Beginning

5 Many people heard how the Lord had caused the Jordan River to become dry. This included all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan River, and all the Canaanite kings who lived near the sea. They heard how the Lord had made the river become dry until all the Israelites had crossed to the other side. So the kings became very afraid of the Israelite people. They felt too weak to fight against them.^[a]

Circumcision at Gilgal

² The Lord said to Joshua at that time, ‘Make knives of stone and circumcise the Israelite men.’^{[b] 3} So Joshua made the knives and he circumcised the men at Gibeath Haaraloth.

⁴ This is why Joshua had to circumcise them: All the men who were old enough to fight when they came out of Egypt had now died. They died in the desert as they travelled to Canaan. ⁵ All those men who came out of Egypt had already been circumcised. But all the sons who were born on the journey through the desert had not been circumcised. ⁶ The Israelites had travelled in the desert for 40 years. But all the men who were old enough to fight when they left Egypt had now died. This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord. The Lord had promised to give to them the land of Canaan, a land where there is plenty of food and drink. But he made a strong promise that those men would not see that land, because they had turned against him. ⁷ Now Joshua circumcised their sons, who had taken their place. Their fathers had not circumcised them while they travelled in the desert.

⁸ All of the Israelite men were circumcised. Then they stayed there in Gilgal until they were strong again. ⁹ The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This shows that you are no longer ashamed to be slaves, as you were in Egypt. Today I have taken away your shame.’

So they called that place Gilgal, and it still has that name.^[c]

¹⁰ The Israelite people ate the Passover meal on the evening of the 14th day of that month.^[d] They did this while they were at Gilgal, near Jericho city. ¹¹ The next day they ate food that had grown in Canaan. For the first time, they ate flat bread and grain that they cooked on a fire. ¹² The manna that they had been eating no longer appeared. The Israelite people never ate manna again.^[e] Now they could eat the food that was grown in Canaan.

The captain of the Lord's army

¹³ While Joshua was near Jericho, a man appeared to him. Joshua looked up and there he was! He stood in front of Joshua with a sword in his hand. Joshua went towards him. He asked the man, ‘Are you here to help us, or to help our enemies?’

¹⁴ The man answered, ‘Neither. I am the captain of the Lord's army. Now I am here!’

Joshua fell on the ground to worship the man and he said, ‘Sir, I am your servant. Tell me what I should do.’

¹⁵ The captain of the Lord's army said, ‘Remove your shoes from your feet. You are standing on holy ground.’ Joshua did that.

Jericho city falls

6 The people of Jericho had shut the gates of their city to make it safe. No one could go in or out of the city. ² The Lord said to Joshua, ‘I will soon give Jericho to you. I will put its king and all its brave soldiers under your power. ³ You and all your soldiers must march round the city once each day, for six days. ⁴ Seven priests will walk in front of the Covenant Box. They will carry trumpets as they walk. On the seventh day, you and your soldiers must march round the city seven times. At the same time, the priests will blow into their trumpets. ⁵ Then they will make one long loud noise with their trumpets. As soon as you hear this, all the soldiers must give a loud shout. Then the city walls will fall down. The whole army will go straight into the city.’

⁶ Joshua called the priests to come to him. He told them, ‘Pick up the Lord's Covenant Box. Seven priests must march in front of it. They must hold seven trumpets, one each.’

⁷ Then Joshua told the people to start marching round the city. A group of soldiers should march in front of the Lord's Covenant Box.

⁸ Joshua finished speaking to the people. Then the seven priests carrying their trumpets marched in front of the Covenant Box. They made a noise on their trumpets as the Covenant Box followed them. ⁹ While the priests made a noise on the trumpets, some soldiers marched in front of them. Another group of soldiers followed behind the Covenant Box. The trumpets were making a noise all this time. ¹⁰ But Joshua had said to the people, ‘Do not shout or speak aloud. Do not say anything until I tell you. When the right day comes, I will tell you, “Now shout aloud to attack!” When I tell you that, then shout!’

