Achan Sins Against the Lord

7 But the Israelites weren’t faithful to the Lord. They didn’t destroy what had been set apart to him. So they did not do what they had been told to do. Achan had taken some of those things. So the Lord became very angry with Israel. Achan was the son of Karmi. Karmi was the son of Zimri. And Zimri was the son of Zerah. Achan and all his relatives were from the tribe of Judah.

² Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai. Ai is near Beth Aven east of Bethel. Joshua told the men, “Go up and check out the area around Ai.” So the men went up and checked it out.

³ Then they returned to Joshua. They said, “The whole army doesn’t have to go up and attack Ai. Send only two or three thousand men. They can take the city. Don’t make the whole army go up there. Only a few people live in Ai.” ⁴ So only about 3,000 troops went up. But the men of Ai drove them away. ⁵ They chased the Israelites from the city gate all the way to Shebarim. They killed about 36 of them on the way down. So the Israelites were terrified.

⁶ Joshua and the elders of Israel became sad. Joshua tore his clothes. He fell in front of the ark of the Lord with his face to the ground. He remained there until evening. The elders did the same thing. They also sprinkled dust on their heads. ⁷ Joshua said, “Lord and King, why did you ever bring these people across the Jordan River? Did you want to hand us over to the Amorites? Did you want them to destroy us? I wish we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! ⁸ Lord, our enemies have driven us away. What can I say? ⁹ The Canaanites will hear about it. So will everyone else in the country. They will surround us. They’ll erase any mention of our name from the face of the earth. Then what will you do when people don’t honor your great name anymore?”

¹⁰ The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! What are you doing down there on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned. I made a covenant with them. I commanded them to keep it. But they have broken it. They have taken some of the things that had been set apart to me in a special way to be destroyed. They have stolen. They have lied. They have taken the things they stole and have put them with their own things. ¹² That is why the Israelites can’t stand up against their enemies. They turn their backs and run. That’s because I have decided to let them be destroyed. You must destroy the things you took that had been set apart to me. If you do not, I will not be with you anymore.

¹³ “Go and set the people apart. Tell them, ‘Make yourselves pure. Get ready for tomorrow. Here is what the Lord, the God of Israel, wants you to do. He says, “People of Israel, you have kept some of the things that had been set apart to me to be destroyed. You can’t stand up against your enemies until you get rid of those things.”

¹⁴ “ ‘In the morning, come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord chooses will come forward group by group. The group the Lord chooses will come forward family by family. And the men in the family the Lord chooses will come forward one by one. ¹⁵ Whoever is caught with the things that had been set apart to the Lord will be destroyed by fire. Everything that belongs to that person will also be destroyed. He has broken the Lord’s covenant. He has done a very terrible thing in Israel!’ ”

¹⁶ Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes. The tribe of Judah was chosen. ¹⁷ The groups of Judah came forward. The group of Zerah was chosen. Joshua had the group of Zerah come forward by families. The family of Zimri was chosen. ¹⁸ He had their men come forward one by one. Achan was chosen. Achan was the son of Karmi. Karmi was the son of Zimri. And Zimri was the son of Zerah. Zerah was from the tribe of Judah.

¹⁹ Joshua said to Achan, “My son, the Lord is the God of Israel. So give him glory and honor him by telling the truth! Tell me what you have done. Don’t hide it from me.”

²⁰ Achan replied, “It’s true! I’ve sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. Here is what I’ve done. ²¹ I saw a beautiful robe from Babylonia among the things we had taken. I saw five pounds of silver. And I saw a gold bar that weighed 20 ounces. I wanted them, so I took them. I hid them in the ground inside my tent. The silver is on the bottom.”

²² So Joshua sent some messengers. They ran to Achan’s tent. And there was everything, hidden in his tent! The silver was on the bottom. ²³ They brought the things out of the tent. They took them to Joshua and all the Israelites. And they spread them out in the sight of the Lord.

²⁴ Then Joshua and all the people grabbed Achan, the son of Zerah. They took the silver, the robe and the gold bar. They took Achan’s sons and daughters. They took his cattle, donkeys and sheep. They also took his tent and everything he had. They carried all of it out to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵ Joshua said to Achan, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.”

Then all the people killed Achan by throwing stones at him. They also killed the rest of his family with stones. They burned all of them up. ²⁶ They placed a large pile of rocks on top of Achan’s body. The place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since. That pile is still there to this day. After the people killed Achan, the Lord was no longer angry with them.

