The Daily Audio Bible
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16 Early the next morning Joshua led all of Israel before the Lord. All of the tribes stood before him. And the Lord chose the tribe of Judah. 17 So all the family groups of Judah stood before the Lord. The Lord then chose the family group of Zerah. And all the families of Zerah stood before the Lord. Then the family of Zimri was chosen. 18 And Joshua told all the men in that family to come before the Lord. The Lord chose Achan son of Carmi. (Carmi was the son of Zimri. And Zimri was the son of Zerah.)
19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, you should tell the truth. Confess to the Lord, the God of Israel. Tell me what you did. Don’t try to hide anything from me.”
20 Achan answered, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I did: 21 Among the things I saw was a beautiful coat from Babylonia. And I saw about five pounds of silver and more than one and one-quarter pounds of gold. I wanted these things very much for myself. So I took them. You will find them buried in the ground under my tent. The silver is under the coat.”
22 So Joshua sent some men to the tent. They ran to the tent and found the things hidden there. The silver was under the coat. 23 The men brought them out of the tent. Then they took them to Joshua and all the Israelites. They spread them out on the ground before the Lord. 24 Then Joshua and all the people led Achan son of Zerah to the Valley of Trouble. They also took the silver, the coat and the gold. They took Achan’s sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep, tent and everything he owned. 25 Joshua said, “I don’t know why you caused so much trouble for us. But now the Lord will bring trouble to you.” Then all the people threw stones at Achan until he died. They also killed his family with stones. Then the people burned them. 26 They piled rocks over Achan’s body. And those rocks are still there today. That is why it is called the Valley of Trouble. After this the Lord was no longer angry.
Ai Is Destroyed
8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t give up. Lead all your fighting men to Ai. I will help you defeat the king of Ai. I am giving you his people, his city and his land. 2 You will do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may take all the wealth. You may keep it for yourselves. Now tell some of your soldiers to set up an ambush behind the city.”
3 So Joshua led his whole army toward Ai. Then he chose 30,000 of his best fighting men. He sent these men out at night. 4 Joshua gave them these orders: “Listen carefully. You must set up an ambush behind the city. Don’t go far from it. Continue to watch and be ready. 5 I and the men who are with me will march toward the city. The men in the city will come out to fight us. Then we will turn and run away from them as we did before. 6 They will chase us away from the city. They will think we are running away from them as we did before. When we run away, 7 come out from your ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give you the power to win. 8 After you take the city, burn it. See to it! You have your orders.”
9 Then Joshua sent them to their place of ambush to wait. They went to a place between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua stayed the night with his people.
10 Early the next morning Joshua gathered his men together. He and the older leaders of Israel led them to Ai. 11 All of the soldiers who were with Joshua marched to Ai. They stopped in front of the city and made camp north of Ai. There was a valley between them and the city. 12 Then Joshua chose about 5,000 men. He set them in ambush in the area west of the city between Bethel and Ai. 13 So the people took their positions. The main camp was north of the city. The other men were hiding to the west. That night Joshua went down into the valley.
14 Now the king of Ai saw the army of Israel. So he and his people got up early the next morning and hurried out to fight them. They went out to a place east of the city. The king did not know soldiers were waiting in ambush behind the city. 15 Joshua and all the men of Israel let the army of Ai push them back. Then they ran east toward the desert. 16 The men in Ai were called to chase Joshua and his men. So they left the city and went after them. 17 All the men of Ai and Bethel chased the army of Israel. The city was left open. Not a man stayed to protect it.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold your spear toward Ai. I will give you that city.” So Joshua held his spear toward the city of Ai. 19 The men of Israel who were in ambush saw this. They quickly came out of their hiding place and hurried toward the city. They entered the city and took control of it. Then they quickly set it on fire.
20 When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from their city. At the same time the men of Israel stopped running. They turned against the men of Ai. The men of Ai could not escape in any direction. 21 Joshua and all his men saw that the army had taken control of the city. They saw the smoke rising from it. So they stopped running and turned to fight the men of Ai. 22 The men who were in ambush also came out of the city to help with the fight. The men of Ai were caught between the armies of Israel. The Israelites fought until not one of the men of Ai was left alive. None of the enemy escaped. 23 But the king of Ai was left alive. And Joshua’s men brought him to Joshua.
A Review of the Fighting
24 During the fighting the army of Israel chased the men of Ai into the fields and desert. So the Israelites killed all of them in the fields and desert. Then they went back to Ai and killed everyone there. 25 All the people of Ai died that day, 12,000 men and women. 26 Joshua had held his spear toward Ai. It was a sign to his people to destroy the city. And Joshua held out his spear until all the people of Ai were destroyed. 27 The people of Israel kept the animals for themselves. They also kept the other things the people of Ai had owned. This is what the Lord told them to do when he gave Joshua the commands.
