Joshua 6:1–12:24

¹Now Jericho was shut up and was barred, because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. ²And Jehovah said to Joshua, See, I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the valiant men. ³And ye shall go round the city, all the men of war, encompassing the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. ⁴And seven priests shall carry before the ark seven blast-trumpets; and on the seventh day ye shall go round the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. ⁵And it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the blast-horn, that all the people on hearing the sound of the trumpet shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall flat, and the people shall go up, each one straight before him.

⁶And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, Carry the ark of the covenant, and seven priests shall carry seven blast-trumpets before the ark of Jehovah. ⁷And he said to the people, Pass on, go round the city, and they that are armed shall pass on before the ark of Jehovah. ⁸And it came to pass when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests carrying the seven blast-trumpets before Jehovah passed on and blew with the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went after them. ⁹And the armed men went before the priests who blew with the trumpets, and the rearguard came after the ark; they blew with the trumpets in marching. ¹⁰And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, Shout; then shall ye shout. ¹¹And the ark of Jehovah went round the city, encompassing it once; and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. ¹²And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests carried the ark of Jehovah. ¹³And the seven priests carrying the seven blast-trumpets before the ark of Jehovah went on and blew continually with the trumpets; and the armed men went before them, and the rearguard went after the ark of Jehovah; they blew with the trumpets in marching. ¹⁴And on the second day they went round the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days. ¹⁵And it was so that on the seventh day they rose early, about the morning-dawn, and went round the city after the same manner seven times; only on that day they went round the city seven times. ¹⁶And it came to pass the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, Shout; for Jehovah has given you the city.

¹⁷And the city shall be accursed, it and all that is in it, to Jehovah; only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. ¹⁸But in any wise keep from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed in taking of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. ¹⁹And all the silver, and gold, and vessels of copper and iron, shall be holy to Jehovah; they shall come into the treasury of Jehovah. ²⁰And the people shouted, and they blew with the trumpets. And it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpets, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat; and the people went up into the city, each one straight before him, and they took the city. ²¹And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city; both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. ²²And Joshua said to the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house and bring out thence the woman, and all that she has, as ye swore unto her. ²³And 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 did they bring out, and they left them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴And they burned the city with fire, and all that was therein; only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of copper and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah. ²⁵And Joshua saved alive Rahab the harlot, and her father’s household, and all that she had, and she dwelt in the midst of Israel to this day; because she hid the messengers whom Joshua had sent to spy out Jericho. ²⁶And Joshua swore at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before Jehovah who shall rise up and build this city Jericho! In his first-born shall he lay its foundation, and in his youngest son shall he set up its gates. ²⁷And Jehovah was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.

Chapter 7

¹But the children of Israel committed unfaithfulness in that which had been brought under the curse: 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 Jehovah 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 Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and spy out the country. And the men went up and spied out Ai. ³And they returned to Joshua, and said to him, Let not all the people go up; let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; make not all the people to toil thither, for they are few. ⁴And there went up thither of the people about three thousand men, but they fled before the men of Ai. ⁵And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty-six men; and they pursued them from before the gate to Shebarim, and smote them on the descent. Then 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 Jehovah until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and threw dust upon their heads. ⁷And Joshua said, Alas, Lord Jehovah, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh that we had been content and had remained beyond the Jordan! ⁸Ah Lord! what shall I say after Israel have turned their backs before their enemies? ⁹When the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, they will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

¹⁰And Jehovah said to Joshua, Rise up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? ¹¹Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them, and they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it among their stuff. ¹²And the children of Israel shall not be able to stand before their enemies: they shall turn their backs before their enemies, for they have made themselves accursed. I will no more be with you, except ye destroy the accursed thing from your midst. ¹³Rise up, hallow the people, and say, Hallow yourselves for to-morrow; for thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, Israel: thou shalt not be able to stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from your midst. ¹⁴And ye shall be brought near in the morning according to your tribes; and it shall be, that the tribe which Jehovah taketh shall come forward by families, and the family which Jehovah taketh shall come forward by households; and the household which Jehovah taketh shall come forward man by man. ¹⁵And it shall be, that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he hath, because he hath transgressed the covenant of Jehovah, and because he hath wrought wickedness in Israel.

¹⁶And Joshua rose early in the morning, and caused Israel to come forward by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷And he caused the families of Judah to come forward, and he took the family of the Zarhites. And he caused the family of the Zarhites to come forward man by man, and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸And he caused his household to come forward man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to Jehovah the God of Israel, and make confession to him: tell me now what thou hast done, keep it not back from me. ²⁰And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed I have sinned against Jehovah the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. ²¹I saw among the spoils a beautiful mantle of Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a golden bar of fifty shekels weight, and 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. ²²And Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. ²³And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before Jehovah. ²⁴Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the bar 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 up into the valley of Achor. ²⁵And Joshua said, How hast thou troubled us! Jehovah will trouble thee 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, which is there to this day. And Jehovah turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called, The Valley of Achor, to this day.

Chapter 8

¹And Jehovah said to Joshua, Fear not, neither be dismayed. Take with thee all the people of war, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land. ²And thou shalt do to Ai and to its king as thou didst to Jericho and to its king; only, the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall ye take as prey for yourselves. Set an ambush against the…