Day 59 of 365

¹It happened, when all the nation had completely passed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

²"Take twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,

³and command them, saying, 'Take from out of the middle of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging place, where you will lodge tonight.'"

⁴Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man.

⁵Joshua said to them, "Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you pick up a stone and put it on your shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel;

⁶that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do you mean by these stones?'

⁷then you shall tell them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.'"

⁸The children of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, as the Lord spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.

⁹Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

¹⁰For the priests who bore the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan, until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and passed over.

¹¹It happened, when all the people had completely passed over, that the ark of the Lord passed over, with the priests, in the presence of the people.

¹²The children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses spoke to them.

¹³About forty thousand men, ready and armed for war passed over before the Lord to battle, to the plains of Jericho.

¹⁴On that day, the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.

¹⁵The Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

¹⁶"Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan."

¹⁷Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up out of the Jordan!"

¹⁸It happened, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord had come up out of the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as before.

¹⁹The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho.

²⁰Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal.

²¹He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean?'

²²Then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

²³For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until you had passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had passed over;

²⁴that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty; that you may fear the Lord your God forever.'"

¹It happened, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we had passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.

²At that time, the Lord said to Joshua, "Make flint knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time."

³Joshua made himself flint knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the Hill of the Foreskins.

⁴This is the reason Joshua circumcised: all the people who came out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.

⁵For all the people who came out were circumcised; but all the people who were born in the wilderness by the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised.

⁶For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord. The Lord swore to them that he wouldn't let them see the land which the Lord swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁷Their children, whom he raised up in their place, were circumcised by Joshua; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them on the way.

⁸It happened, when they were done circumcising all the nation, that they stayed in their places in the camp until they were healed.

⁹The Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you." Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, to this day.

¹⁰The children of Israel encamped in Gilgal. They kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.

¹¹They ate unleavened cakes and parched grain of the produce of the land on the next day after the Passover, in the same day.

¹²The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The children of Israel did not have manna any more; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

¹³It happened, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him, and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?"

¹⁴He said, "No; but I have come now as captain of the Lord's host." Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshipped, and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?"

¹⁵The captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, "Take your shoes off of your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy." Joshua did so.

¹Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.

²The Lord said to Joshua, "Behold, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty men of valor.

³All your men of war shall march around the city, going around the city once. You shall do this six days.

⁴Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

⁵It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him."

⁶Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord."

⁷They said to the people, "Advance! March around the city, and let the armed men pass on before the Lord's ark."

⁸It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Lord advanced, and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.

⁹The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the ark went after them. The trumpets sounded as they went.

¹⁰Joshua commanded the people, saying, "You shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout."

¹¹So he caused the ark of the Lord to go around the city, going about it once. Then they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.

¹²Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.

¹³The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew the trumpets: and the armed men went before them. The rear guard came after the ark of the Lord. The trumpets sounded as they went.

¹⁴The second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. They did this six days.

¹⁵It happened on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times.

¹⁶It happened at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city!

¹⁷The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

¹⁸But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so would you make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it.

¹⁹But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy to the Lord. They shall come into the Lord's treasury."

²⁰So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. It happened, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

²¹They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

²²Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house, and bring out from there the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her."

²³The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.

²⁴They burnt the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron into the treasury of the Lord's house.

²⁵But Rahab the prostitute, her father's household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lived in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

²⁶Joshua commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, "Cursed be the man before the Lord, who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up its gates."

²⁷So the Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.

¹But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. Therefore the Lord's anger burned against the children of Israel.

²Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, "Go up and spy out the land." The men went up and spied out Ai.

³They returned to Joshua, and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Do not make all the people to toil there, for there are only a few of them."

⁴So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai.

⁵The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them, and they chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like water.

⁶Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.

⁷Joshua said, "Alas, Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan!

⁸Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel has turned their backs before their enemies!

⁹For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?"

¹⁰The Lord said to Joshua, "Get up! Why are you fallen on your face like that?

¹¹Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken of the devoted things, and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff.

¹²Therefore the children of Israel can't stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

¹³Get up! Sanctify the people, and say, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for the Lord, the God of Israel, says, "There is a devoted thing in the midst of you, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you."

¹⁴In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. It shall be that the tribe which the Lord selects shall come near by families. The family which the Lord selects shall come near by households. The household which the Lord selects shall come near man by man.

¹⁵It shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.'"

¹⁶So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes. The tribe of Judah was selected.

¹⁷He brought near the family of Judah; and he selected the family of the Zerahites. He brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was selected.

¹⁸He brought near his household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.

¹⁹Joshua said to Achan, "My son, please give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done! Do not hide it from me!"

²⁰Achan answered Joshua, and said, "I have truly sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I have done.

²¹When I saw among the spoil a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it."

²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. Behold, it was hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.

²³They took them from the middle of the tent, and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel. They laid them down before the Lord.

²⁴Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.

²⁵Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day." All Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.

²⁶They raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. The Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called "The valley of Achor" to this day.