£* Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. — 2And the LORD said unto Joshua: 'See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, even the mighty men of valour. 3And ye shall compass the city, all the men of war, going about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. 4And seven priests shall bear seven rams' horns before the ark; and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the horns. 5And it shall be, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the horn, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him.3 6And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them: 'Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven rains' horns before the ark of the I LORD.' 7And he said unto the people: 'Pass on, and compass the city, and let the armed body pass on before the ark of the LORD.' 8And it was so, that when Joshua had spoken unto the people, the seveS priests bearing the seven rams* horns before the LORD passed on, and blew with the horns; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. 9And the armed men went before the priests that blew the horns, and the rearward went after the ark, [the priests] blowing with the horns continually. 10And Joshua commanded the people, saying: 'Ye shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed put of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.' uSo he caused the ark of the LORD to compass the city, going about it once; and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
^And Joshua rose early in the morn- ing, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. ^And the seven priests bearing the seven rams' horns before the ark of the LORD went on contin- ually, and blew with, the horns; and the armed men went before them; and the rearward came after the ark of the LORD, [the priests] blowing with the horns continually. 14And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp; so they did six days. 15And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same man- ner seven times; only on that day they compassed the city seven times. 16And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the horns, that Joshua said unto the peo- ple: 'Shout; for the LORD hath given you the city. 17And the city shall be devoted, even it and all that is there- JOSHUA 77 in, to the LORD; only Rahab the har- lot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 18And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest ye make your- selves accursed by taking of the de- voted thing, so should ye make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. 19But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy unto the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD/ 20So the people shouted, and [the priests] blew with the horns. And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the horn, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every nrm.n straight before him, and they took the city. 21And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. ^And Joshua said unto the two men that had spied out the land: 'Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye swore unto her/ ^And the young men the spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had, all her kindred also they brought out; and they set them without the camp of Israel. ^And they burnt the city with fire, and all ,that was therein; only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD, **Bni Rahab the harlot, and her father's house- hold, and all that she had: did Joshua save alive; and she dwelt in the midst of Israel, unto this day; because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent Joshua charged the people with an oath at that time, saying: 1 Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city, even Jericho; with the loss of his first- born shall he lay the foundation there- of, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.'
27So the LORD^ was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land. n But the children of Israel com- mitted a trespass concerning the devoted thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing; and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel 2And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and spoke unto them, saying: 'Go up and spy out the land.' And the men went up and spied out Ai. 3And they re- turned to Joshua, and said unto hinv 'Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; make not all the people to toil thither; for they are but few.' *So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men, and they fled before the men of Ai 5And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men; and they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them at the descent; and the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. 6And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust #upon their heads. 7And Joshua said: 'Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast Thou at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to JOSHUA JOSHUA cause us to perish? would that we had been content and dwelt beyond the Jordan! ^h, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel hath turned their backs before their enemies! 9For when the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land hear of it, they will compass us round, and cut off our name from the earth; and what wilt Thou do for Thy great name?'
10And the LORD 'said unto Joshua: 'Get thee up; wherefore, now, artthou fallen upon thy face? "Israel hath sinned; yea, they have even trans- gressed My covenant which I com- manded them; yea, they have even taken of the devoted thing; and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have even put it among their own stuff, therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies, they turn their backs before their enemies, because they are be- come accursed; I will not be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. ^Up, sanctify the people, and say: Sanc- tify yourselves against to-morrow; for thus saith^ the LORD, the God of Israel: There is a curse in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. MIn the morning therefore ye shall draw near by your tribes; and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come near by families; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come near by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come near rr\fl,n by man. 15And it shall be that he that is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath; because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought a wan- ton deed in Israel.'
16So Joshuarose up early in the morn- ing, and brought Israel near by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17And he brought near the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zerahites. And he brought near the family of the Ze- rahites man by man; and Zabdi was taken. 18And he brought near his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. "And Joshua said unto Achan: 'My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide nothing from me/ 20And Achan answered Joshua, and said: 'Of a truth I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. a"Wlien I saw among the spoil a goodly aShinar mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it/ ^So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, be- hold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. • ^And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel; and they laid them down before the LORD. MAnd Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and bis sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up unto the valley of Achor. ^And Joshua said: 'Why tiast thou troubled us? the LORD shall * That is, Babylonish.
