The men pursued them the way to the Jordan to the fords: and as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Sea of Suf before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.

The men said to her, "Our life for yours, if you do not talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when the LORD gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you."

It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.

She said, "According to your words, so be it." She sent them away, and they departed. She tied the scarlet line in the window.

It happened after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp;

and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then you shall move from your place, and follow it.

Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near to it, that you may know the way by which you must go; for you have not passed this way before."

Joshua said, "Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.

Now therefore take twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man.

It shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, even the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand in one heap."

It happened, when the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people,

that the waters which came down from above stood, and rose up in one heap, a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people passed over right against Jericho.

It happened, when all the nation had completely passed over the Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

"Take twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,

and command them, saying, 'Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging place, where you will lodge tonight.'"

Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man.

Joshua said to them, "Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;

that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do you mean by these stones?'

then you shall tell them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.'"

The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as the LORD spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.

It happened, when all the people had completely passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, with the priests, in the presence of the people.

"Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan."

Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up out of the Jordan."

It happened, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.

The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.

Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.

He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean?'

that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty; that you may fear the LORD your God forever.'"

It happened, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we had passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

At that time, the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time."

Joshua made himself flint knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the Hill of the Foreskins.

This is the reason Joshua circumcised: all the people who came out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.

For all the people who came out were circumcised; but all the people who were born in the wilderness by the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD. The LORD swore to them that he wouldn't let them see the land which the LORD swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

It happened, when they were done circumcising all the nation, that they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed.

The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.

They ate unleavened cakes and parched grain of the produce of the land on the next day after the Passover, in the same day.

The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The children of Israel did not have manna any more; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

It happened, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him, and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?"

And he said to him, "Truly I am the commander of the LORD's army. Now I have come." And Joshua fell facedown to the ground and worshipped, and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?"

Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.

It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him."

It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the LORD advanced, and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.

Joshua commanded the people, saying, "You shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout."

So he caused the ark of the LORD to go around the city, going about it once. Then they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

It happened on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times.

It happened at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city.

The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it.

So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. It happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house, and bring out from there the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her."

The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.

They burnt the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron into the treasury of the LORD's house.

But Rahab the prostitute, her father's household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Joshua commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed be the man before the LORD, who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up its gates."

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, "Go up and spy out the land." The men went up and spied out Ai.

The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them, and they chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like water.

Joshua said, "Alas, Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan.

Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel has turned their backs before their enemies.

For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?"

Israel has sinned, and they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken of the devoted things, and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff.

In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. It shall be that the tribe which the LORD selects shall come near by families. The family which the LORD selects shall come near by households. The household which the LORD selects shall come near man by man.

It shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.'"

Joshua said to Achan, "My son, please give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me."

Achan answered Joshua, and said, "I have truly sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel, and this is what I have done.

When I saw among the spoil a beautiful garment from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it."

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. Behold, it was hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.

You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except its spoil and its livestock, you shall take for a plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it."

So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night.

I, and all the people who are with me, will approach to the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.

They will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, 'They flee before us, like the first time.' So we will flee before them,

and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

It shall be, when you have seized on the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to the word of the LORD. Behold, I have commanded you."

Joshua sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed among the people that night.

It happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

There was not a man left in Ai or Beth El who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel.

The LORD said to Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand." Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.

The ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it. They hurried and set the city on fire.

The others came out of the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. They struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.

It happened, when Israel had made an end of killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned to Ai, and struck it with the edge of the sword.

For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.

He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening, and at the sundown Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.

as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, "an altar of uncut stones, on which no man has touched with an iron tool." They offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.

All Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, who carried the ark of the LORD's covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.

It happened, when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard of it

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,

They went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him, and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country. Now therefore make a covenant with us."

The men of Israel said to the Hivites, "What if you live among us. How could we make a covenant with you?"

and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth.

This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we went out to go to you; but now, behold, it is dry, and has become moldy.

It happened at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they lived among them.

And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they became wood cutters and drawers of water for all the congregation, as the leaders had spoken to them.

Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you will never fail to be bondservants, both wood cutters and drawers of water for the house of my God."

Now, behold, we are in your hand. Do to us as it seems good and right to you to do."

He did so to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, so that they did not kill them.

That day Joshua made them wood cutters and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to this day, in the place which he should choose.

Now it happened when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;