Achan’s Sin

7 But the Israelites did not obey God. There was a man from the tribe of Judah named Achan son of Carmi, grandson of Zimri, great-grandson of Zerah. Achan kept some of the things that should have been destroyed. So the Lord became very angry with the Israelites.

² After they defeated Jericho, Joshua sent some men to Ai.^[a] Ai was near Beth Aven, east of Bethel. He told them, “Go to Ai and look for weaknesses in that area.” So the men went to spy on that land.

³ Later, the men came back to Joshua. They said, “Ai is a weak area. We will not need all of our people to defeat them. Send 2000 or 3000 men to fight there. There is no need to use the whole army. There are only a few men there to fight against us.”

^4-5 So about 3000 men went to Ai, but the people of Ai killed about 36 men of Israel. And the Israelites ran away. The people of Ai chased them from the city gates all the way to the quarries.^[b] The people of Ai beat them badly.

When the people from Israel saw this, they became very frightened and lost their courage. ⁶ When Joshua heard about this, he tore his clothes to show his sadness. He bowed down to the ground before the Holy Box and stayed there until evening. The leaders of Israel did the same thing. They also threw dirt on their heads to show their sadness.

⁷ Joshua said, “Lord God, you brought our people across the Jordan River. Why did you bring us this far and then allow the Amorites to destroy us? We should have been satisfied and stayed on the other side of the Jordan River. ⁸ I promise by my life, Lord! There is nothing I can say now. Israel has surrendered to the enemy. ⁹ The Canaanites and all the other people in this country will hear about what happened. Then they will attack us and kill all of us! Then what will you do to protect your great name?”

¹⁰ The Lord said to Joshua, “Why are you down there with your face on the ground? Stand up! ¹¹ The Israelites sinned against me. They have broken the agreement that I commanded them to obey. They took some of the things that I commanded them to destroy. They have stolen from me. They have lied. They have taken those things for themselves. ¹² That is why the army of Israel turned and ran away from the fight. They did that because they have done wrong. They should be destroyed. I will not continue to help you or be with you unless you destroy everything I commanded you to destroy.

¹³ “Now go and make the people pure. Tell them, ‘Make yourselves pure. Prepare for tomorrow. The Lord, the God of Israel, says that some people are keeping things that he commanded to be destroyed. You will never be able to defeat your enemies until you throw away those things.

¹⁴ “Tomorrow morning you must all stand before the Lord. All the tribes will stand before the Lord, and he will choose one tribe. Only that tribe will stand before him. Then the Lord will choose one family group from that tribe. Only that family group must stand before him. Then he will look at each family in that family group, and the Lord will choose one family. Then he will look at each man in that family. ¹⁵ The man who is keeping those things that we should have destroyed will be caught. Then he will be destroyed by fire, and everything that he owns will be destroyed with him. He broke the agreement with the Lord. He has done a very bad thing to the Israelites!”

¹⁶ Early the next morning, Joshua led out all the Israelites. Each tribe came forward to stand before the Lord, and he chose the tribe of Judah. ¹⁷ So then all the family groups of Judah stood before the Lord, and he chose the Zerah family group. Then all the families of the Zerah group stood before the Lord, and he chose the family of Zimri. ¹⁸ Then Joshua told all the men in that family to come before the Lord. He chose Achan the son of Carmi. (Carmi was the son of Zimri. And Zimri was the son of Zerah.)

¹⁹ Then Joshua said to Achan, “Son, you must honor the Lord, the God of Israel. Praise him and confess your sins to him. Tell me what you did, and don’t try to hide anything from me.”

²⁰ Achan answered, “It is true! I sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I did: ²¹ In Jericho, I saw a beautiful coat from Babylonia,^[c] about 5 pounds^[d] of silver, and about a pound^[e] of gold. I wanted these things for myself, so I took them. You will find them buried in the ground under my tent. The silver is under the coat.”

²² So Joshua sent some men to the tent. They ran to the tent and found the things hidden there. The silver was under the coat. ²³ The men brought the things out of the tent and took them to Joshua and all the Israelites. They threw them on the ground before the Lord.

²⁴ Then Joshua and all the people led Achan son of Zerah to the Valley of Achor. They also took the silver, the coat, the gold, Achan’s sons and daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and everything he owned. They took all these things to the Valley of Achor with Achan. ²⁵ Then Joshua said, “You caused much trouble for us, but now the Lord will bring trouble to you.” Then all the people threw stones at Achan and his family until they died. Then the people burned them and everything he owned. ²⁶ After they burned Achan, they put many rocks over his body. The rocks are still there today. That is why it is called the Valley of Achor.^[f] After this the Lord was not angry with the people.

