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16 So[a] Joshua rose early in the morning and brought forward Israel, tribe by tribe,[b] and the tribe of Judah was selected by lot. 17 And he brought forward the clans of Judah and selected the clan of the Zerahites[c] by lot. Then he brought forward the clan of the Zerahites,[d] one by one, and Zabdi was selected by lot. 18 He brought forward his family, one by one, and Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected by lot. 19 And Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please, give glory to Yahweh the God of Israel, and give him a doxology in court.[e] Tell me, please, what you have done; do not hide it from me.” 20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, “It is true. I have sinned against Yahweh the God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 I saw among the spoil a beautiful robe from Shinar,[f] two hundred shekels of silver, and one bar of gold that weighed fifty shekels; I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver is under it.”
22 Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there they were, hidden in his tent, and the silver was under it. 23 And they took them from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites.[g] And they spread them out before the presence of Yahweh. 24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his cattle and donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and everything that was his, and they brought them to the valley of Achor.[h] 25 And Joshua said, “Why did you bring us trouble? Yahweh will bring you trouble on this day.” And all Israel stoned them[i] with stones;[j] and they burned them with fire after they stoned them with stones. 26 Then they placed[k] on top of him a great pile of stones that remains to this day. And Yahweh turned from his burning anger,[l] and thus the name of that place to this day is called the valley of Achor.[m]
Ai Is Destroyed
8 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the fighting men[n] with you and go up immediately to Ai.[o] Look, I am giving into your hand the king of Ai, his city, and his land. 2 You will do to Ai and its king that which you did to Jericho and its king; you may take only its spoils[p] and livestock as booty for yourself. Set for yourself an ambush against the city from behind it.”
3 So Joshua and all the fighting men[q] went up immediately to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the best fighting men and sent them by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying, “Look, you are to lay an ambush against the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city and be ready. 5 Then I and all of the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they go out to meet us as before,[r] we will flee from them.[s] 6 They will come out after us until we draw them away from the city, because they will think, ‘They are fleeing from us[t] as before.’[u] So we will flee from them.[v] 7 Then you will rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh your God will give it into your hand. 8 And when you capture the city you will set it on fire as Yahweh commanded. Look, I have commanded you.” 9 So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of the ambush, and they sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent the night with the people.[w]
10 Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people of Ai.[x] 11 All the fighting men[y] who were with him went up and drew near before the city[z] and camped north of Ai; there was a valley between him and Ai. 12 And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So they stationed the forces; all the army was north of the city while the rear guard was west.[aa] But Joshua went that night to the middle of the valley. 14 When the king of Ai saw this, the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel for battle—he[ab] and all his army—to the meeting place before the Arabah.[ac] He did not know that there was an ambush for him behind the city. 15 Then Joshua and all Israel acted like they were beaten before them, and they fled in the direction of the wilderness.[ad] 16 All of the people who were in the city were called to pursue after them. As they pursued after Joshua, they were drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel; they left the city open and pursued after Israel.
18 And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Stretch out the sword[ae] that is in your hand to Ai, because I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the sword that was in his hand to the city. 19 The moment he stretched out his hand, those in the ambush stood up quickly from their place and ran. And they went into the city and captured it, quickly setting the city ablaze with fire. 20 Then the men of Ai looked behind them, and they saw smoke from the city rising to the sky; they had no power to flee this way or that,[af] and the people fleeing the wilderness turned around to the pursuers.[ag] 21 And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was rising; they returned and struck down the men of Ai. 22 Then the others from the city came out to meet them, and they found themselves surrounded by Israel,[ah] some on one side, and others on the other side.[ai] And they[aj] struck them down until no survivor or fugitive was left. 23 But they captured the king of Ai alive, and they brought him to Joshua.
24 When Israel finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them had fallen by the edge of the sword[ak] until they all had perished, all Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with the edge of the sword.[al] 25 All the people that fell on that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the inhabitants of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back his hand that was stretched out with the sword until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of Yahweh that Joshua commanded. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it an everlasting heap of rubbish, a desolate place until this day. 29 The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the time of evening, and as the sun went down Joshua commanded them, and they brought down his dead body from the tree. Then they threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and they raised over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.
Israel Renews the Covenant
30 Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for Yahweh the God of Israel, 31 as Moses Yahweh’s servant commanded the Israelites,[am] as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses: “an altar of unhewn[an] stones on which no one has wielded[ao] an iron implement.”[ap] And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32 And there Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he[aq] had written, in the presence of the Israelites.[ar] 33 Then all Israel, foreigner as well as native,[as] with the elders, officials, and judges stood on either side[at] of the ark before the priests and the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim, and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses Yahweh’s servant had commanded before to bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings[au] and the curses,[av] according to all that was written in the scroll of the law. 35 There was not a word from all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before the assembly of all Israel, and the women, the little children, and the traveling foreigners[aw] among them.
The Gibeonites Act with Cunning
9 Now[ax] when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the Shephelah,[ay] and on all the coast of the great sea toward Lebanon[az]—the Hittites,[ba] the Amorites,[bb] the Canaanites,[bc] the Perizzites,[bd] the Hivites,[be] and the Jebusites[bf]—heard of this, 2 they gathered themselves together to fight with one accord against[bg] Joshua and Israel.
The Parable of the Dishonest Manager
16 And he also said to the disciples, “A certain man was rich, who had a manager. And charges were brought to him that this person was squandering his possessions. 2 And he summoned him and[a] said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give the account of your management, because you can no longer manage.’ 3 And the manager said to himself, ‘What should I do, because my master is taking away the management from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I should do, so that when I am removed from the management they will welcome me into their homes!’ 5 And he summoned each one of his own master’s debtors and[b] said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of olive oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your promissory note and sit down quickly and[c] write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your promissory note and write eighty.’ 8 And the master praised the dishonest manager, because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are shrewder than the sons of light with regard to their own generation.[d] 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it runs out they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings.
10 “The one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful with unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?[e] 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you your own? 13 No domestic slave is able to serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.”
Hypocrisy, Law, and the Kingdom of God
14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are the ones who justify themselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts! For what is considered exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
16 “The law and the prophets were until John; from that time on the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently pressed[f] into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to become invalid.
On Divorce
18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
God Commands Justice
A psalm of Asaph.[a]
82 God stands in the divine assembly;[b]
he administers judgment in the midst of the gods.[c]
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show favoritism to the wicked?[d] Selah
3 Judge on behalf of the helpless and the orphan;
provide justice to the afflicted and the poor.
4 Rescue the helpless and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 They do not know or consider.[e]
They go about in the darkness,
so that all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I have said,[f] “You are gods,
and sons of the Most High, all of you.
7 However, you will die like men,[g]
and you will fall like one of the princes.”
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
because you shall inherit[h] all the nations.
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