Old/New Testament
Achan’s Trouble
7 But Bnei-Yisrael unfaithfully violated the ban. Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the banned things[a]. So Adonai’s anger burned against Bnei-Yisrael.
2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and spoke to them saying: “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 When they returned to Joshua, they reported to him: “Let not all the people go up—only about two or three thousand men need go up and strike Ai, so don’t wear out all the people there, for they are just a few.” 4 So about 3,000 men from the people went up there, but they fled before the men of Ai. 5 The men of Ai struck down about 36 of their men, and they chased them from outside the gate as far as Shebarim,[b] striking them down on the slope. So the hearts of the people melted and became like water.
6 Joshua then tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Adonai until evening, both he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. 7 “Alas, Adonai Elohim!” Joshua said. “Why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan? Is it to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites—to destroy us? If only we had been content and dwelled beyond the Jordan! 8 Oh my Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back before its enemies? 9 For when the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land hear of it, they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great Name?”
10 Then Adonai said to Joshua, “Arise! Why are you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned. Yes, they have also transgressed My covenant, which I commanded them. Now they have even taken of the things under the ban of destruction. So they have also stolen and even deceived, and even put them among their own possessions. 12 So Bnei-Yisrael cannot stand before their enemies. So they turn their necks before their enemies, because they have come under the ban. I will not be with you any more unless you destroy whatever is under the ban from among you. 13 Arise! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: Something under the ban is in the midst of you, Israel. You will not be able to stand up before your enemies until you remove whatever is under the ban from among you. 14 In the morning you will approach by your tribes. It will be that the tribe that Adonai takes will come forward by families, and the family that Adonai takes will come forward by households, and the household that Adonai takes will come forward man by man. 15 Then whoever is taken with whatever is under the ban must be burned with fire, he and all belonging to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of Adonai, and because he has committed a disgrace in Israel.’”
16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel forward by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 Then he brought forward the clans of Judah, and He took the family of the Zerahites. Then he brought forward the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 Then he brought forward his household man by man, and Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah was taken. 19 So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory now to Adonai, God of Israel, and give praise to Him, and confess to me now what you have done—hide nothing from me.”
20 Achan responded to Joshua and said: “It’s true! I have sinned against Adonai, God of Israel! This is what I have done: 21 When I saw among the spoil a beautiful Shinar mantle and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold 50 shekels in weight, I coveted them and took them. Look, they are buried in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent, and behold, it was buried in his tent with the silver underneath it. 23 Then they took them from the middle of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all Bnei-Yisrael, and they laid them down before Adonai. 24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep and his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.
25 Then Joshua said, “Why have you brought trouble on us? Adonai will trouble you this day.” Then all Israel stoned him with stones, burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. 26 They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day. Then Adonai turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.
8 Then Adonai said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid or dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land into your hand. 2 Then you will do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king—except you will take its spoil and its cattle as booty for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
3 So Joshua and all the people of war arose to go up to Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them at night. 4 He commanded them saying: “Look, you are going to ambush the city from behind it. Don’t go too far from the city, but all of you be ready. 5 Then I and all the troops with me will approach the city. Then it will be when they come out against us, like the first time, that we will flee before them. 6 So they will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will think, ‘They are fleeing before us like the first time.’ While we are fleeing before them, 7 you will rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city, for Adonai your God will give it into your hand. 8 Now when you have seized the city, you will set the city on fire—according to the word of Adonai you must do. See that you do as I have ordered you.”
9 So Joshua sent them off, and they went to the ambush site, taking position between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people. 10 Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people. He and the elders of Israel marched before the people to Ai. 11 All the people of war with him went up, advanced, and came in front of the city. They camped to the north of Ai, with a valley between him and Ai. 12 But he had taken about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So they stationed the people, the main army that was to the north of the city, and its rear guard to the west of the city. Then Joshua walked that night in the midst of the valley.
14 So it came to pass when the king of Ai saw this, the men of the city hurried and rose up early, and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place facing the Arabah. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 So Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 Then all the people who were in Ai were summoned 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, so they left the city open as they chased after Israel.
18 Then Adonai said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19 As soon as he stretched out his hand, the ambush arose quickly from their place, ran and entered the city and captured it; and immediately set the city on fire. 20 Now the men of Ai looked back and saw, behold, the smoke of the city rising up to the sky! They had no place to flee this way or that, since the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. 21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city rose up, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 The others also came out of the city against them, so they were surrounded by Israel, some on this side and some on that side. They struck them down until not one survivor or fugitive was left. 23 But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 After Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 All who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000—all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took as their booty, according to the word of Adonai which He had commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burnt Ai and made it a permanent heap of desolation to this day. 29 Then he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sunset Joshua commanded that they take his carcass down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and piled over it a great heap of stones, which remains to this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to Adonai, God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31 as Moses the servant of Adonai had commanded Bnei-Yisrael, as written in the scroll of the Torah of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded any iron tool. They offered on it burnt offerings to Adonai and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32 There on the stones he wrote a copy of the Torah of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of Bnei-Yisrael. 33 Then all Israel, with their elders and officials, and their judges, were standing on both sides of the ark facing the Levitical kohanim carrying the ark of the covenant of Adonai—the outsider as well as the native-born. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal—just as Moses the servant of Adonai had commanded before—in order to bless the people of Israel.
