Joshua 6:1–12:24

Now the gates of Jericho^r were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

²Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered^s Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. ³March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. ⁴Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns^t 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 blast^v 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.”

⁶So 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, “Advance^y! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark^z of the Lord.”

⁸When 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. ⁹The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard^a followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. ¹⁰But 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” ¹¹So 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.

¹²Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³The 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. ¹⁴So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵On 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 devoted^ae to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute^f and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid^g the spies we sent. ¹⁸But 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 trouble^j on it. ¹⁹All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron^k are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

²⁰When 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 devoted^o the city to the Lord and destroyed^p with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

²²Joshua said to the two men^q who had spied out^r 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” ²³So 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.

²⁴Then they burned the whole city^u and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron^v into the treasury of the Lord’s house.^{w 25}But Joshua spared^x Rahab the prostitute,^y with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho^z—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

²⁶At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath:^a “Cursed^b 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

²⁷So the Lord was with Joshua,^d and his fame spread^e throughout the land.

Achan’s Sin

7But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things^a;^f Achan^g 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 burned^j against Israel.^k

²Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai,^l which is near Beth Aven^m to the east of Bethel,ⁿ and told them, “Go up and spy out^o the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

³When 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.” ⁴So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,^{p 5}who killed about thirty-six^q 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 fear^r and became like water.

⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes^s and fell facedown^t to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening.^u The elders of Israel^v did the same, and sprinkled dust^w on their heads. ⁷And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why^x 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! ⁸Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? ⁹The 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”

¹⁰The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? ¹¹Israel 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 backs^g and run^h because they have been made liable to destruction.ⁱ I will not be with you anymore^j unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

¹³“Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves^k 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, present^l yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord chooses^m 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. ¹⁵Whoever is caught with the devoted thingsⁿ shall be destroyed by fire,^o along with all that belongs to him.^p He has violated the covenant^q of the Lord and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!’ ”^r

¹⁶Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was chosen. ¹⁷The 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. ¹⁸Joshua 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

¹⁹Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory^v to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell^w me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

²⁰Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: ²¹When I saw in the plunder^x a beautiful robe from Babylonia,^c two hundred shekels^d of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels,^e I coveted^y them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. ²³They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord.

²⁴Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons^z 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 trouble^b 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 heaped^e 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 Achor^fh ever since.

Ai Destroyed

8Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid;ⁱ do not be discouraged.^j Take the whole army^k with you, and go up and attack Ai.^l For I have delivered^m into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. ²You 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 ambush^p behind the city.”

³So 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 ⁴with 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. ⁵I 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. ⁶They 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, ⁷you 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.…