Old/New Testament
The Sin of Achan
7 But the Israelites[a] broke faith concerning the devoted things.[b] Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took from the devoted things;[c] and Yahweh’s anger was kindled[d] against the Israelites.[e]
2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven, east of Bethel, and he said to them, “Go up and spy out Ai.” And 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 and attack Ai; only two or three thousand men should go up because they[f] are few. Do not make all the people weary up there.” 4 So about three thousand from the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, and they chased them from the gate up to Shebarim and killed them on the slope. And the hearts[g] of the people melted and became like water.
6 And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.[h] 7 And Joshua said, “Ah, my Lord! Why did you bring this people across the Jordan to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content and stayed beyond the Jordan. 8 Please, my Lord! What can I say after Israel has fled from its enemies?[i] 9 The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of this, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the land. What will you do, for your great name?”
10 And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why[j] have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned and transgressed my covenant[k] that I commanded them. They have taken from the devoted things;[l] they have stolen and acted deceitfully, and they have put them among their belongings. 12 The Israelites[m] were unable to stand before their enemies; they fled from their enemies[n] because they have become a thing devoted[o] for destruction. I will be with you no more[p] unless you destroy the devoted things[q] from among you. 13 Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: “There are devoted things[r] in your midst, O Israel. You will be unable to stand before you enemies until you remove the devoted things[s] from your midst.” 14 In the morning you will come forward, tribe by tribe,[t] and the tribe that Yahweh will select by lot will come forward by clans, and the clan that Yahweh selects by lot will come forward by families, and the family that Yahweh selects by lot will come forward one by one. 15 The one caught with the devoted things[u] will be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he transgressed the covenant[v] of Yahweh, and because he did a disgraceful thing in Israel.”’”
16 So[w] Joshua rose early in the morning and brought forward Israel, tribe by tribe,[x] and the tribe of Judah was selected by lot. 17 And he brought forward the clans of Judah and selected the clan of the Zerahites[y] by lot. Then he brought forward the clan of the Zerahites,[z] one by one, and Zabdi was selected by lot. 18 He brought forward his family, one by one, and Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected by lot. 19 And Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please, give glory to Yahweh the God of Israel, and give him a doxology in court.[aa] Tell me, please, what you have done; do not hide it from me.” 20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, “It is true. I have sinned against Yahweh the God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 I saw among the spoil a beautiful robe from Shinar,[ab] two hundred shekels of silver, and one bar of gold that weighed fifty shekels; I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver is under it.”
22 Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there they were, hidden in his tent, and the silver was under it. 23 And they took them from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites.[ac] And they spread them out before the presence of Yahweh. 24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his cattle and donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and everything that was his, and they brought them to the valley of Achor.[ad] 25 And Joshua said, “Why did you bring us trouble? Yahweh will bring you trouble on this day.” And all Israel stoned them[ae] with stones;[af] and they burned them with fire after they stoned them with stones. 26 Then they placed[ag] on top of him a great pile of stones that remains to this day. And Yahweh turned from his burning anger,[ah] and thus the name of that place to this day is called the valley of Achor.[ai]
Ai Is Destroyed
8 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the fighting men[aj] with you and go up immediately to Ai.[ak] Look, I am giving into your hand the king of Ai, his city, and his land. 2 You will do to Ai and its king that which you did to Jericho and its king; you may take only its spoils[al] and livestock as booty for yourself. Set for yourself an ambush against the city from behind it.”
3 So Joshua and all the fighting men[am] went up immediately to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the best fighting men and sent them by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying, “Look, you are to lay an ambush against the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city and be ready. 5 Then I and all of the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they go out to meet us as before,[an] we will flee from them.[ao] 6 They will come out after us until we draw them away from the city, because they will think, ‘They are fleeing from us[ap] as before.’[aq] So we will flee from them.[ar] 7 Then you will rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh your God will give it into your hand. 8 And when you capture the city you will set it on fire as Yahweh commanded. Look, I have commanded you.” 9 So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of the ambush, and they sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent the night with the people.[as]
10 Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people of Ai.[at] 11 All the fighting men[au] who were with him went up and drew near before the city[av] and camped north of Ai; there was a valley between him and Ai. 12 And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So they stationed the forces; all the army was north of the city while the rear guard was west.[aw] But Joshua went that night to the middle of the valley. 14 When the king of Ai saw this, the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel for battle—he[ax] and all his army—to the meeting place before the Arabah.[ay] He did not know that there was an ambush for him behind the city. 15 Then Joshua and all Israel acted like they were beaten before them, and they fled in the direction of the wilderness.[az] 16 All of the people who were in the city were called to pursue after them. As they pursued after Joshua, they were drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel; they left the city open and pursued after Israel.
18 And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Stretch out the sword[ba] that is in your hand to Ai, because I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the sword that was in his hand to the city. 19 The moment he stretched out his hand, those in the ambush stood up quickly from their place and ran. And they went into the city and captured it, quickly setting the city ablaze with fire. 20 Then the men of Ai looked behind them, and they saw smoke from the city rising to the sky; they had no power to flee this way or that,[bb] and the people fleeing the wilderness turned around to the pursuers.[bc] 21 And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was rising; they returned and struck down the men of Ai. 22 Then the others from the city came out to meet them, and they found themselves surrounded by Israel,[bd] some on one side, and others on the other side.[be] And they[bf] struck them down until no survivor or fugitive was left. 23 But they captured the king of Ai alive, and they brought him to Joshua.