34 Then afterward he read all the words of the Torah—the blessing and the curse—according to all that is written in the book of the Torah. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, including the women and the little ones and the outsiders walking among them.
Gibeonites Connive a Treaty
9 Now when all the kings who were west of the Jordan, in the hill country, in the lowland and along the shore of the Great Sea to the vicinity of Lebanon—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—heard about it, 2 they gathered themselves together as a unified alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel.
3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4 they acted craftily. They went and traveled as ambassadors, took worn-out sacks for their donkeys and worn-out wine skins, cracked and patched up, 5 along with worn-out, patched up sandals on their feet and worn-out clothes on them. All the bread of their provision was dry and had become crumbly. 6 Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country. So now, make a treaty-covenant with us.”
7 Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites: “Perhaps you are living among us. How then should we make a covenant with you?”
8 But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”
Then Joshua asked them, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”
9 So they replied to him: “Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the Name of Adonai your God. For we have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt, 10 and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan—to King Sihon of Heshbon and to King Og of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. 11 So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us saying, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey, go to meet them and say to them: “We will be your subjects, so now make a treaty-covenant with us.’” 12 This is our bread, which was hot when we took it for our provision from our homes on the day we left to come to you, but now behold, it is dry and crumbly. 13 And these wineskins, which we were new when we filled them, but now see, they are cracked. Also these our garments and our sandals are worn-out because of the very long journey.”
14 So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not seek counsel from Adonai’s mouth. 15 So Joshua made peace with them and cut a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore to them.
16 But it came about at the end of three days after they had cut a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and were living among them. 17 So Bnei-Yisrael journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. 18 But Bnei-Yisrael did not strike them, because the leaders of the community had sworn to them by Adonai, God of Israel. Then the entire community murmured against the leaders, 19 but all the leaders answered the entire community, “We have sworn to them by Adonai, God of Israel, so now we cannot touch them. 20 This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.” 21 “Yes, let them live,” the leaders said further, “but let them chop wood and draw water for the entire community.” So the leaders decreed concerning them.
22 Then Joshua summoned them and he spoke to them saying: “Why have you deceived us saying: ‘We are very far from you,’ when you are living among us? 23 Now therefore, you are cursed, and you will never cease to be servants, wood-choppers and water-carriers for the House of my God.”
24 So they answered Joshua and said: “It was because your servants were clearly told that Adonai your God had commanded His servant Moses to give 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. 25 Now behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your eyes to do to us, do.”
26 Thus he did to them, delivering them from the hand of Bnei-Yisrael, so they did not slay them. 27 On that day Joshua made them wood-choppers and water-carriers for the community, and for the altar of Adonai in the place which He would choose. So it is to this day.
21 The people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering about his long delay in the Holy Place. 22 But when he came out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized that he had seen a vision in the Holy Place. He was making signs to them but remained mute. 23 When the days of his priestly service had been completed, he went home. 24 After these days, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and hid herself for five months, saying, 25 “Adonai has done this for me! In these days He looked upon me, to take away my disgrace among the people.”[a]
Prophecy of Birth to the Virgin
26 Then in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by Adonai into a town in the Galilee named Natzeret 27 and to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Miriam. 28 And coming to her, the angel said, “Shalom, favored one! Adonai is with you.[b]” 29 But at the message, she was perplexed and kept wondering what kind of greeting this might be. 30 The angel spoke to her, “Do not be afraid, Miriam, for you have found favor with God. 31 Behold, you will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you shall call His name Yeshua. [c] 32 He will be great and will be called Ben-Elyon. Adonai Elohim will give Him the throne of David,[d] His father. 33 He shall reign over the house of Jacob for all eternity, and His kingdom will be without end.”[e]
34 Miriam said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am not intimate with a man?”[f]
35 And responding, the angel said to her, “The Ruach ha-Kodesh will come upon you, and the power of Elyon will overshadow you. Therefore, the Holy One being born will be called Ben-Elohim. 36 Behold, even your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age; and the one who was called barren is six months pregnant. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”[g]
38 So Miriam said, “Behold, the servant of Adonai. Let it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel left her.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.