The city and all that is in it will be devoted to Yahweh; only Rahab the prostitute and all who [are] with her in the house will live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

As for you, keep [away] from the things devoted to destruction so that you do not take them and bring about your own destruction, making the camp of Israel an object for destruction, bringing trouble upon it.

But all of the silver and gold, and the items of bronze and iron, [are] holy to Yahweh, and they must go to Yahweh's treasury."

Then Joshua said to the two men who spied on the land, "Go [to] the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, just as you swore to her."

But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute {and her family} and all who [were] with her, and she has lived in the midst of Israel until this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

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.

And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up and attack Ai; [only] two or three thousand men should go up because they [are] few. Do not make all the people weary [up] there."

The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, and they chased them from the gate up to Shebarim and killed them on the slope. And the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.

And Joshua said, "Ah, my Lord! Why did you bring this people across the Jordan to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content and stayed beyond the Jordan.

The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear [of this], and they will surround us and cut off our name from the land. What will you do, for your great name?"

And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stand up! {Why} [have] you fallen on your face?

The {Israelites} were unable to stand before their enemies; {they fled from their enemies} because they have become a thing devoted for destruction. {I will be with you no more} unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

Get up, sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: "[There are] devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You will be unable to stand before you enemies until you remove the devoted things from your midst."

The one caught with the devoted things will be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because {he transgressed the covenant} of Yahweh, and because he did a disgraceful thing in Israel." '"

And Joshua said to Achan, "My son, please, give glory to Yahweh the God of Israel, and give him a doxology in court. Tell me, please, what you have done; do not hide [it] from me."

I saw among the spoil a beautiful robe from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and one bar of gold [that] weighed fifty shekels; I coveted them and took them. They [are] hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver [is] under it."

Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there [they were], hidden in his tent, and the silver [was] under it.

And they took them from the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the {Israelites}. And they spread them out before the presence of Yahweh.

Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his cattle and donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and everything that [was] his, and they brought them [to] the valley of Achor.

And Joshua said, "Why did you bring us trouble? Yahweh will bring you trouble on this day." And all Israel stoned them [with] stones; and they burned them with fire [after] they stoned them with stones.

Then {they placed} on top of him a great pile of stones [that remains] to this day. And Yahweh {turned from his burning anger}, and thus the name of that place to this day is called the valley of Achor.

Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take {all the fighting men} with you {and go up immediately to Ai}. Look, I am giving into your hand the king of Ai, his city, and his land.

You will do to Ai and its king that which you did to Jericho and its king; you may take only its spoils and livestock as booty for yourself. Set for yourself an ambush against the city [from] behind [it]."

So Joshua and {all the fighting men} went up immediately to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the best fighting men and sent them [by] night.

And he commanded them, saying, "Look, you are to lay an ambush against the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city and be ready.

Then I and all of the people who [are] with me will approach the city. And when they go out to meet us {as before}, we will flee from them.

So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the [place of the] ambush, and they sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent the night {with the people}.

And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

So they stationed the forces; all the army [was] north of the city while {the rear guard was west}. But Joshua went that night to the middle of the valley.

When the king of Ai saw [this], the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel for battle--he and all his army--to the meeting place before the Arabah. He did not know that [there was] an ambush for him behind the city.

All of the people who [were] in the city were called to pursue after them. As they pursued after Joshua, they were drawn away from the city.

And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stretch out the sword that is in your hand to Ai, because I will give it into your hand." And Joshua stretched out the sword that was in his hand to the city.

Then the men of Ai looked behind them, and they saw smoke from the city rising to the sky; {they had no power to flee this way or that}, and the people fleeing the wilderness turned around to the pursuers.

Then the others from the city came out to meet them, {and they found themselves surrounded by Israel}, {some on one side, and others on the other side}. And they struck them down until no survivor or fugitive [was] left.

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

When Israel finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them had fallen by {the edge of the sword} until they all had perished, all Israel returned [to] Ai and attacked it with {the edge of the sword}.

All the people that fell on that day, both men and women, [were] twelve thousand--all the inhabitants of Ai.

Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of Yahweh that Joshua commanded.

So Joshua burned Ai and made it an everlasting heap of rubbish, a desolate place until this day.

The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the time of evening, and as the sun went down Joshua commanded [them], and they brought down his dead body from the tree. Then they threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and they raised over it a great heap of stones [that remains] to this day.

Then all Israel, {foreigner as well as native}, with the elders, officials, and judges stood {on either side} of the ark before the priests and the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. Half of them [stood] in front of Mount Gerizim, and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses Yahweh's servant had commanded before to bless the people of Israel.

And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, according to all that was written in the scroll of the law.

they gathered themselves together to fight with one accord against Joshua and Israel.

But the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai,

And they went to Joshua at the camp [at] Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far land; so then {make a covenant with us}."

And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you [are] living among us; how can we {make a covenant} with you?"

They said to Joshua, "We [are] your servants." And Joshua said to them, "Who [are] you, and from where do you come?"

And they said to him, "Your servants have come from a very far land because of the name of Yahweh your God; we have heard of his reputation, of all that he did in Egypt,

and of 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] in Ashtaroth.

