Study Desk

And Joshua said, "Why have you brought such trouble on us? The Lord will now bring trouble on you!" All the people then stoned Achan to death; they also stoned and burned his family and possessions.

So Joshua sent them out, and they went to their hiding place and waited there, west of Ai, between Ai and Bethel. Joshua spent the night in camp.

Joshua and his men pretended that they were retreating, and ran away toward the barren country.

All the men in the city had been called together to go after them, and as they pursued Joshua, they kept getting farther away from the city.

and as soon as he lifted his hand, the men who had been hiding got up quickly, ran into the city and captured it. They immediately set the city on fire.

When Joshua and his men saw that the others had taken the city and that it was on fire, they turned around and began killing the men of Ai.

The Israelites in the city now came down to join the battle. So the men of Ai found themselves completely surrounded by Israelites, and they were all killed. No one got away, and no one lived through it

The Israelites killed every one of the enemy in the barren country where they had chased them. Then they went back to Ai and killed everyone there.

He hanged the king of Ai from a tree and left his body there until evening. At sundown Joshua gave orders for the body to be removed, and it was thrown down at the entrance to the city gate. They covered it with a huge pile of stones, which is still there today.

He made it according to the instructions that Moses, the Lord 's servant, had given the Israelites, as it says in the Law of Moses: "an altar made of stones which have not been cut with iron tools." On it they offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord , and they also presented their fellowship offerings.

Joshua then read aloud the whole Law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the book of the Law.

They all came together and joined forces to fight against Joshua and the Israelites.

and they decided to deceive him. They went and got some food and loaded their donkeys with worn-out sacks and patched-up wineskins.

They put on ragged clothes and worn-out sandals that had been mended. The bread they took with them was dry and moldy.

Then they went to the camp at Gilgal and said to Joshua and the Israelites, "We have come from a distant land. We want you to make a treaty with us."

When we filled these wineskins, they were new, but look! They are torn. Our clothes and sandals are worn out from the long trip."

Let them live, but they will have to cut wood and carry water for us." This was what the leaders suggested.

They answered, "We did it, sir, because we learned that it was really true that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to kill the people living in it as you advanced. We did it because we were terrified of you; we were in fear of our lives.

But at the same time he made them slaves, to cut wood and carry water for the people of Israel and for the Lord 's altar. To this day they have continued to do this work in the place where the Lord has chosen to be worshiped.

All night Joshua and his army marched from Gilgal to Gibeon, and they made a surprise attack on the Amorites.