The Conquest of Ai

¹Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.

²And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”

³So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night

⁴with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.

⁵Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.

⁶They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them,

⁷you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

⁸And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”

⁹So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.

¹⁰Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.

¹¹Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.

¹²Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

¹³So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

¹⁴When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city.

¹⁵Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.

¹⁶Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.

¹⁷Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.

¹⁸Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lancetoward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,

¹⁹and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

²⁰When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.

²¹When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

²²Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.

²³But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

²⁴When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.

²⁵A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.

²⁶Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destructionall who lived in Ai.

²⁷Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

²⁸So Joshua burned Aiand made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

²⁹He hung the king of Ai on a treeuntil evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.

Joshua Renews the Covenant

³⁰At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,

³¹just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.”And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

³²And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

³³All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

³⁴Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.

³⁵There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.

The Defeat at Ai

¹The Israelites, however, acted unfaithfully regarding the things devoted to destruction.Achanson of Carmi, the son of Zabdi,the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart. So the anger of the LORD burned against the Israelites.

²Meanwhile, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

³On returning to Joshua, they reported, “There is no need to send all the people; two or three thousand men are enough to go up and attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, you need not wear out all our people there.”

⁴So about three thousand men went up, but they fled before the men of Ai.

⁵And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them, chasing them from the gate as far as the quarriesand striking them down on the slopes. So the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads.

⁷“O, Lord GOD,” Joshua said, “why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be destroyed? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!

⁸O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?

⁹When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

¹⁰But the LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen on your face?

¹¹Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these things with their own possessions.

¹²This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you whatever is devoted to destruction.

¹³Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.

¹⁴In the morning you must present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD selects shall come forward clan by clan, and the clan that the LORD selects shall come forward family by family, and the family that the LORD selects shall come forward man by man.

¹⁵The one who is caught with the things devoted to destruction must be burned, along with all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrage in Israel.’”

The Sin of Achan

¹⁶So Joshua arose early the next morning and had Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was selected.

¹⁷He had the clans of Judah come forward, and the clan of the Zerahites was selected. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward, and the family of Zabdi was selected.

¹⁸And he had the family of Zabdi come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.

¹⁹So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make a confession to Him. I urge you to tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

²⁰“It is true,” Achan replied, “I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did:

²¹When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar,two hundred shekels of silver,and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels,I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

²²So Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent, and there it all was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath.

²³They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out before the LORD.

²⁴Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor.

²⁵“Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the LORD will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies.

²⁶And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achorto this day.

Ephraim’s Inheritance

¹The allotment for the descendants of Joseph extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness that goes up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel.

²It went on from Bethel (that is, Luz)and proceeded to the border of the Archites in Ataroth.

³Then it descended westward to the border of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and on to Gezer, and it ended at the Sea.

⁴So Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, received their inheritance.

⁵This was the territory of the descendants of Ephraim by their clans:The border of their inheritance went from Ataroth-addar in the east to Upper Beth-horon

⁶and out toward the Sea. From Michmethath on the north it turned eastward toward Taanath-shiloh and passed by it to Janoah on the east.

⁷From Janoah it went down to Ataroth and Naarah, and then reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan.

⁸From Tappuah the border went westward to the Brook of Kanah and ended at the Sea.This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Ephraim,

⁹along with all the cities and villages set apart for the descendants of Ephraim within the inheritance of Manasseh.

¹⁰But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.

O God, Be Not Silent

¹O God, be not silent; be not speechless;be not still, O God.

²See how Your enemies rage,how Your foes have reared their heads.

³With cunning they scheme against Your peopleand conspire against those You cherish,

⁴saying, “Come, let us erase them as a nation;may the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

⁵For with one mind they plot together;they form an alliance against You—

⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,of Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷of Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,of Philistia with the people of Tyre.

⁸Even Assyria has joined them,lending strength to the sons of Lot.Selah

⁹Do to them as You did to Midian,as to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon,

¹⁰who perished at Endorand became like dung on the ground.

¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹²who said, “Let us possess for ourselvesthe pastures of God.”

¹³Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,like chaff before the wind.

¹⁴As fire consumes a forest,as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

¹⁵so pursue them with Your tempest,and terrify them with Your storm.

¹⁶Cover their faces with shame,that they may seek Your name, O LORD.

¹⁷May they be ever ashamed and terrified;may they perish in disgrace.

¹⁸May they know that You alone,whose name is the LORD,are Most High over all the earth.