¹¹ Joshua made them march round the city once with the Lord's Covenant Box. Then they returned to their tents, and slept there that night.

¹² Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests picked up the Lord's Covenant Box again. ¹³ The seven priests who carried the trumpets marched in front of the Covenant Box. They were making a noise with their trumpets. One group of soldiers marched in front of the priests. Another group of soldiers marched behind the Covenant Box. The trumpets made a noise all the time. ¹⁴ That is how they marched round the city on the second day. They marched round once and then they returned to their tents. They did the same thing for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up at dawn again. They marched round the city as they had done before. But this time they did it seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time, the priests made a long, loud noise on their trumpets. Joshua told the people, ‘Shout aloud to attack! The Lord has given the city to you! ¹⁷ The city and everything that is in it belongs to the Lord, so destroy it all. Only the prostitute Rahab and all the people who are with her in her house will live. This is because she hid the two men that we sent. ¹⁸ Be careful! Do not take for yourselves the valuable things that belong to the Lord. If you do that, you will cause bad trouble to come to the whole Israelite army. The Lord will destroy us all. ¹⁹ Everything that is made from silver, gold, bronze and iron belong to the Lord as his holy things. You must store them with his other valuable things.’

²⁰ When the trumpets made a noise, all the people gave a loud shout to attack the city. When they did this, the walls of the city fell down. All the soldiers went up into the city. They went straight in and they took the city for themselves. ²¹ They destroyed everything that lived in the city, as a gift to the Lord. With their weapons, they killed men and women, young people and old people, as well as cows, sheep and donkeys.

²² Joshua said to the two men that Rahab had hidden, ‘Go into her house. Bring her out, with all her family who are there with her. That is what you promised to do for her.’ ²³ So the young men who had been to look at the city went to her house. They brought out Rahab and her whole family. That was her father and her mother, and her brothers and all who belonged to her. They took them to a place that was near the Israelite tents.

²⁴ Then they burned the whole city and everything that was in it. They stored the gold, silver, bronze and iron things with the Lord's valuable things. ²⁵ But Joshua kept Rahab safe, as well as her family and everyone who belonged to her. Rahab had hidden the men that Joshua sent to find out about Jericho city. Because she did that, her family still lives among the Israelites, even today.^[f]

²⁶ At that time, Joshua made a strong promise. He said, ‘If anyone tries to build Jericho city again, the Lord will punish him as a guilty man. When he starts to build, his oldest son will die. When he puts up the city's gates, his youngest son will die.’

²⁷ So the Lord was with Joshua to help him. Joshua became famous everywhere in the land.

The sin of Achan

7 The Israelites did not obey what Joshua had said about the valuable things that belonged to God. Achan took some of these things for himself. He was Carmi's son, who was the son of Zimri, who was the son of Zerah. They were from the tribe of Judah. The Lord was very angry with the Israelites.

² Joshua sent some men to go from Jericho to Ai. That is a city near to Beth Aven, and east of Bethel. He said to the men, ‘Go up and look at the land near there secretly.’ So the men went to Ai to see what they could discover. ³ The men came back and they said to Joshua, ‘There are not many men in Ai. Do not send our whole army to attack it. 2,000 or 3,000 men will be enough to take the city.’

⁴ So about 3,000 Israelite men went to attack Ai. But the men of Ai made them run away. ⁵ They chased the Israelites away from the gate of the city and they killed about 36 Israelite soldiers. They chased them down the hill as far as Shebarim. They killed the Israelites as they ran down the hill. When the people of Israel heard this, they became very frightened.

⁶ Joshua was so upset that he tore his clothes. He fell with his face to the ground in front of the Lord's Covenant Box. He stayed there until evening time, together with the Israelite leaders. They all put dirt on their heads.^{[g] 7} Joshua said, ‘Almighty Lord, why did you ever bring us over the Jordan River? Did you bring us here so that the Amorites could destroy us? It would have been better for us to stay on the other side of the Jordan! ⁸ Now our army has had to run away from our enemies! Lord, there is nothing more for me to say! ⁹ The Canaanites and the other tribes who live in this land will hear about what has happened. They will come to attack us and they will completely destroy us all. If that happens, nobody will ever respect your great name again!’

