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The Sin of Achan
16 So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by [a]tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 And he brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 And he brought his household near man by man; and (A)Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, (B)give glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and declare to me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.” 20 So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against Yahweh, the God of Israel, and [b]this is what I did: 21 I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred [c]shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight; then I [d](C)coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it. 23 And they took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before Yahweh. 24 Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his [e]oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to (D)the valley of [f]Achor. 25 And Joshua said, “Why have you (E)troubled us? Yahweh will trouble you this day.” And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire [g]after they had stoned them with stones. 26 Then they raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and Yahweh turned from His burning anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called (F)the valley of [h]Achor to this day.
Ai Given to Israel
8 Now Yahweh said to Joshua, “(G)Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, (H)I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. 2 So you shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall (I)take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. [i]Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
3 So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. 4 And he commanded them, saying, “See, you are (J)going to ambush the city from behind [j]it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. 5 Then I and all the people who are with me will come near the city. And it will be that when they come out to meet us as at the first, (K)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.’ So we will flee before them. 7 And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh your God will give it into your hand. 8 Then it will be that when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it (L)according to the word of Yahweh. See, I have commanded you.” 9 So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Now Joshua (M)rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. 11 Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. 12 And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between (N)Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the [k]city. 13 So they set the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. 14 Now it happened that when the king of Ai saw it, the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled (O)by the way of the wilderness. 16 And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and (P)were drawn away from the city. 17 So not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they forsook the city, leaving it open, and pursued Israel.
18 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “(Q)Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19 Then the men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. 20 Then the men of Ai turned [l]back and looked, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers. 21 But Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended. So they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 [m]And the others came out from the city to meet them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, [n]some on this side and some on that side; and they struck them down until [o]there was (R)no one remaining for him who survived or escaped. 23 But they seized the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 Now it happened that when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them fell by the edge of the sword until they were completely destroyed, then all Israel turned back to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. 25 (S)So all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000—all the [p]people of Ai. 26 For Joshua (T)did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted to destruction all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 (U)Israel took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of Yahweh which He had commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it (V)a heap forever, a desolation until this day. 29 (W)And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave a command, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, on (X)Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, (Y)an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And he (Z)wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which [q]he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel. 33 (AA)And all Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, the sojourner as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of (AB)Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had given a command at first to bless the people of Israel. 34 Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in (AC)the book of the law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel (AD)with the women and the little ones and the sojourners who were [r]going among them.
The Gibeonites Act Craftily
9 Now it happened when (AE)all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the [s]Shephelah and on all the (AF)coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, (AG)the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, heard of it, 2 that they gathered themselves together with [t](AH)one accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel.
The Parable of the Unrighteous Steward
16 Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and this steward was [a]reported to him as (A)squandering his possessions. 2 And he called for him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ 3 And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my [b]master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the stewardship people will [c]take me into their homes.’ 5 And he summoned each one of his [d]master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘One hundred [e]baths of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘One hundred [f]kors of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 And his [g]master praised the unrighteous steward because he had acted shrewdly, for the sons of (B)this age are more shrewd in relation to their own [h]kind than the (C)sons of light. 9 And I say to you, (D)make friends for yourselves from the [i](E)wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, (F)they will [j]take you into the eternal dwellings.
10 “(G)He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much, and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous [k](H)wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 (I)No [l]servant can [m]serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot [n]serve God and [o](J)wealth.”
14 Now the Pharisees, who were (K)lovers of money, were listening to all these things and (L)were scoffing at Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are those who (M)justify yourselves [p]in the sight of men, but (N)God knows your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable [q]in the sight of God.
16 “(O)The Law and the Prophets were until John; [r]since that time (P)the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 (Q)But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one [s]stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
18 “(R)Everyone who [t]divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman who is [u]divorced from a husband commits adultery.
God Stands in Judgment
A Psalm of Asaph.
82 God takes His (A)stand in the congregation of [a]God;
He (B)judges in the midst of [b](C)gods.
2 How long will you (D)judge unrighteously
And (E)show partiality to the wicked? [c]Selah.
3 (F)Give justice to the poor and the orphan;
Justify the afflicted and destitute.
4 (G)Protect the poor and needy;
Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They (H)do not know and do not understand;
They (I)walk about in darkness;
All the (J)foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 [d]I (K)said, “You are gods,
And all of you are (L)sons of the Most High.
7 Nevertheless (M)you will die like men
And you will fall like any (N)one of the princes.”
8 (O)Arise, O God, (P)judge the earth!
For it is You who (Q)will inherit all the nations.
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