So our elders said to us and all the inhabitants of our land, 'Take in your hand provisions for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, "We [are] your servants; so then {make a covenant with us}." '

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.

And Joshua made peace with them, and {he made a covenant with them} to allow them to live happily, and the leaders of the congregation swore [an oath] to them.

And the {Israelites} set out and went to their cities on the third day (their cities [were] Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim).

But the {Israelites} did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured {against their leaders}.

But all the leaders of the congregation said, "We have sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel, and so we cannot touch them.

This we will do to them: [we will] let them live so that wrath will not be on us because of the oath we swore to them."

And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they became woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said to them.

And they answered Joshua and said, "Because it was told with certainty to your servants that Yahweh your God commanded Moses his servant to give to you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you, so we were very afraid for our lives because of you, and so we did this thing.

So then, look, we [are] in your hand; do with us whatever seems good and right in your eyes."

So he did this to them: he saved them from the hand of the {Israelites}, and they did not kill them.

And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of Yahweh, to this day, in the place that he should choose.

And it happened that when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua captured Ai and had utterly destroyed it (just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he did to Ai and its king) and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,

So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent [word] to Hohman king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying,

And the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered [together] and went up, they and all their forces, and {they laid siege to Gibeon} and made war against it.

And the men of Gibeon sent [word] to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, "{Do not abandon} your servant. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country have gathered against us."

And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, for I have given them into your hand; {no one will withstand you}.

Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh, on the day Yahweh gave the Amorites over to the {Israelites}, and he said in the sight of Israel, "Sun in Gibeon, stand still, and moon, in the valley of Aijalon."

And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until [the] nation took vengeance [on] its enemies. Is it not written in the scroll of Jashar? The sun stood still in the middle of the heaven and was not in haste to set for about a full day.

There has not been a day like this before it or after, that Yahweh listened to the voice of man; for Yahweh fought for Israel.

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

And it was told to Joshua, saying, "The five kings were found hidden in the cave at Makkedah."

And Joshua said, "Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and set men in front of it to guard them.

But do not stay [there]; pursue after your enemies and attack them from the rear. Do not allow them to go into their cities, for Yahweh your God has given them into your hand."

and all the people returned to the camp safely to Joshua [at] Makkedah. {No one spoke} against the {Israelites}.

And Joshua said, "Open the mouth of the cave, and bring to me those five kings from the cave."

And when they brought these kings to Joshua, Joshua called all the men of Israel and said to the commanders of {the fighting men} who had gone with him, "Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings." So they came near and put their feet on their necks.

And Joshua said to them, "Do not be afraid or dismayed! Be strong and bold, for thus Yahweh will do to all your enemies whom you [are] about to fight.

And it happened {at the time of sunset}, Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and they put large stones against the mouth of the cave, [which are there] to this very day.

Joshua captured Makkedah on that day, and he struck it and its king with {the edge of the sword}; he utterly destroyed it and everyone that was in it. He did not leave behind a survivor. So he did to the king of Makkedah just as he did to the king of Jericho.

And Joshua passed on, and all of Israel with him, from Makkedah [to] Libnah, and he fought against Libnah.

And Yahweh also gave it into the hand of Israel, and its king and all the people in it he struck with {the edge of the sword}. He left in it no survivor. He did to its king just as he did to the king of Jericho.

And Joshua passed on, and all of Israel with him, from Libnah to Lachish, and {he laid siege to it} and fought against it.

And Yahweh gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he captured it on the second day. He struck it with {the edge of the sword}, and everyone in it, just as he did to Libnah.

Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua struck him and his people until he left no survivor behind.

And Joshua passed on, and all of Israel with him, from Lachish to Eglon, and {they laid siege to it} and fought against it.

And they captured it on that day, and he struck it with {the edge of the sword}, and all the people that [were] in it on that day he utterly destroyed as he had done to Lachish.

And Joshua went up, and all Israel with him, from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it

and captured it, and they struck it with {the edge of the sword}, its king and all its cities, and all the people that [were] in it; he left behind no survivor, as he had done to Eglon, and he utterly destroyed it and all the people that [were] in it.

Then Joshua returned to Debir, and all of Israel with him, and they fought against it,

and he captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with {the the edge of the sword}, and they utterly destroyed all the people that [were] in it; he left behind no survivor, just as he had done to Hebron. Thus he did to Debir and its king what he had done to Libnah and its king.

Joshua struck them from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen up to Gibeon;

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

And it happened, when Jabin king of Hazor heard [this], he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Acshaph,

and to the kings who [were] in the north in the hill country, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth, in the Shephelah, and in Naphoth Dor in [the] west,

to the Canaanites in [the] east and [west], the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites {at the foot of} Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

And all these kings joined forces, and they came and camped together by the waters of Merom to fight with Israel.

And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid because of their presence, for tomorrow at this time I [will] hand them over slain to Israel; you will hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire."

And Yahweh gave them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them and pursued them up to Great Sidon and Misrephoth Maim, and eastward up to the valley of Mizpeh. And they struck them until they left behind no survivor.

And Joshua did to them as Yahweh commanded him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.