Israel Destroys Ai

8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope. Go up and attack Ai. Take the whole army with you. I have handed the king of Ai over to you. I have given you his people, his city and his land. ² Remember what you did to Jericho and its king. You will do the same thing to Ai and its king. But this time you can keep for yourselves the livestock and everything else you take from them. Have some of your fighting men hide behind the city and take them by surprise.”

³ So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose 30,000 of his best fighting men. He sent them out at night. ⁴ He gave them orders. He said, “Listen carefully to what I’m saying. You must hide behind the city. Don’t go very far away from it. All of you must be ready to attack it. ⁵ I and all those with me will march up to the city. The men of Ai will come out to fight against us, just as they did before. Then we’ll run away from them. ⁶ They’ll chase us until we’ve drawn them away from the city. They’ll say, ‘They are running away from us, just as they did before.’ When we run away from them, ⁷ come out of your hiding place. Capture the city. The Lord your God will hand it over to you. ⁸ When you have taken it, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. Make sure you obey my orders.”

⁹ Then Joshua sent them away. They went to the place where they had planned to hide. They hid in a place west of Ai. It was between Bethel and Ai. But Joshua spent that night with his troops.

¹⁰ Early the next morning Joshua brought together his army. He and the leaders of Israel marched in front of them to Ai. ¹¹ The whole army that was with him marched up to the city. They stopped in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai. There was a valley between them and the city. ¹² Joshua had chosen about 5,000 soldiers. He had ordered them to hide in a place west of Ai. It was between Bethel and Ai. ¹³ The men took up their battle positions. All the men in the camp north of the city took up their positions. So did those who were supposed to hide west of the city. That night Joshua went into the valley.

¹⁴ The king of Ai saw what the troops with Joshua were doing. So the king and all his men hurried out of the city early in the morning. They marched out to meet Israel in battle. They went to a place that looked out over the Arabah Valley. The king didn’t know that some of Israel’s fighting men were hiding behind the city. ¹⁵ Joshua and all his men let the men of Ai drive them back. The Israelites ran away toward the desert. ¹⁶ All the men of Ai were called out to chase them. They chased Joshua. So they were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ Not even one man remained in Ai or Bethel. All of them went out to chase Israel. When they did, they left the city wide open.

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand. I will give the city to you.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin in his hand. ¹⁹ As soon as he did, the men hiding behind the city got up quickly. They came out of their hiding places and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it. They quickly set it on fire.

²⁰ The men of Ai looked back. They saw smoke rising up from the city into the sky. But they couldn’t escape in any direction. The Israelites had been running away toward the desert. But now they turned around to face those chasing them. ²¹ Joshua and all his men saw that the men who had been hiding behind the city had captured it. They also saw that smoke was going up from it. So they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. ²² The men who had set Ai on fire came out of the city. They also fought against the men of Ai. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle. The army of Israel was on both sides of them. Israel struck them down. They didn’t let anyone remain alive or get away. ²³ But they captured the king of Ai alive. They brought him to Joshua.

²⁴ Israel finished killing all the men of Ai. They destroyed them in the fields and in the desert where they had chased them. They struck down every one of them with their swords. Then all the Israelites returned to Ai. And they killed those who were left in it. ²⁵ The total number of men and women they killed that day was 12,000. The Israelites put to death all the people of Ai. ²⁶ Joshua continued to hold out his javelin toward Ai. He didn’t lower his hand until he and his men had totally destroyed everyone who lived there. ²⁷ But this time Israel kept for themselves the livestock and everything else they had taken from the city. The Lord had directed Joshua to let them do it.

²⁸ So Joshua burned down Ai. He tore it down so it could never be built again. It has been deserted to this very day. ²⁹ Joshua killed the king of Ai. He stuck a pole through the body. Then he set it up where people could see it. He left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered his men to remove the body from the pole. He told them to throw the body down at the entrance of the city gate. They put a large pile of rocks over the body. That pile is still there to this day.