24 When Israel finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them had fallen by the edge of the sword[bg] until they all had perished, all Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with the edge of the sword.[bh] 25 All the people that fell on that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the inhabitants of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back his hand that was stretched out with the sword until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of Yahweh that Joshua commanded. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it an everlasting heap of rubbish, a desolate place until this day. 29 The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the time of evening, and as the sun went down Joshua commanded them, and they brought down his dead body from the tree. Then they threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and they raised over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.
Israel Renews the Covenant
30 Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for Yahweh the God of Israel, 31 as Moses Yahweh’s servant commanded the Israelites,[bi] as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses: “an altar of unhewn[bj] stones on which no one has wielded[bk] an iron implement.”[bl] And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32 And there Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he[bm] had written, in the presence of the Israelites.[bn] 33 Then all Israel, foreigner as well as native,[bo] with the elders, officials, and judges stood on either side[bp] of the ark before the priests and the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim, and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses Yahweh’s servant had commanded before to bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings[bq] and the curses,[br] according to all that was written in the scroll of the law. 35 There was not a word from all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before the assembly of all Israel, and the women, the little children, and the traveling foreigners[bs] among them.
The Gibeonites Act with Cunning
9 Now[bt] when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the Shephelah,[bu] and on all the coast of the great sea toward Lebanon[bv]—the Hittites,[bw] the Amorites,[bx] the Canaanites,[by] the Perizzites,[bz] the Hivites,[ca] and the Jebusites[cb]—heard of this, 2 they gathered themselves together to fight with one accord against[cc] Joshua and Israel.
3 But the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai, 4 and they acted on their part with cunning: they went and prepared provisions,[cd] and took worn-out sacks[ce] for their donkeys and old wineskins that were torn and mended. 5 The sandals on their feet were patched and old, their clothes were old, and their food was dry and crumbled. 6 And they went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far land; so then make a covenant with us.”[cf] 7 And the men of Israel said to the Hivites,[cg] “Perhaps you are living among us; how can we make a covenant[ch] with you?” 8 They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and from where do you come?” 9 And they said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far land because of the name of Yahweh your God; we have heard of his reputation, of all that he did in Egypt, 10 and of all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan—to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth. 11 So our elders said to us and all the inhabitants of our land, ‘Take in your hand provisions for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, “We are your servants; so then make a covenant with us.”’[ci] 12 This is our bread; it was hot when we took it from our houses as provisions on the day we set out to come to you. But now, look, it is dry and crumbled. 13 These are the wineskins that we filled new, but look, they have burst; and these are our clothes and sandals that have worn out from the very long journey.” 14 So the leaders[cj] took from their provisions, but they did not ask direction from Yahweh.[ck] 15 And Joshua made peace with them, and he made a covenant with them[cl] to allow them to live happily, and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
16 And it happened that at the end of three days, after they made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors[cm] and living among them. 17 And the Israelites[cn] set out and went to their cities on the third day (their cities were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim). 18 But the Israelites[co] did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against their leaders.[cp] 19 But all the leaders of the congregation said, “We have sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel, and so we cannot touch them. 20 This we will do to them: we will let them live so that wrath will not be on us because of the oath we swore to them.” 21 And the leaders[cq] said to them, “Let them live.” So they became woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said to them.
22 And Joshua summoned them and said, “Why have you deceived us saying, ‘We are very far from you’ when you are living among us? 23 Therefore you are cursed; some of you will always be slaves as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.” 24 And they answered Joshua and said, “Because it was told with certainty to your servants that Yahweh your God commanded Moses his servant to give to you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you, so we were very afraid for our lives because of you, and so we did this thing. 25 So then, look, we are in your hand; do with us whatever seems good and right in your eyes.” 26 So he did this to them: he saved them from the hand of the Israelites,[cr] and they did not kill them. 27 And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of Yahweh, to this day, in the place that he should choose.
21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and began to wonder[a] when[b] he was delayed in the temple. 22 And when he[c] came out he was not able to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them, and remained unable to speak. 23 And it happened that when the days of his service came to an end, he went away to his home.
24 Now after these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days in which he has concerned himself with me,[d] to take away my disgrace among people.”
The Prediction of Jesus’ Birth
26 Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named[e] Nazareth, 27 to a virgin legally promised in marriage to a man named[f] Joseph of the house of David. And the name of the virgin was Mary. 28 And he came to her and[g] said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was greatly perplexed at the statement, and was pondering what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in the womb and will give birth to a son,
and you will call his name Jesus.
32 This one will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33 And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever,[h]
and of his kingdom there will be no end.
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” 35 And the angel answered and[i] said to her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore also the one to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth—she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”[j]
38 So Mary said, “Behold, the Lord’s female slave! May it happen to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
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