Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



The LORD then told Joshua, "Don't be afraid or lose heart! Take all the fighting men with you, and go up right now to Ai. Take note that I have handed over the king of Ai into your control, along with his people, his city, and his land. Do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, but take its spoil and its livestock as war booty for yourselves. Set an ambush around the city."


The LORD then told Joshua, "Don't be afraid or lose heart! Take all the fighting men with you, and go up right now to Ai. Take note that I have handed over the king of Ai into your control, along with his people, his city, and his land. Do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, but take its spoil and its livestock as war booty for yourselves. Set an ambush around the city."

After Moses, the servant of the LORD, had died, the LORD spoke to Nun's son Joshua, announcing to him, "My servant Moses is dead. Now get ready to cross the Jordan River you and all the people to the land that I'm giving the Israelis. I'm giving you every place where the sole of your foot falls, just as I promised Moses. read more.
Your territorial border will extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon Mountains, to the river that great River Euphrates all the land of the Hittites as far as the Mediterranean Sea where the sun sets. No one will be victorious against you for the rest of your life. I'll be with you just like I was with Moses I'll neither fail you nor abandon you. "Be strong and courageous, because you'll be leading this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Only be strong and very courageous to ensure that you obey all the instructions that my servant Moses gave you turn neither to the right nor to the left from it so that you may succeed wherever you go. This set of instructions is not to cease being a part of your conversations. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to carry out everything that's written in it, for then you'll prosper and succeed. I've commanded you, haven't I? Be strong and courageous. Don't be fearful or discouraged, because the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

The LORD told Joshua, "Look! I have given Jericho over to your control, along with its kings and valiant soldiers. March around the city, all the soldiers circling the city once. Do this for six days, with seven priests carrying in front of the ark seven trumpets made from rams' horns. On the seventh day march around the city seven times while the priests blow their trumpets. read more.
When they sound a long blast with the ram's horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then the entire army is to cry out loud, the city wall will collapse, and then all of the soldiers are to charge straight ahead."

"Get up!" the LORD replied to Joshua. "Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned. They broke my covenant that I commanded them by taking some of the things that had been turned over to destruction. They have stolen, have been deceitful, and have stored what they stole among their own belongings. The Israelis have been unable to stand before their enemies. They're turning their backs and running from their enemies because they themselves have been turned over to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy these things that have been turned over to destruction. read more.
So get up and sanctify the people. Tell them, "Sanctify yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, because this is what the LORD God of Israel, says: "There are things turned over to destruction among you, Israel. You won't be able to defeat your enemies until you remove what has been turned over to destruction. Tomorrow morning you are to come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD selects is to come forward by tribes, the tribe that the LORD selects is to come forward by households, and the household that the LORD selects is to come forward one by one. The one selected as having taken what has been turned over to destruction is to be incinerated, along with everything that pertains to him, because he has transgressed against the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrageous thing in Israel."'"

Then the LORD told Joshua, "Tell the people of Israel to set apart cities of refuge about which I spoke to you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally and without premeditation may run there and be protected from closely related avengers. read more.
He may run to one of those cities, stand at the entrance to the city gate, and tell his side of the story to the elders of the city. They are to bring him inside the city with them and provide him a place to live among them. Now if the closely related avenger pursues him, then they are not to hand the killer over to him, because he killed his neighbor without premeditation and without hating him beforehand. He is to live in that city until he stands trial before the community, until the death of the one who is high priest at that time. Then the killer may return to his own city and to his own home, that is, to the city from which he fled."


Meanwhile, Joshua had sent some soldiers from Jericho to Ai, which was near Beth-aven, east of Bethel. He ordered them, "Go up and scout the land." So the soldiers went up and scouted Ai and returned to Joshua. "Not all of the people need to go up," they reported. "Only about two or three thousand men should attack Ai. Since they are so few, don't make all of the army work hard up there." So about three thousand went up there, but they ran away from the men of Ai.

The LORD then told Joshua, "Don't be afraid or lose heart! Take all the fighting men with you, and go up right now to Ai. Take note that I have handed over the king of Ai into your control, along with his people, his city, and his land. Do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, but take its spoil and its livestock as war booty for yourselves. Set an ambush around the city." So Joshua and all of the fighting men prepared to go out against Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 valiant warriors and sent them out by night, read more.
telling them, "Pay attention now! You are to set up an ambush around the city. Don't go very far from the city, and all of you remain on alert. I and all of the army with me will advance upon the city. When they come out after us like they did before, we'll run away from them. They'll come after us until we've drawn them away from the city, because they'll say, "They're running away from us just like they did before.' While we're running away from them, you get up from the ambush and seize the city, because the LORD your God will give it into your control. When you've taken the city, set it on fire, just as the LORD ordered. Look! These are your orders!" So Joshua sent them out, and they set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent that night in the camp among the army. In the morning, Joshua got up early, mustered his army, and set off for Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel in full view of the army. The entire fighting force with him attacked, approaching the city, and camped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. Taking about 5,000 men, he set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai to the west of the city, stationing their forces with its main encampment north of the city and its rear guard to the west. Joshua spent that night in the valley. When the king of Ai saw what had happened, he and his army quickly got up early and went out to meet Israel in battle. He and all his people met at the place adjacent to the desert plain. But he didn't know about the ambush that had been set for him on the other side of the city. Because Joshua and the entire fighting force of Israel pretended to lose the battle by running away in front of them toward the wilderness, everyone in the city followed after them. As they pursued Joshua, they were drawn away from the town. There wasn't a single man left in Ai or Bethel who didn't run out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel. Then the LORD told Joshua, "Stretch out the battle lance that's in your hand toward Ai, because I will give it into your control." So Joshua stretched out the battle lance that was in his hand toward the city. As soon as he stretched out his hand, the troops in ambush quickly got up from their place of hiding and attacked. They entered the city, seized it, and immediately set it on fire.