Ai Destroyed

8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid; don’t give up. Lead all your fighting men to Ai.^[g] I will help you defeat the king of Ai. I am giving you his people, his city, and his land. ² You will do to Ai and its king the same thing you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you can take all the wealth and animals and keep it for yourselves. You will share the wealth with your people. Now, tell some of your soldiers to hide behind the city.”

³ So Joshua led his whole army toward Ai. Then Joshua chose 30,000 of his best fighting men and sent them out at night. ⁴ Joshua gave them this command: “Listen carefully to what I tell you. You must hide in the area behind the city. Wait for the time to attack. Don’t go far from the city. Continue to watch and be ready. ⁵ I will lead the men with me; we will march toward the city. The men in the city will come out to fight against us. We will turn and run away from them as we did before. ⁶ These men will chase us away from the city, so we will run away. They will think that we are running away from them as we did before. ⁷ Then you should come out of your hiding place and take control of the city. The Lord your God will give you the power to win.

⁸ “You must do what the Lord says. Watch me and I will give you the command to attack the city. When you have taken control of the city, burn it.”

⁹ Then Joshua sent them to their hiding place and waited. They went to a place west of Ai, between Bethel and Ai. But Joshua stayed the night with his people.

¹⁰ Early the next morning Joshua gathered the men together. Then Joshua and the leaders of Israel led the men to Ai. ¹¹ All the soldiers who were with Joshua marched to Ai. They stopped in front of the city. The army made its camp north of the city. There was a valley between the army and Ai.

¹² Then Joshua chose about 5000 men. He sent these men to hide in the area west of the city, between Bethel and Ai. ¹³ So Joshua had prepared his men for the fight. The main camp was north of the city. The other men were hiding to the west. That night Joshua went down into the valley.

¹⁴ Later, the king of Ai saw the army of Israel. The king and his people hurried out to fight the army of Israel. The king of Ai went out the east side of the city toward the Jordan Valley, so he did not see the soldiers hiding behind the city.

¹⁵ Joshua and all the men of Israel let the army of Ai push them back. Joshua and his men began running east toward the desert. ¹⁶ The people in the city began to shout and started to chase them. All the people left the city. ¹⁷ All the men of Ai and Bethel chased the army of Israel. The city was left open—no one stayed to protect the city.

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold your spear toward the city of Ai, because I will give you that city.” So Joshua held his spear toward the city of Ai. ¹⁹ When the Israelites who were hiding saw this, they quickly came out from their hiding place and hurried toward the city. They entered the city and took control of it. Then the soldiers started fires to burn the city.

²⁰ The men from Ai looked back and saw their city burning. When they saw the smoke rising into the sky, they lost their strength and courage. They stopped chasing the men of Israel. The Israelites stopped running away. They turned and went to fight the men from Ai. There was no safe place for the men from Ai to run to. ²¹ When Joshua and his men saw that his army had taken control of the city and that smoke was rising from it, they stopped running away and turned to fight the men of Ai. ²² Then the men who were hiding came out of the city to help with the fight. The army of Israel was on both sides of the men of Ai—the men of Ai were trapped. Israel defeated them. They fought until none of the men from Ai were left alive—none of the enemy escaped. ²³ But the king of Ai was left alive. Joshua’s men brought him to Joshua.

A Review of the Fighting

²⁴ During the fighting, the army of Israel chased the men from Ai into the fields and into the desert. So the army of Israel finished killing all the men from Ai in the fields and in the desert. Then the Israelites went back to Ai and killed all the people who were still alive in the city. ²⁵ All the people of Ai died that day; there were 12,000 men and women. ²⁶ Joshua had held his spear toward Ai as a sign to his people to destroy the city. And he did not stop until all the people of Ai were destroyed. ²⁷ The Israelites kept the animals and other things from the city for themselves. This is what the Lord said they could do when he gave Joshua the commands.

²⁸ Then Joshua burned the city of Ai. That city became an empty pile of rocks. It is still like that today. ²⁹ Joshua hanged the king of Ai on a tree and left him hanging there until evening. At sunset Joshua told his men to take the king’s body down from the tree. They threw his body down at the city gate. Then they covered the body with many rocks. That pile of rocks is still there today.

