Joshua 6–12

The Destruction of Jericho

6Now ^aJericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. ²And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! ^bI have given Jericho into your hand, its ^cking, and the mighty men of valor. ³You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. ⁴And seven priests shall bear seven ^dtrumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city ^eseven times, and ^fthe priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”

⁶Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.” ⁷And he said to the people, “Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord.”

⁸So it was, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. ⁹The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, ^gand the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. ¹⁰Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.” ¹¹So he had ^hthe ark of the Lord circle the city, going around it once. Then they came into the camp and ¹lodged in the camp.

¹²And Joshua rose early in the morning, ⁱand the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. ¹⁴And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days.

¹⁵But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city! ¹⁷Now the city shall be ^jdoomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only ^kRahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because ^lshe hid the messengers that we sent. ¹⁸And you, ^mby all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, ⁿand trouble it. ¹⁹But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are ²consecrated to the Lord; they ³shall come into the treasury of the Lord.”

²⁰So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that ^othe wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. ²¹And they ^putterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

²²But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, “Go into the harlot’s house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, ^qas you swore to her.” ²³And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, ^rher father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. ²⁵And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So ^sshe dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

²⁶Then Joshua ⁴charged them at that time, saying, ^t“Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates.”

²⁷So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country.

Defeat at Ai

7But the children of Israel ¹committed a ^atrespass regarding the ^baccursed ²things, for ^cAchan the son of Carmi, the son of ³Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.

²Now 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.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. ³And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” ⁴So about three thousand men went up there from the people, ^dbut they fled before the men of Ai. ⁵And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore ^ethe ⁴hearts of the people melted and became like water.

⁶Then Joshua ^ftore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they ^gput dust on their heads. ⁷And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord ⁵God, ^hwhy have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! ⁸O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its ⁶back before its enemies? ⁹For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and ⁱcut off our name from the earth. Then ^jwhat will You do for Your great name?”

The Sin of Achan

¹⁰So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? ¹¹Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. ^kFor they have even taken some of the ⁷accursed things, and have both stolen and ^ldeceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. ^12mTherefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because ⁿthey have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. ¹³Get up, ^osanctify ⁸the people, and say, ^p‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” ¹⁴In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which ^qthe Lord takes shall come according to families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. ^15rThen it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has ^stransgressed ⁹the covenant of the Lord, and because he ^thas done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’ ”

¹⁶So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸Then he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, ^uwas taken.

¹⁹Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, ^vgive glory to the Lord God of Israel, ^wand make confession to Him, and ^xtell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

²⁰And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed ^yI have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: ²¹When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I ¹coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”

²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. ²³And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. ²⁴Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and ^zall that he had, and they brought them to ^athe Valley of Achor. ²⁵And Joshua said, ^b“Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” ^cSo all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

²⁶Then they ^draised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So ^ethe Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called ^fthe Valley of ²Achor to this day.

The Fall of Ai

8Now the Lord said to Joshua: ^a“Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, ^bI have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. ²And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to ^cJericho and its king. Only ^dits spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind…