Joshua 7–12

7But 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. ²And 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. ³And 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. ⁴So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and ^dthey fled before the men of Ai. ⁵And 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.

⁶And 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. ⁷And 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! ⁸O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their ^†backs before their enemies! ⁹For 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? ¹⁰And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore ^†liest thou thus upon thy face? ¹¹Israel 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. ^12mTherefore 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. ¹³Up, 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. ¹⁴In 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. ^15rAnd 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.

¹⁶So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: ¹⁷And 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: ¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: ²¹When 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. ²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto 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 unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and ^†laid them out before the Lord. ²⁴And 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. ²⁵And 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. ²⁶And 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.

8And 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: ²And 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. ³So 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. ⁴And 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: ⁵And 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. ⁷Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸And 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. ⁹Joshua 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. 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. ¹¹And 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. ¹²And 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. ¹³And 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. ¹⁴And 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. ¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel ^jmade 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 pursued after Joshua, and ^kwere 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 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. ¹⁹And 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. 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 ^lthe wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. ²¹And 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. ²²And 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. ²³And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. ²⁴And 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. ²⁵And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. ²⁶For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷Only 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. ²⁸And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it ^oan heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. ^29pAnd 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…