Reading the Blessings and Curses

³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar for the Lord, the God of Israel. He built the altar on Mount Ebal. ³¹ The Lord’s servant Moses told the Israelites how to build altars. So Joshua built the altar the way it was explained in the Book of the Law^[h] of Moses. The altar was made from stones that were not cut. No tool had ever been used on those stones. They offered burnt offerings to the Lord on that altar. They also gave fellowship offerings.

³² There Joshua copied onto the stones the law Moses had written down. This was for all the people of Israel to see. ³³ The elders, officers, judges, and all the Israelites were standing around the Box of the Lord’s Agreement. They were standing in front of the priests, the Levites who carried the Holy Box. The Israelites and the other people with them were all standing there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Ebal and the other half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim. The Lord’s servant Moses had told the people to do this. He told them to do this to be blessed.

³⁴ Then Joshua read all the words from the law. He read the blessings and the curses. He read everything the way it was written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵ All the Israelites were gathered together there. All the women and children and all the foreigners who lived with the Israelites were there. And Joshua read every command that Moses had given.

The Gibeonites Trick Joshua

9 All the kings west of the Jordan River heard about these things. They were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. They lived in the hill country and in the plains. They also lived along the seacoast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon. ² All these kings came together and made plans to fight against Joshua and the Israelites.

³ The people from the city of Gibeon heard about the way Joshua had defeated Jericho and Ai. ⁴ So they decided to try to trick the Israelites. This was their plan: They gathered together old wineskins that were cracked and broken. They put these old wineskins on the backs of their animals. They put old pieces of cloth on their animals to look as if they had traveled from far away. ⁵ The men put old sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. They found some old bread that was dry and moldy. ⁶ Then they went to the camp of the Israelites. This camp was near Gilgal.

The men went to Joshua and said to him, “We have traveled from a faraway country. We want to make a peace agreement with you.”

⁷ The men of Israel said to these Hivite men, “Maybe you are trying to trick us. Maybe you live near us. We cannot make a peace agreement with you until we know where you are from.”

⁸ The Hivite men said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”

But Joshua asked, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”

⁹ The men answered, “We are your servants. We have come from a faraway country. We came because we heard of the great power of the Lord your God. We heard about what he has done and about everything he did in Egypt. ¹⁰ And we heard that he defeated the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan River. This was King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan in the land of Ashtaroth. ¹¹ So our elders and our people said to us, ‘Take enough food for your journey. Go and meet with the Israelites.’ Tell them, ‘We are your servants. Make a peace agreement with us.’

¹² “Look at our bread. When we left home, it was warm and fresh. But now you can see that it is dry and old. ¹³ Look at our wineskins. When we left home, they were new and filled with wine. But now you can see that they are cracked and old. Look at our clothes and sandals. You can see that the long journey has almost destroyed the things we wear.”

¹⁴ The men of Israel wanted to know if these men were telling the truth. So they tasted the bread—but they did not ask the Lord what they should do. ¹⁵ Joshua agreed to make peace with them. He agreed to let them live. The leaders of Israel agreed with this promise of Joshua.

¹⁶ Three days later the Israelites learned that these men lived very near their camp. ¹⁷ So the Israelites went to the place where they lived. On the third day the Israelites came to the cities of Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. ¹⁸ But the army of Israel did not try to fight against those cities. They had made a peace agreement with them. They had made a promise to them before the Lord, the God of Israel.

All the people complained against the leaders who made the agreement. ¹⁹ But the leaders answered, “We have given our promise. We promised before the Lord, the God of Israel. We cannot fight against them now. ²⁰ This is what we must do. We must let them live. We cannot hurt them or God will be angry with us because we broke the promise we made to them. ²¹ So let them live, but they will be our servants. They will cut wood for us and carry water for all our people.” So the leaders did not break their promise of peace to them.

²² Joshua called the Gibeonites together. He said, “Why did you lie to us? Your land was near our camp. But you told us you were from a faraway country. ²³ Now, your people will have many troubles. All of your people will be slaves—they will have to cut wood and carry water for the house of God.^[i]”

²⁴ The Gibeonites answered, “We lied to you because we were afraid you would kill us. We heard that God commanded his servant Moses to give you all this land. And God told you to kill all the people who lived in this land. That is why we lied to you. ²⁵ Now we are your servants. You can do whatever you think is right.”

²⁶ So the Gibeonites became slaves, but Joshua let them live. He did not allow the Israelites to kill them. ²⁷ He made them slaves of the Israelites. They cut wood and carried water for the Israelites and for the altar of the Lord—wherever the Lord chose it to be. They are still slaves today.