until the Lord gives your brothers rest, as He has given you, and they too possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. You may then return to the land of your inheritance and take possession of what Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on the east side of the Jordan.”

They answered Joshua, “Everything you have commanded us we will do, and everywhere you send us we will go.

Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a woman, a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.

Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.”

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from.

At nightfall, when the gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!”

The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the gate was shut.

“Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide yourselves there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.”

“Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.

So the two men went into the hill country and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. They searched all along the way, but did not find them.

Then the men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed the Jordan. They went to Joshua son of Nun and reported everything that had happened to them.

They told Joshua, “The Lord has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us.”

Joshua started early the next morning and left the Acacia Grove with all the Israelites. They went as far as the Jordan and stayed there before crossing.

Then he said to the priests, “Take the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them.

The Lord spoke to Joshua: “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so they will know that I will be with you just as I was with Moses.

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.

On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they revered him throughout his life, as they had revered Moses.

Then Joshua set up in Gilgal the 12 stones they had taken from the Jordan,

When all the Amorite kings across the Jordan to the west and all the Canaanite kings near the sea heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, they lost heart and their courage failed because of the Israelites.

This is the reason Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males—all the men of war—had died in the wilderness along the way after they had come out of Egypt.

Though all the people who came out were circumcised, none of the people born in the wilderness along the way were circumcised after they had come out of Egypt.

For the Israelites wandered in the wilderness 40 years until all the nation’s men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they did not obey the Lord. So the Lord vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Joshua raised up their sons in their place; it was these he circumcised. They were still uncircumcised, since they had not been circumcised along the way.

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.

The day after Passover they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.

And the day after they ate from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. Since there was no more manna for the Israelites, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

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.

Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times.

So the people shouted, and the trumpets sounded. When they heard the blast of the trumpet, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The people advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city.

They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword—every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey.

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.

They burned up the city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.

After returning to Joshua they reported to him, “Don’t send all the people, but send about 2,000 or 3,000 men to attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, don’t wear out all our people there.”

So about 3,000 men went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai.

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell before the ark of the Lord with his face to the ground until evening, as did the elders of Israel; they all put dust on their heads.

When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do about Your great name?”

Israel has sinned. They have violated My covenant that I appointed for them. They have taken some of what was set apart. They have stolen, deceived, and put the things with their own belongings.

This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from you what is set apart.

When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Babylon, 200 silver shekels, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, I coveted them and took them. You can see for yourself. They are concealed in the ground inside my tent, with the money under the cloak.”

They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out in the Lord’s presence.

Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? Today the Lord will trouble you!” So all Israel stoned them to death. They burned their bodies, threw stones on them,

Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.

They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us as before.’ While we are fleeing from them,

So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.

Then all the troops of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.

Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city exposed while they pursued Israel.

When he held out his hand, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They ran, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.

When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.

Then men in ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces, some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained,

but they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

He hung the body of the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take his body down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and put a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.

just as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. Then they offered burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it.

they formed a unified alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel.

they acted deceptively. They gathered provisions and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

They wore old, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies. Their entire provision of bread was dry and crumbly.

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.”

They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”

Then Joshua asked them, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

They replied to him, “Your servants have come from a far away land because of the reputation of the Lord your God. For we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt,

These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from the extremely long journey.”

Three days after making the treaty with them, they heard that the Gibeonites were their neighbors, living among them.

They also said, “Let them live.” So the Gibeonites became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole community, as the leaders had promised them.

This is what Joshua did to them: he delivered them from the hands of the Israelites, and they did not kill them.

On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers—as they are today—for the community and for the Lord’s altar at the place He would choose.

“Come up and help me. We will attack Gibeon, because they have made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”

As they fled before Israel, the Lord threw large hailstones on them from the sky along the descent of Beth-horon all the way to Azekah, and they died. More of them died from the hail than the Israelites killed with the sword.

It was reported to Joshua: “The five kings have been found; they are hiding in the cave at Makkedah.”

So Joshua and the Israelites finished inflicting a terrible slaughter on them until they were destroyed, although a few survivors ran away to the fortified cities.

That is what they did. They brought the five kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon to Joshua out of the cave.

When they had brought the kings to him, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the military commanders who had accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks.

After this, Joshua struck them down and executed them. He hung their bodies on five trees and they were there until evening.

At sunset Joshua commanded that they be taken down from the trees and thrown into the cave where they had hidden. Then large stones were placed against the mouth of the cave, and the stones are there to this day.

From Libnah, Joshua and all Israel with him crossed to Lachish. They laid siege to it and attacked it.

Then Joshua crossed from Lachish to Eglon and all Israel with him. They laid siege to it and attacked it.

On that day they captured it and struck it down, putting everyone in it to the sword. He completely destroyed it that day, just as he had done to Lachish.

They captured it and struck down its king, all its villages, and everyone in it with the sword. He left no survivors, just as he had done at Eglon. He completely destroyed Hebron and everyone in it.

He captured it—its king and all its villages. They struck them down with the sword and completely destroyed everyone in it, leaving no survivors. He treated Debir and its king as he had treated Hebron and as he had treated Libnah and its king.

They went out with all their armies—a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore—along with a vast number of horses and chariots.

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

The Lord handed them over to Israel, and they struck them down, pursuing them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and to the east as far as the Valley of Mizpeh. They struck them down, leaving no survivors.

They struck down everyone in it with the sword, completely destroying them; he left no one alive. Then he burned down Hazor.

The Israelites plundered all the spoils and cattle of these cities for themselves. But they struck down every person with the sword until they had annihilated them, leaving no one alive.

For it was the Lord’s intention to harden their hearts, so that they would engage Israel in battle, be completely destroyed without mercy, and be annihilated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Along with those the Israelites put to death, they also killed the diviner, Balaam son of Beor, with the sword.

So the Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses, and they divided the land.

But, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites live in Ephraim to this day, but they are forced laborers.

They came before Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders, saying, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our male relatives.” So they gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers, in keeping with the Lord’s instruction.

Ephraim’s territory was to the south and Manasseh’s to the north, with the Sea as its border. They reached Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.

However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they imposed forced labor on the Canaanites but did not drive them out completely.

because the hill country will be yours also. It is a forest; clear it and its outlying areas will be yours. You can also drive out the Canaanites, even though they have iron chariots and are strong.”

Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe, and I will send them out. They are to go and survey the land, write a description of it for the purpose of their inheritance, and return to me.

Then they are to divide it into seven portions. Judah is to remain in its territory in the south and Joseph’s family in their territory in the north.

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.

When the territory of the Danites slipped out of their control, they went up and fought against Leshem, captured it, and struck it down with the sword. So they took possession of it, lived there, and renamed Leshem after their ancestor Dan.

When they had finished distributing the land into its territories, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them.

By the Lord’s command, they gave him the city Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, which he requested. He rebuilt the city and lived in it.

These were the portions that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families distributed to the Israelite tribes by lot at Shiloh in the Lord’s presence at the entrance to the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing up the land.

When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before the elders of that city, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them.