Day 60: Joshua 7-9

Achan’s Sin, the Battle of Ai, and the Gibeonite Deception

Joshua 7

Achan’s Sin

1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted thing. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against the children of Israel.

2 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 land.”

The men went up and spied out Ai.

3 They returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Don’t let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Don’t make all the people toil there, for they are few.”

4 So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them, and they chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

6 Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before Yahweh’s ark until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. 7 Joshua said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan! 8 Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”

10 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Get up! Why are you fallen on your face like that? 11 Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken of the devoted thing. Yes, they have even stolen. Yes, they have even lied. Yes, they have even put it among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted thing from among you.

13 “Get up! Sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, “There is a devoted thing among you, Israel. You can’t stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you.”

14 “In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. It shall be, that the tribe which Yahweh takes shall come near by families. The family which Yahweh shall take shall come near by households. The household which Yahweh shall take shall come near man by man. 15 It shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed Yahweh’s covenant, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

16 So Joshua rose early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes. The tribe of Judah was taken. 17 He brought near the family of Judah, and he took the family of the Zerahites. He brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 He brought near 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 Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please give glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and make confession to him; and tell me now what you have done. Don’t hide it from me.”

20 Achan answered Joshua, and said, “I have truly sinned against Yahweh, the God of Israel, and I have done this thing. 21 When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them, and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, and the silver is under it.”

22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 They took them from the middle of the tent, brought them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel; and they laid them down before Yahweh.

24 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 cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? Yahweh will trouble you today.”

All Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones. 26 They raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Yahweh turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called “The valley of Achor” to this day.

Joshua 8

The Capture of Ai

1 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed. Take all the men of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king. Only its plunder and its livestock you shall take for a prey for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”

3 So Joshua arose, and all the men of war, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night. 4 He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. 5 I, and all the people who are with me, will approach the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them, 6 and they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us, as at the first.’ We will flee before them, 7 and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand. 8 It shall be, when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to Yahweh’s word you shall do. Behold, I have commanded you.”

9 Joshua sent them out; and they went to the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed that night among the people.

10 Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.

12 He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. 13 So they set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the middle of the valley.

14 It happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hurried and rose up early, and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn’t know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them; and they pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. 17 There wasn’t a man left in Ai or Bethel who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel.

18 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.

19 The ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he stretched out his hand, entered into the city, took it, and hurried to set the city on fire.

20 When the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to the sky, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. The people who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. 21 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 struck the men of Ai. 22 The others came out of the city against them; so they were in the middle of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. They struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.

23 They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.

24 When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, all Israel returned to Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. 26 For Joshua didn’t draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the livestock and the plunder of that city Israel took for a prey to themselves, according to Yahweh’s word which he commanded Joshua.

28 So Joshua burned Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation to this day. 29 He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sunset Joshua commanded that they should take his body down from the tree, and throw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

The Law Read at Mount Ebal

30 Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31 as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, on which no man had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 He wrote there on the stones a copy of Moses’ law, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

33 All Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests, who bore Yahweh’s ark of the covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.

34 Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35 There wasn’t a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua didn’t read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who were among them.

Joshua 9

The Gibeonite Deception

1 When all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and along all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite heard of it, 2 they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4 they also acted craftily, and went and made themselves look like ambassadors, and took worn sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins, worn and torn and bound, 5 and worn and patched shoes on their feet, and worn clothing; and all the bread of their food was dry and moldy.

6 They went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country. Now therefore make a covenant with us.”

7 The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “What if you live among us? How could we make a covenant with you?”

8 They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”

Joshua said to them, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”

9 They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of Yahweh your God; for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, 10 and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. 11 Our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and tell them, “We are your servants. Now make a covenant with us.”’

12 This our bread we took hot out of our houses for our food on the day we went out to go to you, but now, behold, it is dry and has become moldy. 13 These wineskins which we filled were new; and behold, they are torn. These our garments and our shoes have become worn because of the very long journey.”

14 The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from Yahweh’s mouth. 15 Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the princes of the congregation swore to them.

16 At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them. 17 The children of Israel traveled and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. 18 The children of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel.

All the congregation murmured against the princes. 19 But all the princes said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them. 20 We will do this to them, and let them live; lest wrath be on us, because of the oath which we swore to them.”

21 The princes said to them, “Let them live; but let them be wood cutters and drawers of water for all the congregation,” as the princes had spoken to them.

22 Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you live among us? 23 Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you will never fail to be servants, both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my God.”

24 They answered Joshua, and said, “Because it was certainly told your servants how that Yahweh your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore we were very afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 Now, behold, we are in your hand. Do to us as it seems good and right to do to us.”

26 He did so to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, so that they didn’t kill them. 27 That day Joshua made them wood cutters and drawers of water for the congregation, and for Yahweh’s altar, to this day, in the place which he should choose.

Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.