JOSHUA trouble thcc this day.' And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones. 26And they raised over him a great heap of stones, unto this day; and the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called The valley of aAchor, unto this day. Q And the LORD said unto Joshua: u 'Fear not, neither be thou dis- mayed; take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into thy hand the long of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land. 2And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto your- selves; set thee an ambush for the city behind it.' 3So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valour, and sent them forth by night. 4And he commanded them, saying: 'Behold, y6 shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready. 6And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city; and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. 6And they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say: They flee before us, as at the first; so we will flee before them. 7And ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the LORD your God will de- liver it into your hand. 8And it shall be, when ye have seized upon the city, that ye shall set the city on fire; according to the word of the LORD shall ye do; see, I have commanded you.7 9And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to the ambushment, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. "And all the people, even the men of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai — now there was a valley between him and Ai. 12And he took about five thousand men, and set them in am- bush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai. uSo the people set themselves in array, even all the host that was on the north of the city, their rear lying in wait on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the vale. 14And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hastened and rose up early and went out against Israel to battle, he and -all his peo- ple, at the time appointed, in front of the Arabah; but he knew not that there was an ambush against him be- hind the city. 16And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them; and they pur- sued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. 17And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el, that went not out after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18And the LORD said unto Joshua: 'Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thy hand/ And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand to- • That is, Troubling.
JOSHUA ward the city. 19And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it; and they hastened and set the city on fire. 20And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way; and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. 21And when Josh- ua and all Israel saw that the am- bush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned back, and slew the men of Ai. ^And the other came forth out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side; and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape. ^And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, even in the wilderness wherein they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were con- sumed, that all Israel returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. ^And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. 26For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the jave- lin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 270nly the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, ac- cording unto the word of the LORD which He commanded Joshua. 28So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day. 29And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the eventide; and at the going down of the sun Joshua com- manded, and they took his carcass down from the tree, and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised thereon a great heap of stones, unto this day.
80Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD, the God of Israel, hi mount Ebal, 31as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man had lifted up any iron; and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace-offerings. 32And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote before the children of Israel. ^And all Israel, and then: elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger as the home-born; half of them in front of mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel. ^And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that walked among them.
G Ajnd it came to pass, when all the ^ kings that were beyond the Jordan, in the hill-country, and in the Low-, Land, and on all the shore of the Great Sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the JOSHUA Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebu- site, heard thereof, ^that they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one ac- cord.
3But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, *they also did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine- skins, worn and rent and patched up; 5and worn shoes and clouted upon their feet, and worn garments upon them; and all the bread of their pro- vision was dry and was become crumbs. 6And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel: 'We are come from a far country; now therefore make ye a covenant with us.' 7And the men of Israel said unto the Hi- vites: 'Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a covenant with you?' 8And they said unto Joshua: 'We are thy servants/ And Joshua said unto them: 'Who are ye? and from whence come ye?' 9And they said unto him: 'From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the LOED thy God; for we have heard the fame of Him. and all that He did in Egypt, 10and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. uAnd our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying: Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them: We are your servants; and now; make ye a Covenant with us. ^This^ our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and is become crumbs. 13And these wine-skins, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they are rent. And these our garments and our shoes are worn by reason of the very long journey/ 14And the men took of their provision, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LOBD. 15And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the princes of the congregation swore unto them.
^And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them. 17And the children of t Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon. and Chephjrah, and Beeroth, ana Kiriath-jearim. 18And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the LOED, the God of Israel. And^all the congrega- tion murmured against the princes. 19But all the princes said unto all the congregation: 'We have sworn unto them by the LOED, the God of Israel; now therefore we may not touch them. 2JThis we will do to them, and let them live; lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we swore unto them/ 21And the princes said concerning them: 'Let them live7; so they became hew- ers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation, as the princes had spoken concerning them. ^And Joshua called for them, and he spoke unto them, saying: 'Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying: We are very far from you, when ye dwell among us? ^Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of JOSHUA my God/ MAnd they answered Joshua, and said: ' Because it was cer- tainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded His serv- ant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were sore afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25And now, behold, we are in thy hand- as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.' 26And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not. 27And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, unto this day, in the place which He should choose. •j A Now it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her kmg; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;2that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty. 3Wherefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying: 4<Qome up unto me, and help me, and let us smite Gibeon; for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel/ ^Therefore the five kings of the Ainorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jar- muth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it. 6And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying: l Slack not thy hands from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amontes that dwell in the hill-country are gathered together against us/ 7So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.
8And the LORD said unto Joshua: 'Fear them not; for I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand against thee/ 9Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly; for he went up from Gilgal all the night. 10And the LORD dis- comfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon; and they chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makke- dah. "And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died; they were more who died with the hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.
^Then spoke Joshua to the LORD ha the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel; and he said hi the sight of Israel: 'Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; And thou, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon/ 13And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, Until the nation had avenged them- selves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stayed in the JOSHUA midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 14And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened un- to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.
t15And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, unto the camp to Gilgal.