Study Desk

Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten in front of them. And they ran away into the desert.

All the people in the city were called together to go after them. They went after Joshua, and were taken away from the city.

So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel. They left the city open and ran after Israel.

The men who were hiding got up in a hurry from their place and ran when he held out his hand. They went into the city and took it, and were quick to set it on fire.

Joshua and all Israel saw that the men who had been hiding had taken the city. They saw the smoke from the city, so they turned around and killed the men of Ai.

The others came out from the city to meet them. The men of Ai were caught in the center of Israel. There were some on one side and some on the other side. They killed until no one was left alive. No one got away.

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

Israel killed all the men of Ai in the field and in the desert where they had run after them. All of them were killed with the sword until they were destroyed. Then all Israel returned to Ai and destroyed it with the sword.

He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. When the sun went down, Joshua had them take his body down from the tree and throw it down at the gate of the city. They put many stones over it, and they are there to this day.

It was built just as the Lord's servant Moses had told the people of Israel, as it is written in the book of the Law of Moses. It was an altar made of stones which had not been cut. No one had used an iron object on them. On the altar they gave burnt gifts in worship to the Lord. And there they gave peace gifts in worship.

All Israel stood on both sides of the special box, in front of the Levite religious leaders who carried the special box of the agreement of the Lord. Strangers stood there as well as those born among the people, with their leaders and heads and men who judge between what is right or wrong. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim. The other half stood in front of Mount Ebal. They did just as the Lord's servant Moses had told them before. They prayed for good to come to the people of Israel.

They gathered together as one to fight against Joshua and Israel.

So they went out to fool him, as men from another land. They took old bags on their donkeys, and skin bags of wine that were old and torn and mended.

They wore old and mended shoes on their feet, and old clothes on themselves. All their bread was dry and broken.

They went to Joshua among the tents at Gilgal. And they said to him and the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country. Now make an agreement with us."

They said to him, "Your servants have come from a very far country because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard about Him and all He did in Egypt.

These skin bags that we filled with wine were new. Now look, they are torn. And our clothes and shoes have become old because of the very long way we had to travel."

And the leaders said to them, "Let them live." So they cut wood and brought water for all the people, as the leaders had told them.

They answered Joshua, "Because it was told to your servants that the Lord your God had told His servant Moses to give you all the land and kill all the people of the land in front of you. We were very much afraid for our lives because of you. That is why we have done this thing.

So the five kings of the Amorites, the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon, gathered together with all their armies. And they went and set up their tents by Gibeon, to fight against it.