Joshua 7-8New King James Version (NKJV)
Defeat at Ai
7 But the children of Israel committed a
trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of
Zabdi,[a] 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.
2 Now 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. 3 And 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.” 4 So about three
thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of
Ai. 5 And 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 the hearts of
the people melted and became like water.
6 Then Joshua tore 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 put dust on their heads. 7 And
Joshua said, “Alas, Lord God, why 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! 8 O
Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? 9 For
the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and
surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for
Your great name?”
The Sin of Achan
10 So the Lord said to
Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 Israel
has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them.
For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and
deceived; and they have also put it among their own
stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could
not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs
before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither
will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among
you. 13 Get up, sanctify the people, and say,
‘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.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall
be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the
tribe which the 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. 15 Then
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 transgressed the
covenant of the Lord, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in
Israel.’”
16 So Joshua rose early in the
morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was
taken. 17 He 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. 18 Then 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, was taken.
19 Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son,
I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession
to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from
me.”
20 And Achan answered Joshua and
said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this
is what I have done: 21 When I saw among the spoils
a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of
gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are,
hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and
they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver
under it. 23 And 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. 24 Then 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 all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. 25 And
Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you
this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire
after they had stoned them with stones.
26 Then they raised over him a great
heap of stones, still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the
fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the
Valley of Achor[b] to this day.
The Fall of Ai
8 Now the Lord said to Joshua: “Do not
be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go
up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his
city, and his land. 2 And you shall do to Ai and
its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you
shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.”
3 So Joshua arose, and all the people
of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of
valor and sent them away by night. 4 And he
commanded them, saying: “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city,
behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be
ready. 5 Then I and all the people who are with
me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against
us as at the first, that we shall flee before them. 6 For
they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they
will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore
we will flee before them. 7 Then you shall rise
from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will
deliver it into your hand. 8 And it will be, when
you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire.
According to the commandment of the Lord you shall do. See, I have
commanded you.”
9 Joshua therefore sent them out; and
they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side
of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people. 10 Then
Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he
and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And
all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near;
and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a
valley lay between them and Ai. 12 So
he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai,
on the west side of the city. 13 And when they had
set the people, all the army that was on the north of the
city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into
the midst of the valley.
14 Now it happened, when the king of
Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and
went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place
before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush
against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all
Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the
wilderness. 16 So all the people who were in
Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn
away from the city. 17 There was not a man left in
Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and
pursued Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to
Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai,
for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the spear
that was in his hand toward the city. 19 So those
in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had
stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to
set the city on fire. 20 And when the men of Ai
looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to
heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who
had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.
21 Now when Joshua and all Israel saw
that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended,
they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 Then
the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in
the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck
them down, so that they let none of them remain or escape. 23 But
the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24 And it came to pass when Israel
had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the
wilderness where they pursued them, and when they all had fallen by the edge of
the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and
struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 So it
was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve
thousand—all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did
not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had
utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only
the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves,
according to the word of the Lord which He had commanded
Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap
forever, a desolation to this day. 29 And the king
of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down,
Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it
at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of
stones that remains to this day.
Joshua Renews the Covenant
30 Now Joshua built an altar to
the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal, 31 as
Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel,
as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones
over which no man has wielded an iron tool.”[c] And they offered on it
burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And
there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy
of the law of Moses, which he had written. 33 Then
all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of
the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of
the Lord, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of
them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front
of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before,
that they should bless the people of Israel. 34 And
afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according
to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There
was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before
all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers
who were living among them.
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