Beginning

5 When all the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan and of the Canaanites by the sea to the east heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the children of Israel while they crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any breath in them because of the children of Israel.

Circumcision and Passover at Gilgal

² At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the children of Israel a second time.” ³ So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the children of Israel at the Hill of the Foreskins called Gibeath Haaraloth.

⁴ Now this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the males who came out of Egypt who were men of fighting age had died in the wilderness along the way after leaving Egypt. ⁵ All of the people who had come out were circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness along the way after leaving Egypt were not circumcised. ⁶ The children of Israel had traveled forty years in the wilderness until all the people, the men of fighting age who came out of Egypt, died, because they did not obey the Lord. The Lord had sworn not to let them see the land that He had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷ Yet He raised up their descendants in their place. These men Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised. They had not been circumcised along the way. ⁸ So when the entire people was completely circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they healed.

⁹ The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from upon you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal even to this day.

¹⁰ The children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. ¹¹ The day after the Passover, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened bread, and roasted grain. ¹² The manna stopped the day after they ate from the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna. That year they ate what the land of Canaan yielded.

The Fall of Jericho

¹³ Now when Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him. In His hand was His drawn sword. Joshua went to Him and said, “Are You for us or for our enemies?”

¹⁴ He said, “Neither, for I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” Then Joshua fell with his face to the ground and worshipped. Then he said, “What does my Lord wish to say to His servant?”

¹⁵ The commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” So Joshua did this.

6 Now Jericho was tightly secured before the children of Israel. There was no one leaving or entering.

² The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho, its king, and mighty men of valor into your hand. ³ All the men of fighting age shall march around the city. Circle the city once. Do this for six days. ⁴ Seven priests shall carry seven ram’s horn trumpets before the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. ⁵ When they blow a long blast on the ram’s horn and when you hear the trumpet sound, all the people shall shout a loud battle cry. The walls of the city will fall down, and the people will go up, every man straight ahead.”

⁶ So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant. Seven priests bearing seven ram’s horn trumpets shall be in front of the ark of the Lord.” ⁷ He said to the people, “Advance and march around the city. Let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”

⁸ So when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing seven ram’s horn trumpets before the Lord advanced and blew their trumpets. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went after them. ⁹ The armed men went before the priests blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard went after the ark while the trumpets were blowing. ¹⁰ Now Joshua had commanded the people, “Do not shout a battle cry, and do not let your voices be heard. Do not let a word come out of your mouths until the time I say to you, ‘Shout the battle cry!’ Then shout.” ¹¹ So he had the ark of the Lord circle the city once. Then they came into the camp and spent the night there.

¹² Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests picked up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ Seven priests bearing seven ram’s horn trumpets before the ark of the Lord moved on, blowing their trumpets continually. The armed men went before them, and the rear guard went after the ark of the Lord while the trumpets were blowing. ¹⁴ The second day they circled the city once, and they returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵ Then on the seventh day they got up early as dawn was breaking and circled the city in this way seven times. Only on that day did they circle the city seven times. ¹⁶ On the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets and Joshua said to the people, “Shout the battle cry, for the Lord has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are dedicated to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute may live, she, and all who are with her in her house, for she hid the messengers we sent. ¹⁸ As for you, keep yourselves from that which is dedicated for destruction, lest you be destroyed. If you take from that which is dedicated for destruction, you will set the Israelite camp for destruction and bring trouble upon it. ¹⁹ All the silver, gold, and bronze and iron articles are set apart for the Lord. They will go into the treasury of the Lord.”

²⁰ So the people shouted, and they blew the trumpets. When the people heard the trumpet sound, they shouted a loud battle cry, and the wall fell down. So the people went up into the city, one man after the other, and they captured it. ²¹ They destroyed all that was in the city: man and woman, young and old, and oxen, sheep, and donkey with the edge of the sword.

²² Yet to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Enter the prostitute’s house, and bring out the woman and everyone who belongs to her, as you swore to her.” ²³ So the young men who had been spies entered and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, everyone who belonged to her, and her whole extended family. They brought them out and placed them outside of the camp of Israel.

²⁴ They burned the city and everything in it with fire. Only the silver, the gold, the bronze and iron articles they gave to the treasury of the house of the Lord. ²⁵ Yet Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family, and everyone who belonged to her, Joshua let live. They live among Israel to this day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho.

²⁶ At that time Joshua made them swear, “Cursed before the Lord will be the man who arises and rebuilds this city of Jericho.

²⁷ So the Lord was with Joshua, and he became famous throughout the land.

Achan’s Sin

7 Yet the children of Israel violated their obligations with regard to the things dedicated for destruction. Achan, son of Karmi, son of Zimri, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah took from the things dedicated for destruction, and the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.

² Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai (which is near Beth Aven, east of Bethel) and said to them, “Go up and spy on the land.” So the men went up and spied on Ai.

³ Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, “All the people need not go up. Let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Since they are so few, all the people need not weary themselves.” ⁴ So about three thousand men went up from among the people there, but they fled from before the men of Ai. ⁵ The men of Ai struck down thirty-six men and pursued them from the gate to Shebarim. They struck them down on the mountainside, and the hearts of the people melted like water.

⁶ Then Joshua ripped his clothes. He and the Israelite elders fell on their faces to the ground in front of the ark of the Lord until evening and threw dirt upon their heads. ⁷ Joshua said, “O Lord God, why did You bring this people across the Jordan to give us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to dwell on the other side of the Jordan! ⁸ O my Lord, what should I say now that Israel has fled before its enemies? ⁹ The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land may hear, turn on us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will You do for Your great name?”

¹⁰ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned, and they have broken My covenant that I commanded them. They took from the things dedicated for destruction. They have stolen, acted deceitfully, and put them among their own possessions. ¹² Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs to their enemies because they have become dedicated for destruction. I will not be with you anymore if you do not destroy the things dedicated for destruction in your midst.

¹³ “Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “Things dedicated for destruction are in your midst, O Israel. You are not able to stand before your enemies until you remove the things dedicated for destruction from your midst.”

¹⁴ “ ‘In the morning you will be brought forward by tribes, and the tribe that the Lord selects by lot shall come forward by clans. The clan that the Lord selects by lot shall come forward by households, and the household that the Lord selects by lot shall come forward man by man. ¹⁵ And he who is taken with the things dedicated for destruction shall be burned with fire, he and all who belong to him, for he broke the covenant of the Lord and has done a disgraceful action in Israel.’ ”

¹⁶ So Joshua got up early in the morning and brought forward Israel by their tribes. The tribe of Judah was selected. ¹⁷ He brought forward the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was selected. He brought forward the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zimri was selected. ¹⁸ He brought forward the household of Zimri man by man, and Achan son of Karmi, son of Zimri, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was selected.

¹⁹ Then Joshua said to Achan, “O my son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give Him praise! Tell me what you have done! Do not hold back anything from me.”

²⁰ Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed, I sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I did: ²¹ When I saw among the plundered goods a beautiful robe from Babylon, two hundred shekels of silver,^[a] and a gold bar weighing fifty shekels,^[b] I coveted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground in my tent. The silver is underneath them.”

²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. There it all was hidden in the ground with the silver underneath. ²³ They took it from the tent and brought it to Joshua and all the children of Israel. They spread it out before the Lord.

²⁴ Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all he had, and brought them up to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵ Then Joshua said, “Why have you brought trouble on us? The Lord will trouble you today!”

So all Israel stoned him. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. ²⁶ Then they erected over him a large pile of stones, which is still there today. So the Lord turned from His burning anger. Therefore the name of the place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

Ai Destroyed

8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you. Arise, and go up to Ai. See, I have given the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land into your hand. ² Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its spoils and its livestock. Now set an ambush for the city behind it.”

³ So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, mighty men of valor, and sent them out at night. ⁴ He commanded them, “You shall ambush the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city. All of you be ready. ⁵ I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to engage us as before, we will flee from them. ⁶ They will come after us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will think, ‘They are fleeing from us as before!’ So we will flee from them. ⁷ Then you shall rise up for the ambush and take possession of the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hands. ⁸ When you have seized the city, set it on fire. Act according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.”

⁹ So Joshua sent them out. They went to the place of ambush and took up a position between Bethel and Ai, westward of Ai, and Joshua spent the night among the people.

¹⁰ Joshua got up early in the morning and mustered the people. He and the elders of Israel went up before the people to Ai. ¹¹ All the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near to the city. They camped north of Ai, and there was a valley between them and Ai. ¹² He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, westward of the city. ¹³ So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley.

¹⁴ When the king of Ai saw this, the men of the city hurriedly got up early and went out to engage Israel in battle at the assembly point near the Arabah. Yet he did not know that there was an ambush for him behind the city. ¹⁵ So Joshua and all Israel allowed themselves to be beaten before them, and they fled in the direction of the wilderness. ¹⁶ All the people who were in Ai were assembled to pursue them, so they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city wide open, and they pursued Israel.

¹⁸ The Lord said to Joshua, “Point toward Ai with the sword that is in your hand, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua pointed toward the city with the sword in his hand. ¹⁹ When his hand pointed, the men in ambush got up quickly from their place and ran. They came into the city, captured it, and quickly set the city on fire.

²⁰ The men of Ai turned around and looked, and there from the city came smoke rising to the sky! They could not flee in any direction, and the people who had fled into the wilderness had turned back toward their pursuers. ²¹ When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that smoke rose from it, they turned and struck down the men of Ai. ²² Then the men in the city came out to engage them in battle, so they were now in the middle, with Israel on each side. Israel struck them down until neither survivors nor escapees were left. ²³ They took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

²⁴ When Israel completed killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they had pursued them, and when all of them had finally fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵ All who had fallen that day, men and women, numbered twelve thousand, all the people of Ai. ²⁶ Joshua did not draw back his hand with the stretched-out sword until he destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷ Israel plundered only the livestock and the spoil of that city for themselves, according to the word of the Lord that He had commanded Joshua.

²⁸ Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. ²⁹ The king of Ai hanged on a tree until evening. At sunset, Joshua commanded that the people take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the city gate. They erected a large heap of stones over it that remains to this day.

The Covenant Renewal at Mount Ebal

³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal, ³¹ as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel. As is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, it was “an altar of uncut stones not shaped by iron tools.” They sacrificed burnt offerings to the Lord on it, as well as peace offerings. ³² There in the presence of the children of Israel he wrote a copy of the Law of Moses on the stones. ³³ All Israel, resident alien and native alike, with its elders, officials, and judges, were standing on either side of the ark in front of the Levite priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded from the beginning, in order to bless the people of Israel.

³⁴ After this, Joshua read out all the words of the law, both blessing and curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵ There was not a word from all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read out before the whole assembly of Israel, with the women, the children, and the resident aliens who were among them.