All those who were with him went up and approached the city, arriving opposite Ai, and camped to the north of it, with a valley between them and the city.

The military force was stationed in this way: the main camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Please make a treaty with us.”

Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Don’t abandon your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, for all the Amorite kings living in the hill country have joined forces against us.”

Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.

The people returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah. And no one dared to threaten the Israelites.

Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.

All these kings joined forces; they came together and camped at the waters of Merom to attack Israel.

“Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get provisions ready for yourselves, for within three days you will be crossing the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you to inherit.’”

After three days the officers went through the camp

and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God carried by the Levitical priests, you must break camp and follow it.

When the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of the people.

The Israelites did just as Joshua had commanded them. The 12 men took stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each of the Israelite tribes, just as the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the camp and set them down there.

The people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and camped at Gilgal on the eastern limits of Jericho.

After the entire nation had been circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they recovered.

While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.

So the ark of the Lord was carried around the city, circling it once. They returned to the camp and spent the night there.

On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

But keep yourselves from the things set apart, or you will be set apart for destruction. If you take any of those things, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster on it.

So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.

So the men left, went through the land, and described it by towns in a document of seven sections. They returned to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.