¹⁰ The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Stand up! Why are you lying there on the ground? ¹¹ Israel has done a bad thing. They have not obeyed the command of the covenant that I made with them. That have taken for themselves some of the valuable things that belong to me. They have taken them and they have tried to deceive me. They have hidden them among their own things. ¹² That is why the Israelites are running away from their enemies. They themselves must now be destroyed because they belong to me. If you want me to continue to help you, you must destroy everything that belongs to me. You should not have taken those valuable things for yourselves.

¹³ So stand up now! Tell the people to make themselves clean. Make yourselves ready! Tomorrow you will come to stand in front of me. I, the Lord God of Israel tell you, “Israelite people, you have kept some of the things that I told you to destroy. You will not win against your enemies until you have removed those things!” ¹⁴ In the morning, tell the Israelites to come to me, one tribe at a time. I will choose one tribe. The clans of that tribe will come in front of me, one clan at a time. I will choose one clan. Then the families of that clan will come in front of me, family by family. I will choose one family. Then the men of that family will come to stand in front of me, one by one. ¹⁵ Then I will show you which man has taken the things that belong to me. You must kill that man and burn his body. You must kill him and everything that he has, together with all his family. He has done a very bad thing that no Israelite should ever do. He has turned against the covenant that I made with my people.’

¹⁶ Early the next morning, Joshua told the tribes to come and stand in front of the Lord. They came one tribe at a time. The Lord chose the tribe of Judah. ¹⁷ Then clans of the tribe of Judah came, one clan at a time. The Lord chose Zerah's clan. Families from Zerah's clan then came, one family at a time. The Lord chose Zimri's family. ¹⁸ Joshua then made each man from Zimri's family come, one by one. The Lord chose Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zimri, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah.

¹⁹ Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, tell the truth, to show that you respect the Lord, Israel's God. Tell me what you have done. Do not try to deceive me.’

²⁰ Achan replied, ‘It is true! I have done a bad thing against the Lord, Israel's God. This is what I have done. ²¹ I found a beautiful coat from Babylon, and I found 200 silver coins, and a piece of gold that weighed half a kilogram. I wanted them so much that I took them for myself. I hid them in the ground in my tent. The silver coins are under the other things.’

²² So Joshua sent some men to go to Achan's tent. They ran there and they found the things that Achan had hidden. The silver coins were under the other things. ²³ The men took the things out from the tent. They brought them to Joshua and all the other Israelites. They put them all on the ground in front of the Lord.

²⁴ Then Joshua and all the people took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver coins, the coat, and the heavy piece of gold. They also took his sons, his daughters, and his cows, sheep and donkeys. They took all his things to Achor valley.^{[h] 25} Joshua said, ‘Why did you cause so much trouble to come to us? The Lord will certainly give you trouble today!’

Then all the Israelites threw stones at him until he died. They also killed his family and they burned all the bodies. ²⁶ They put a big heap of stones over him. They are still there today. That is why the place is still called ‘Trouble Valley’. Then the Lord was not angry with his people any more.

The Israelites destroy Ai

8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid. Continue to be brave! Take the whole army with you and go to attack Ai. This time, I will give the king and all his people to you. I will also give to you the city and its land. ² You must destroy the city and its king as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may take their valuable things and their animals for yourselves. Hide some of your men behind the city, so that they are ready to attack.’

³ So Joshua and the whole army marched towards Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of the best soldiers and he sent some of them out at night time. ⁴ He said to them, ‘Listen carefully. Go and hide behind the city. Stay near to it. Be ready to attack! ⁵ In the morning, I will march towards the city with our other soldiers. When we get near to the city, the enemy's men will come out of the city to fight against us, as they did before. Then we will turn round and we will run away. ⁶ They will chase us away from the city. They will say, “The Israelites are running away from us, as they did before.” We will continue to run away from them. ⁷ Then you must leave the place where you have hidden. Go into the city and take it. The Lord your God will give it to you. ⁸ When you have taken the city, start to burn it. Do what the Lord has told you to do. Be sure that you obey my commands.’

