³ But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,^(A)

² he^[a] became greatly frightened, because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities, and was larger than Ai, and all its men were warriors.

¹⁷ So the Israelites set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.^(A)

David Avenges the Gibeonites

21 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David inquired of the Lord. The Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ² So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites; although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.)^(A)

Ai Captured by a Stratagem and Destroyed

8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed; take all the fighting men with you, and go up to Ai. See, I have handed over to you the king of Ai with his people, his city, and his land.^{(A) 2} You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may take its spoil and plunder its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city, behind it.”^(B)

³ So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to go up against Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand warriors and sent them out by night ⁴ with the command, “You shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it; do not go very far from the city, but all of you stay alert.^{(C) 5} I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us, as before, we will flee from them. ⁶ They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us as before.’ While we flee from them, ⁷ you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand. ⁸ And when you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire, doing as the Lord has ordered; see, I have commanded you.”^{(D) 9} So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night with the people.^[a]

¹⁰ In the morning Joshua rose early and mustered the people and went up, with the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.^{(E) 11} All the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and camped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. ¹² Taking about five thousand men, he set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. ¹³ So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city, and Joshua went that night into the valley. ¹⁴ When the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the inhabitants of the city, hurried out early in the morning to the meeting place facing the Arabah to meet Israel in battle, but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.^{(F) 15} And Joshua and all Israel made a pretense of being beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. ¹⁶ So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ There was not a man left in Ai^[b] who did not go out after Israel; they left the city open and pursued Israel.

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the sword that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the sword that was in his hand toward the city.^{(G) 19} As soon as he stretched out his hand, the troops in ambush rose quickly out of their place and rushed forward. They entered the city, took it, and at once set the city on fire.^{(H) 20} So when the men of Ai looked back, the smoke of the city was rising to the sky. They had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. ²¹ When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city was rising, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. ²² And the other Israelites came out from the city against them, so they were surrounded by Israelites, some on one side and some on the other, and Israel struck them down until no one was left who survived or escaped.^{(I) 23} But the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

²⁴ When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵ The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was twelve thousand—all the people of Ai.^{(J) 26} For Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the sword until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.^{(K) 27} Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel plundered for themselves, according to the word of the Lord that he had issued to Joshua.^{(L) 28} So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day.^{(M) 29} And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, threw it down at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.^(N)

Joshua Renews the Covenant

^30 [c]Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel,^{(O) 31} just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, “an altar of unhewn^[d] stones, on which no iron tool has been used,” and they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed offerings of well-being.^{(P) 32} And there, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua^[e] wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses that he had written.^{(Q) 33} All Israel, alien as well as native-born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded earlier, that they should bless the people of Israel.^{(R) 34} And afterward he read all the words of the law, blessings and curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law.^{(S) 35} There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the aliens who resided among them.^(T)

Jericho Taken and Destroyed

6 Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the Israelites; no one came out, and no one went in. ² The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have handed Jericho over to you, along with its king and soldiers.^{(A) 3} You shall march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days, ⁴ with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets.^{(B) 5} When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and all the people shall charge straight ahead.” ⁶ So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.” ⁷ To the people he said, “Go forward and march around the city; have the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”^(C)

⁸ As Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. ⁹ And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets; the rear guard came after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually.^{(D) 10} To the people Joshua gave this command: “You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, nor shall you utter a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” ¹¹ So the ark of the Lord went around the city, circling it once, and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

¹² Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord passed on, blowing the trumpets continually. The armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually.^{(E) 14} On the second day they marched around the city once and then returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day they rose early, at dawn, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶ And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live because she hid the messengers we sent.^{(F) 18} As for you, keep away from the things devoted to destruction, so as not to covet^[a] and take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel an object for destruction, bringing trouble upon it.^{(G) 19} But all silver and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” ²⁰ So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpets, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so the people charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.^{(H) 21} Then they devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.^(I)

²² But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman out of it and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”^{(J) 23} So the young men who had been spies went in and brought Rahab out, along with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all who belonged to her—they brought all her kindred out—and set them outside the camp of Israel.^{(K) 24} They burned down the city and everything in it; only the silver and gold and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.^{(L) 25} But Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, Joshua spared. Her family^[b] has lived in Israel ever since. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.^(M)

²⁶ Joshua then pronounced this oath, saying,

²⁷ So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.^(O)