Study Desk

Tribe of Gad, the Lord will bless you with more land. So shout his praises! Your tribe is like a lion ripping up its victim.

Israel, no other god is like ours— the clouds are his chariot as he rides across the skies to come and help us.

The eternal God is our hiding place; he carries us in his arms. When God tells you to destroy your enemies, he will make them run.

Moses was a hundred twenty years old when he died, yet his eyesight was still good, and his body was strong.

Before Moses died, he had placed his hands on Joshua, and the Lord had given Joshua wisdom. The Israelites paid attention to what Joshua said and obeyed the commands that the Lord had given Moses.

and sent him to perform powerful miracles in the presence of the king of Egypt and his entire nation.

"Neither," he answered. "I am here because I am the commander of the Lord 's army." Joshua fell to his knees and bowed down to the ground. "I am your servant," he said. "Tell me what to do."

"Take off your sandals," the commander answered. "This is a holy place." So Joshua took off his sandals.

The Lord said to Joshua: With my help, you and your army will defeat the king of Jericho and his army, and you will capture the town. Here is how to do it: March slowly around Jericho once a day for six days.

The silver and gold and everything made of bronze and iron belong to the Lord and must be put in his treasury. Be careful to follow these instructions, because if you see something you want and take it, the Lord will destroy Israel. And it will be all your fault.

After Jericho was destroyed, Joshua warned the people, "Someday a man will rebuild Jericho, but the Lord will put a curse on him, and the man's oldest son will die when he starts to build the town wall. And by the time he finishes the wall and puts gates in it, all his children will be dead."

and the Lord will show who stole what should have been destroyed. That man must be put to death, his body burned, and his possessions thrown into the fire. He has done a terrible thing by breaking the sacred agreement that the Lord made with Israel."

Then everyone took Achan and the things he had stolen to Trouble Valley. They also took along his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys, and sheep, his tent, and everything else that belonged to him.

Joshua said, "Achan, you caused us a lot of trouble. Now the Lord is paying you back with the same kind of trouble." The people of Israel then stoned to death Achan and his family. They made a fire and burned the bodies, together with what Achan had stolen, and all his possessions.

The Lord told Joshua: Don't be afraid, and don't be discouraged by what happened at the town of Ai. Take the army and attack again. But first, have part of the army set up an ambush on the other side of the town. I will help you defeat the king of Ai and his army, and you will capture the town and the land around it. Destroy Ai and kill its king as you did at Jericho. But you may keep the livestock and everything else you want.

Joshua quickly got the army ready to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best soldiers and gave them these orders: Tonight, while it is dark, march to Ai and take up a position behind the town. Get as close to the town as you can without being seen, but be ready to attack.

Early the next morning he got his troops ready to move out, and he and the other leaders of Israel led them to Ai.

Now all his troops were in place. Part of the army was in the camp to the north of Ai, and the others were hiding to the west, ready to make a surprise attack. That night, Joshua went into the valley.

The king of Ai saw Joshua's army, so the king and his troops hurried out early the next morning to fight them. Joshua and his army pretended to be beaten, and they let the men of Ai chase them toward the desert. The king and his army were facing the Jordan valley as Joshua had planned. The king did not realize that some Israelite soldiers were hiding behind the town.

So he called out every man in Ai to go after Joshua's troops. They all rushed out to chase the Israelite army, and they left the town gates wide open. Not one man was left in Ai or in Bethel. Joshua let the men of Ai chase him and his army farther and farther away from Ai.