7 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for a||Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of ||Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. 2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside bBeth-aven, on the east side of cBeth-el, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let †about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. 4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and dthey fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them ||in the going down: wherefore ethe hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

6 And Joshua frent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and gput dust upon their heads. 7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, hwherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their †backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and icut off our name from the earth: and jwhat wilt thou do unto thy great name? 10 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore †liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also ktransgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of lthe accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. 12 mTherefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their nbacks before their enemies, because they were oaccursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy othe accursed from among you. 13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, pSanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is oan accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away othe accursed thing from among you. 14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which qthe Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man. 15 rAnd it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath stransgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought ||folly in Israel.

16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: 17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of tthe Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: 18 And he brought his household man by man; and uAchan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, vwas taken. 19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, wgive, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and xmake confession unto him; and ytell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. 20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly zBabylonish garment, 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. 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and †laid them out before the Lord. 24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his 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 unto athe valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, bWhy hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had cstoned them with stones. 26 And they draised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So ethe Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, fThe valley of ||Achor, unto this day.

8 And the Lord said unto Joshua, aFear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, bI have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: 2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto cJericho and her king: only dthe spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it. 3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, eye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready: 5 And 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 fwe will flee before them, 6 (For they will come out after us) till we have †drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them. 7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. 8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the Lord shall ye do. gSee, I have commanded you. 9 Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, hon the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people. 10 And 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. 11 And all the people, even the people 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 them and Ai. 12 And he took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side ||of the city. 13 And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and †their liers in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. 14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he iwist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel jmade as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and kwere drawn away from the city. 17 And 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. 18 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city. 19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire. 20 And 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 lthe wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai. 22 And the other issued 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 mlet none of them remain or escape. 23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. 24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. 25 And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. 26 For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord which he ncommanded Joshua. 28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it oan heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. 29 pAnd the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: qand as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and rraise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.

30 Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel sin mount Ebal, 31 As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the tbook of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and uthey offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And whe wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. 33 And all Israel, and their elders, and xofficers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, ywhich bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well zthe stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; aas Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward bhe read all the words of the law, cthe blessings and dcursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, ewith the women, and the little ones, and fthe strangers that †were conversant among them.

9 And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, ain the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of bthe great sea over against Lebanon, cthe Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof; 2 That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one †accord. 3 And when the inhabitants of dGibeon eheard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, 4 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; 5 And old shoes and fclouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and fmouldy. 6 And they went to Joshua gunto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us. 7 And the men of Israel said unto the hHivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and ihow shall we make a league with you? 8 And they said unto Joshua, jWe are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye? 9 And they said unto him, kFrom a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God: for we have lheard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, 10 And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at mAshtaroth. 11 Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals †with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us. 12 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 it is mouldy: 13 And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. 14 And ||the men took of their victuals, and nasked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. 15 And Joshua omade peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.

16 And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them. 17 And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were pGibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and qKirjath-jearim. 18 And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. 19 But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. 20 This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest rwrath be upon us, sbecause of the oath which we sware unto them. 21 And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be thewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had upromised them. 22 And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, vWe are very far from you; when xye dwell among us? 23 Now therefore ye are ycursed, and there shall †none of you be freed from being ybondmen, and zhewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. 24 And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the Lord thy God acommanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore bwe were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 And now, behold, we are cin thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do. 26 And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not. 27 And Joshua †made them that day dhewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day, ein the place which he should choose.