no one uttered a word against the Israelites.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Libnah to Lachish; he took up positions against it and attacked it.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Lachish to Eglon; they took up positions against it and attacked it.

All these kings joined forces and made camp together at the Waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

So Joshua and his whole army came against them suddenly at the Waters of Merom and attacked them,

Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time.

For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

From there he marched against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).

the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.

“The whole assembly of the Lord says: ‘How could you break faith with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion against him now?