Study Desk

Finally, the Lord told Joshua, "Point your sword at the town of Ai, because now I am going to help you defeat it!" As soon as Joshua pointed his sword at the town,

When Joshua and his troops saw smoke rising from the town, they knew that the other part of their army had captured it. So they turned and attacked. The men of Ai looked back and saw smoke rising from their town. But they could not escape, because the soldiers they had been chasing had suddenly turned and started fighting.

Joshua kept his sword pointed at the town of Ai until every last one of Ai's twelve thousand people was dead.

Joshua made sure every building in Ai was burned to the ground. He told his men to kill the king of Ai and hang his body on a tree. Then at sunset he told the Israelites to take down the body, throw it in the gateway of the town, and cover it with a big pile of rocks. Those rocks are still there, and the town itself has never been rebuilt.

One day, Joshua led the people of Israel to Mount Ebal, where he told some of his men, "Build an altar for offering sacrifices to the Lord . And use stones that have never been cut with iron tools, because that is what Moses taught in The Book of the Law." Joshua offered sacrifices to please the Lord and to ask his blessing. Then with the Israelites still watching, he copied parts of The Book of the Law of Moses onto stones.

Joshua told some of his soldiers, "I want to meet with the Gibeonite leaders. Bring them here." When the Gibeonites came, Joshua said, "You live close to us. Why did you lie by claiming you lived far away?

The Gibeonites answered, "The Lord your God told his servant Moses that you were to kill everyone who lives here and take their land for yourselves. We were afraid you would kill us, and so we tricked you into making a peace treaty. But we agreed to be your servants,

This frightened Adonizedek and his people. They knew that Gibeon was a large town, as big as the towns that had kings, and even bigger than the town of Ai had been. And all of the men of Gibeon were warriors.

Joshua and his army, including his best warriors, left Gilgal.

Joshua told his soldiers, "Now, move the rocks from the entrance to the cave and bring those five kings to me."

After Joshua had called the army together, he forced the five kings to lie down on the ground. Then he called his officers forward and told them, "You fought these kings along with me, so put your feet on their necks." The officers did,

Joshua killed the five kings and told his men to hang each body on a tree. Then at sunset

he told some of his troops, "Take the bodies down and throw them into the cave where the kings were found. Cover the entrance to the cave with big rocks." Joshua's troops obeyed his orders, and those rocks are still there.

Joshua and his army left Makkedah and attacked the town of Libnah.

Joshua then led his army to Lachish, and they set up camp around the town. They attacked,

King Horam of Gezer arrived to help Lachish, but Joshua and his troops attacked and destroyed him and his army.

From Lachish, Joshua took his troops to Eglon, where they set up camp surrounding the town. They attacked,

Joshua and his army left Eglon and attacked Hebron.

Joshua and his army made a surprise attack against the enemy camp at Merom Pond

Up to this time, the king of Hazor had controlled the kingdoms that had joined together to attack Israel, so Joshua led his army back and captured Hazor. They killed its king