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4 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan,k the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Choose twelve menl from among the people, one from each tribe, 3 and tell them to take up twelve stonesm from the middle of the Jordan,n from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.o”
4 So Joshua called together the twelve menp he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan.q Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a signr among you. In the future, when your childrens ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’t 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut offu before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorialv to the people of Israel forever.”
8 So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stonesw from the middle of the Jordan,x according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua;y and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. 9 Joshua set up the twelve stonesz that had beena in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.a
10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, 11 and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the Lord and the priests came to the other side while the people watched. 12 The men of Reuben,b Gadc and the half-tribe of Manassehd crossed over, ready for battle, in front of the Israelites,e as Moses had directed them.f 13 About forty thousand armed for battleg crossed overh before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for war.
14 That day the Lord exaltedi Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses.
15 Then the Lord said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant lawj to come up out of the Jordan.”
17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”
18 And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their placek and ran at flood stagel as before.
19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgalm on the eastern border of Jericho. 20 And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stonesn they had taken out of the Jordan. 21 He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’o 22 tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’p 23 For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Seab when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.q 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might knowr that the hand of the Lord is powerfuls and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.t”
5 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coastu heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until theya had crossed over, their hearts melted in fearv and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.
Circumcision and Passover at Gilgal
2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knivesw and circumcisex the Israelites again.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.b
4 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military agey—died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt.z 5 All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. 6 The Israelites had moved about in the wildernessa forty yearsb until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us,c a land flowing with milk and honey.d 7 So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.e
9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgalc f to this day.
10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month,g while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.h 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land:i unleavened breadj and roasted grain.k 12 The manna stopped the day afterd they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.l
13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a manm standing in front of him with a drawn swordn in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedowno to the groundp in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lorde have for his servant?”
15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.”q And Joshua did so.
6 Now the gates of Jerichor were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivereds Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ hornst in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.u 5 When you hear them sound a long blastv on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout;w then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.”x 7 And he ordered the army, “Advancey! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the arkz of the Lord.”
8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guarda followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!b” 11 So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.
12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.c 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!d 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoteda e to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitutef and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hidg the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things,h so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destructioni and bring troublej on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and ironk are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”
20 When the trumpets sounded,l the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout,m the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.n 21 They devotedo the city to the Lord and destroyedp with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.
22 Joshua said to the two menq who had spied outr the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.s” 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her.t They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole cityu and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and ironv into the treasury of the Lord’s house.w 25 But Joshua sparedx Rahab the prostitute,y with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jerichoz—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath:a “Cursedb before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:
“At the cost of his firstborn son
he will lay its foundations;
at the cost of his youngest
he will set up its gates.”c
27 So the Lord was with Joshua,d and his fame spreade throughout the land.
7 But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted thingsa;f Achang son of Karmi, the son of Zimri,b the son of Zerah,h of the tribe of Judah,i took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burnedj against Israel.k
2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai,l which is near Beth Avenm to the east of Bethel,n and told them, “Go up and spy outo the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” 4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,p 5 who killed about thirty-sixq of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fearr and became like water.
6 Then Joshua tore his clothess and fell facedownt to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening.u The elders of Israelv did the same, and sprinkled dustw on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, whyx did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?y If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! 8 Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 9 The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth.z What then will you do for your own great name?a”
10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned;b they have violated my covenant,c which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied,d they have put them with their own possessions.e 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies;f they turn their backsg and runh because they have been made liable to destruction.i I will not be with you anymorej unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
13 “Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselvesk in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.
14 “ ‘In the morning, presentl yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord choosesm shall come forward clan by clan; the clan the Lord chooses shall come forward family by family; and the family the Lord chooses shall come forward man by man. 15 Whoever is caught with the devoted thingsn shall be destroyed by fire,o along with all that belongs to him.p He has violated the covenantq of the Lord and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!’ ”r
16 Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was chosen. 17 The clans of Judah came forward, and the Zerahites were chosen.s He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was chosen. 18 Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah,t was chosen.u
19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give gloryv to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tellw me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
20 Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21 When I saw in the plunderx a beautiful robe from Babylonia,c two hundred shekelsd of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels,e I covetedy them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. 23 They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord.
24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sonsz and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor.a 25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought this troubleb on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.”
Then all Israel stoned him,c and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.d 26 Over Achan they heapede up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.f Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger.g Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achorf h ever since.
8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid;i do not be discouraged.j Take the whole armyk with you, and go up and attack Ai.l For I have deliveredm into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plundern and livestock for yourselves.o Set an ambushp behind the city.”
3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4 with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, 7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand.q 8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire.r Do what the Lord has commanded.s See to it; you have my orders.”
9 Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambusht and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai—but Joshua spent that night with the people.
10 Early the next morningu Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israelv marched before them to Ai. 11 The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12 Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So the soldiers took up their positions—with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah.w But he did not knowx that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven backy before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.z 16 All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured awaya from the city. 17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the javelinb that is in your hand,c for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand.d 19 As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quicklye from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.f
20 The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky,g but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. 21 For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned aroundh and attacked the men of Ai. 22 Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives.i 23 But they took the king of Ai alivej and brought him to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.k 26 For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelinl until he had destroyeda m all who lived in Ai.n 27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.o
28 So Joshua burnedp Aib q and made it a permanent heap of ruins,r a desolate place to this day.s 29 He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset,t Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocksu over it, which remains to this day.
The Covenant Renewed at Mount Ebal
30 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebalv an altarw to the Lord, the God of Israel, 31 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 toolx had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.y 32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses.z 33 All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Leviticala priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-bornb were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal,c as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.
34 Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law.d 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.e
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