⁹ Then Joshua sent the men away. They went and they hid on the west side of Ai, between Bethel and Ai. But Joshua stayed with his other soldiers that night.

¹⁰ Early the next morning, Joshua took the army to march towards Ai. He and the leaders of Israel marched in front. ¹¹ The soldiers who were with Joshua marched up to the city. They stopped in front of it, on the north side. They put up their tents there, where there was a valley between them and the city. ¹² Joshua had already sent about 5,000 men to hide on the west side of the city, between Bethel and Ai. ¹³ The whole Israelite army was ready to fight. Most of them were with their tents on the north side of the city. The other soldiers were hiding on the west side of the city. That night Joshua went down into the valley.

¹⁴ The king of Ai saw that Israel's army had arrived. Early the next morning, the king and his army hurried out of the city. They wanted to fight against Israel's army at the same place as before, on the hill near the Jordan Valley. But the king of Ai did not know that some Israelite soldiers were hiding behind the city. ¹⁵ Joshua and his army let the men of Ai chase after them. They pretended to be afraid. They ran towards the desert. ¹⁶ The king told all the men who remained in the city to chase the Israelites. So they continued to chase after them, far away from their city. ¹⁷ No men remained in Ai or Bethel. They all chased after the Israelites. There was nobody left to keep the city safe.

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Hold out the spear that is in your hand. Point it towards Ai. I am now giving the city to you.’

So Joshua held out his spear towards Ai.

¹⁹ As soon as he did this, the men who were hiding behind the city came out quickly. They ran into the city and they took it. Immediately, they used fire to burn it. ²⁰ The men of Ai looked behind them and they saw smoke in the sky above the city. But they could do nothing to escape. The Israelites who had been running away from them now turned round to fight them. ²¹ Joshua and his army also saw the smoke. They knew that the other group of soldiers had taken the city. So they turned round and began to attack the men of Ai. ²² Now the Israelites who had gone into the city also came out to fight. So the men of Ai were in between the two groups of Israelite soldiers. The Israelites killed all the men of Ai. ²³ Only the king of Ai was still alive. They caught him and they took him to Joshua.

²⁴ The Israelites killed all the men who had lived in Ai. They killed them when they chased them towards the desert. Then the Israelite soldiers went back to Ai and they killed everyone there. ²⁵ All the people of Ai died on that day. That was 12,000 men and women. ²⁶ Joshua continued to point his spear at Ai, until his army had killed every person who lived there. ²⁷ But the Israelites took the valuable things and the animals for themselves. That was what the Lord had told Joshua. ²⁸ Joshua burned the city and he broke down its walls. It is still like that today. ²⁹ He hanged the king of Ai on a tree. He left his body there until evening. At sunset, Joshua told his men to cut the body down. They threw it on the ground outside the city's gate. They covered it with a heap of stones. Those stones are still there today.

Joshua reads God's law to the people

³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar on Ebal mountain, to worship the Lord, Israel's God. ³¹ He built it as the Lord's servant, Moses, had told the Israelites to do. Moses had written this on the scroll of God's laws. The law said, ‘You must build an altar with whole stones that you have not cut. Do not use any iron tools on them.’^[i] They made burnt offerings on the altar to worship the Lord. They also made sacrifices as friendship offerings. ³² The Israelites watched Joshua as he made a copy of God's Law on the stones. This was the Law that Moses had written. ³³ All the Israelites stood on each side of the Covenant Box, with their faces towards the priests who carried it. The leaders, officers, and judges were there, as well as foreign people who lived with the Israelites. Half the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim. The other half stood with their backs to Mount Ebal. Moses had told them to stand like that when the Lord wanted to bless them.^{[j] 34} Then Joshua read the whole Law aloud to them. He read the blessings and the curses, as they are written on the scroll of the Law. ³⁵ Joshua read aloud every command that Moses had written. He read it to all the Israelite people. The women, children and the foreign people who lived with them also listened.^[k]