Joshua Reads the Book of the Law to the People

³⁰ Joshua built an altar to honor the Lord, the God of Israel. He built it on Mount Ebal. ³¹ Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the Israelites to do that. Joshua built the altar according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses. Joshua built the altar out of stones that iron tools had never touched. Then the people offered on the altar burnt offerings to the Lord. They also sacrificed friendship offerings on it. ³² Joshua copied the law of Moses on stones. He did it while all the Israelites were watching. ³³ They were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All the Israelites, including outsiders and citizens, were there. Israel’s elders, officials and judges were also there. All of them faced the priests, who were Levites. They were carrying the ark. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim. The other half stood in front of Mount Ebal. Moses, the servant of the Lord, had earlier told them to do it. Moses told them to do it when he had given directions to bless the Israelites.

³⁴ Then Joshua read all the words of the law out loud. He read the blessings and the curses. He read them just as they are written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵ Joshua read every word Moses had commanded. He read them to the whole community of Israel. That included the women and children. It also included the outsiders living among them.

The People of Gibeon Trick Israel

9 All the kings who ruled west of the Jordan River heard about the battles Israel had won. That included the kings who ruled in the central hill country and the western hills. It also included those who ruled along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea all the way to Lebanon. They were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ² They brought their armies together to fight against Joshua and Israel.

³ The people of Gibeon heard about what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai. ⁴ So they decided to trick the Israelites. They packed supplies as if they were going on a long trip. They loaded their donkeys with old sacks and old wineskins. The wineskins were cracked but had been mended. ⁵ They put worn-out sandals on their feet. The sandals had been patched. They also wore old clothes. All the bread they took along was dry and moldy. ⁶ They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal. They spoke to him and the Israelites. They said, “We’ve come from a country that’s far away. Make a peace treaty with us.”

⁷ The Israelites said to the Hivites, “But suppose you live close to us. If you do, we can’t make a peace treaty with you.”

⁸ “We’ll serve you,” they said to Joshua.

But Joshua asked, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”

⁹ They answered, “We’ve come from a country that’s very far away. We’ve come because the Lord your God is famous. We’ve heard reports about him. We’ve heard about everything he did in Egypt. ¹⁰ We’ve heard about everything he did to Sihon and Og. They were the two kings of the Amorites. They ruled east of the Jordan River. Sihon was the king of Heshbon. Og was the king of Bashan. He ruled in Ashtaroth. ¹¹ Our elders and all the people living in our country spoke to us. They said, ‘Take supplies for your trip. Go and meet the Israelites. Say to them, “We’ll serve you. Make a peace treaty with us.” ’ ¹² Look at our bread. It was warm when we packed it. We packed it at home the day we left to come and see you. But look at how dry and moldy it is now. ¹³ When we filled these wineskins, they were new. But look at how cracked they are now. And our clothes and sandals are worn out because we’ve traveled so far.”

¹⁴ The Israelites looked over the supplies those people had brought. But they didn’t ask the Lord what they should do. ¹⁵ Joshua made a peace treaty with the people who had come. He agreed to let them live. The leaders of the community gave their word that they agreed with the treaty.

¹⁶ So the Israelites made a peace treaty with the people of Gibeon. But three days later they heard that the people of Gibeon lived close to them. ¹⁷ So the Israelites started out to go to the cities of those people. On the third day they came to Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim. ¹⁸ But they didn’t attack those cities. That’s because the leaders of the community had given their word and made a peace treaty with them. They had given their word in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

The whole community told the leaders they weren’t happy with them. ¹⁹ But all the leaders answered, “We’ve made a peace treaty with them. We’ve given our word in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. So we can’t touch them now. ²⁰ But here is what we’ll do to them. We’ll let them live. Then the Lord won’t be angry with us because we didn’t keep our promise.” ²¹ They continued, “Let them live. But make them cut wood and carry water to serve the whole community.” So the leaders kept their promise to them.

²² Joshua sent for the people of Gibeon. He said to them, “Why did you trick us? You said, ‘We live far away from you.’ But in fact you live close to us. ²³ So now you are under a curse. You will always serve us. You will always cut wood and carry water for the house of my God.”

²⁴ They answered Joshua, “We were clearly told what the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to do. He commanded him to give you the whole land. He also ordered him to wipe out all its people to make room for you. So we were afraid you would kill us. That’s why we tricked you. ²⁵ We are now under your control. Do to us what you think is good and right.”

²⁶ So Joshua saved the people of Gibeon. He didn’t let the Israelites kill them. ²⁷ That day he made them cut wood and carry water. They had to serve the community of Israel. They also had to do work connected with the altar of the Lord. The altar would be at the place the Lord would choose. And they still serve the Israelites to this day.