And he said, "Neither. I have come now [as] the commander of Yahweh's army." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and {he bowed down} and said to him, "What [is] my lord commanding his servant?"

Now Jericho [was] shut up inside and out because of the presence of the {Israelites}; no one was going out or coming in.

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho [to] Ai, which [is] near Beth Aven, east of Bethel, and he said to them, "Go up and spy out Ai." And the men went up and spied out Ai.

Now when all the kings who [were] beyond the Jordan in the hill country and in the Shephelah, and on all the coast of the great sea toward Lebanon--the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites--heard of [this],

This [is] our bread; [it was] hot [when] we took it from our houses as provisions on the day we set out to come to you. But now, look, it is dry and crumbled.

Now Joshua was old [and] {advanced in years}, and Yahweh said to him, "You are old [and] {advanced in years}, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.

So then, look, Yahweh has kept me alive just as he promised these forty-five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses while Israel {wandered} in the wilderness. Now look, today {I am eighty-five years old}.

Today I am still strong, just as on the day that Moses sent me; as my strength [was] then, so now also [is] my strength for war {and for daily activities}.

So now give me this hill country that Yahweh spoke [of] on that day, for you heard on that day that the Anakites [were] there, with great and fortified cities. Perhaps Yahweh [is] with me, and I will drive them out just as Yahweh promised."

Now the towns of the tribes of the descendants of Benjamin, according to their families, were Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek Keziz,

"So now, revere Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; remove the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.