Study Desk

The Israelites, however, were unfaithful^(a) regarding the things set apart for destruction. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart, and the Lord 's anger burned against the Israelites.

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven,^(b) east of Bethel, and told them, "Go up and scout the land." So the men went up and scouted Ai.

After returning to Joshua they reported to him, "Don't send all the people, but send about 2,000 or 3,000^[a] men to attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, don't wear out all our people there."

So about 3,000 men^[b] went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai.^(c)

The men of Ai struck down about 36 of them and chased them from outside the gate to the quarries,^[c] striking them down on the descent. As a result, the people's hearts melted and became like water.^(d)

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell before the ark of the Lord with his face to the ground until evening, as did the elders of Israel; they all put dust on their heads.

"Oh, Lord God ," Joshua said, "why did You ever bring these people across the Jordan to hand us over to the Amorites for our destruction? If only we had been content to remain on the other side of the Jordan!

What can I say, Lord, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies?

When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do about Your great name?"

The Lord then said to Joshua, "Stand up! Why are you on the ground?^[d]

Israel has sinned. They have violated My covenant that I appointed for them. They have taken some of what was set apart. They have stolen, deceived, and put the things with their own belongings.^(e)

This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they have been set apart for destruction.^(f) I will no longer be with you unless you remove from you what is set apart.

"Go and consecrate the people. Tell them to consecrate themselves for tomorrow,^(g) for this is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: There are things that are set apart among you, Israel. You will not be able to stand against your enemies until you remove what is set apart.

In the morning you must present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord selects is to come forward clan by clan. The clan the Lord selects is to come forward family by family. The family the Lord selects is to come forward man by man.

The one who is caught with the things set apart must be burned,^[e] along with everything he has, because he has violated the Lord 's covenant and committed an outrage in Israel."^(h)

Joshua got up early the next morning. He had Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was selected.

He had the clans of Judah come forward, and the Zerahite clan was selected. He had the Zerahite clan come forward by heads of families,^[f] and Zabdi was selected.

He then had Zabdi's family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.

So Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the Lord , the God of Israel,⁽ⁱ⁾ and make a confession to Him.^[g] I urge you, tell me what you have done. Don't hide anything from me."

Achan replied to Joshua, "It is true. I have sinned against the Lord , the God of Israel. This is what I did:

When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Babylon,^[h] 200 silver shekels,^[i] and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels,^[j] I coveted them and took them.^(j) You can see for yourself. They are concealed in the ground inside my tent, with the money under the cloak."

So Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent, and there was the cloak, concealed in his tent, with the money underneath.

They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out in the Lord 's presence.

Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, and the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his ox, donkey, and sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and brought them up to the Valley of Achor.^(k)

Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us?^(l) Today the Lord will trouble you!" So all Israel stoned them^[k] to death. They burned their bodies,^[l] threw stones on them,

and raised over him a large pile of rocks that remains to this day.^(m) Then the Lord turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor^[m] to this day.

The Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid or discouraged.^(a) Take the whole military force with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land.^(b)

Treat Ai and its king as you did Jericho and its king;^(c) you may plunder its spoil and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city."

So Joshua and the whole military force set out to attack Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 fighting men and sent them out at night.

He commanded them: "Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready.^(d)

Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.

They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us as before.' While we are fleeing from them,

you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God has handed it over to you.

After taking the city, set it on fire. Follow the Lord 's command—see that you do as I have ordered you."

So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.

Joshua started early the next morning and mobilized them. Then he and the elders of Israel led the troops up to Ai.

All those^[a] who were with him went up and approached the city, arriving opposite Ai, and camped to the north of it, with a valley between them and the city.

Now Joshua had taken about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

The military force was stationed in this way: the main^[b] camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, the men of the city hurried and went out early in the morning so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle at a suitable place facing the Arabah. But he did not know there was an ambush waiting for him behind the city.

Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten back by them and fled toward the wilderness.

Then all the troops of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.

Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city exposed while they pursued Israel.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Hold out the sword in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the city over to you." So Joshua held out his sword toward it.

When he held out his hand, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They ran, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.

When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.

Then men in ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces, some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained,

but they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

When Israel had finished killing everyone living in Ai who had pursued them into the open country, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the sword.

The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was 12,000—all the people of Ai.

Joshua did not draw back his hand that was holding the sword until all the inhabitants of Ai were completely destroyed.^(e)

Israel plundered only the cattle and spoil of that city for themselves, according to the Lord 's command that He had given Joshua.

Joshua burned Ai and left it a permanent ruin, desolate to this day.^(f)

He hung^[c] the body of the king of Ai on a tree^[d] until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take his body down from the tree.^(g) They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and put a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.

At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal^(h) to the Lord , the God of Israel,

just as Moses the Lord 's servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.⁽ⁱ⁾ Then they offered burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it.

There on the stones, Joshua copied the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the Israelites.^(j)

All Israel, foreigner and citizen alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark of the Lord 's covenant facing the Levitical priests who carried it. As Moses the Lord 's servant had commanded earlier, half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal,^(k) to bless the people of Israel.^(l)

Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings as well as the curses—according to all that is written in the book of the law.

There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, the little children, and the foreigners who were with them.^(m)

When all the kings heard about Jericho and Ai, those who were west of the Jordan in the hill country,^(a) in the Judean foothills,^[a] and all along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea^(b) toward Lebanon—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—

they formed a unified alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel.

When the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,^(c)

they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions^[b] and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

They wore old, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies. Their entire provision of bread was dry and crumbly.

They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us."^(d)

The men of Israel replied to the Hivites,^[c] "Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you?"^(e)

They said to Joshua, "We are your servants." Then Joshua asked them, "Who are you and where do you come from?"

They replied to him, "Your servants have come from a far away land because of the reputation of the Lord your God. For we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt,

and all that He did to the two Amorite kings beyond the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who was in Ashtaroth.

So our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say, "We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us."'

This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as food on the day we left to come to you. But take a look, it is now dry and crumbly.

These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey."

Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the Lord 's counsel.^(f)

So Joshua established peace with them and made a treaty to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.^(g)

Three days after making the treaty with them, they heard that the Gibeonites were their neighbors, living among them.

So the Israelites set out and reached the Gibeonite cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.^(h)

But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath⁽ⁱ⁾ to them by the Lord , the God of Israel. Then the whole community grumbled against the leaders.

All the leaders answered them, "We have sworn an oath to them by the Lord , the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.

This is how we will treat them: we will let them live, so that no wrath will fall on us because of the oath we swore to them."

They also said, "Let them live." So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers^(j) for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them.

Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said to them, "Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us?

Therefore you are cursed and will always be slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God."

The Gibeonites answered him, "It was clearly communicated to your servants that the Lord your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. We greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this.

Now we are in your hands. Do to us whatever you think is right."^[d]

This is what Joshua did to them: he delivered them from the hands of the Israelites, and they did not kill them.

On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers—as they are today—for the community and for the Lord 's altar at the place He would choose.^(k)