28 Then Joshua burned the city of Ai. It became an empty pile of ruins. And it is still like that today. 29 Joshua hung the king of Ai on a tree. He left him hanging there until evening. At sunset Joshua told his men to take the king’s body down from the tree. He told them to throw it down at the city gate. Then they covered it with rocks. That pile of rocks is still there today.
30 Then Joshua built an altar for the Lord, the God of Israel. He built it on Mount Ebal, as 31 Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded. Joshua built the altar as it was explained in the Book of the Teachings of Moses. The altar was made from stones that were not cut. No tool was ever used on them. The Israelites offered burnt offerings to the Lord on that altar. They also offered fellowship offerings. 32 There Joshua wrote the teachings of Moses on stones. He did this for all the people of Israel to see. 33 The elders, officers, judges and all the Israelites were there. They were standing around the Ark of the Covenant with the Lord. They stood before the priests, the Levites who had carried the Ark of the Covenant. Israelites and non-Israelites were all standing there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Ebal. The other half stood in front of Mount Gerizim. This was the way the Lord’s servant Moses had earlier commanded the people to be blessed.
34 Then Joshua read all the words of the teachings. He read the blessings and the curses. He read it exactly as they were written in the Book of the Teachings. 35 All the Israelites were gathered together. All the women and children were there. All the non-Israelites living with the Israelites were there. Joshua read every command that Moses had given.
The Gibeonite Trickery
9 All the kings west of the Jordan River heard about these things. These were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They lived in the mountains and on the western mountain slopes. They also lived along the whole Mediterranean Sea coast. 2 All these kings gathered to fight Joshua and the Israelites.
True Wealth
16 Jesus also said to his followers, “Once there was a rich man. He had a manager to take care of his business. Later, the rich man learned that his manager was cheating him. 2 So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘I have heard bad things about you. Give me a report of what you have done with my money. You can’t be my manager any longer!’ 3 Later, the manager thought to himself, ‘What will I do? My master is taking my job away from me! I am not strong enough to dig ditches. I am too proud to beg. 4 I know! I’ll do something so that when I lose my job, people will welcome me into their homes.’
5 “So the manager called in everyone who owed the master any money. He said to the first man, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 The man answered, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ The manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill; sit down quickly and make the bill less. Write 400 gallons.’ 7 Then the manager said to another man, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ The man answered, ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat.’ Then the manager said to him, ‘Here is your bill; you can make it less. Write 800 bushels.’ 8 Later, the master praised the dishonest manager for being smart. Yes, worldly people are smarter with their own kind than spiritual people are.
9 “I tell you, make friends for yourselves using worldly riches. Then, when those things are gone, you will be welcomed in that home that continues forever. 10 Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with large things. Whoever is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in large things too. 11 If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then you will not be trusted with the true riches. 12 And if you cannot be trusted with the things that belong to someone else, then you will not be given things of your own.
13 “No servant can serve two masters. He will hate one master and love the other. Or he will follow one master and refuse to follow the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
God’s Law Cannot Be Changed
14 The Pharisees were listening to all these things. They made fun of Jesus because they all loved money. 15 Jesus said to them, “You make yourselves look good in front of people. But God knows what is really in your hearts. The things that are important to people are worth nothing to God.
16 “God wanted the people to live by the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets. But ever since John[a] came, the Good News about the kingdom of God is being told. Now everyone is trying hard to get into the kingdom. 17 Even the smallest part of a letter in the law cannot be changed. It would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away.
Divorce and Remarriage
18 “If a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he is guilty of adultery. And the man who marries a divorced woman is also guilty of adultery.”
God Judges the Judges
A song of Asaph.
82 God is in charge of the great meeting of his people.
He judges the judges.
2 He says, “How long will you defend evil people?
How long will you show greater kindness to the wicked? Selah
3 Defend the orphans and the weak.
Defend the rights of the poor and suffering.
4 Save the weak and helpless
from the power of the wicked.
5 “You know nothing. You don’t understand.
You walk in the dark,
while the world is falling apart.
6 I said, ‘You are gods.
You are all sons of the Most High God.’
7 But you will die like any other person.
You will die like all the leaders.”
8 God, come and judge the earth.
You own all the nations.
2 A person will be rewarded for what he says.
But those who can’t be trusted want only violence.
3 Whoever is careful about what he says protects his life.
But anyone who speaks without thinking will be ruined.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.