【Holy Bible】Message Josha

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 Joshua

Introduction

Land. Land flowing with milk and honey. Promised land. Holy land. Canaan land. The land. Joshua, Moses' successor as leader of Israel, was poised at the River Jordan to enter and take possession of Canaan, an unremarkable stretch of territory sandwiched between massive and already ancient civilizations. It would have been unimaginable to anyone at the time that anything of significance could take place on that land. This narrow patch had never been significant economically or culturally, but only as a land bridge between the two great cultures and economies of Egypt and Mesopotamia. But it was about to become important in the religious consciousness of humankind. In significant ways, this land would come to dwarf everything that had gone on before and around it.

The People of Israel had been landless for nearly five hundred years. The "fathers"—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons—had been nomads in the land of Canaan. That was followed by a long period of slavery in Egypt (over 400 years!), a miraculous deliverance into freedom led by Moses, and then forty years of testing and training for living as a free people under God's guidance and blessing.

The company camped at the Jordan on the day that opens the Book of Joshua had nearly half a millennium of slavery behind them. They were a dispossessed, ragtag crew—and only very recently set free. The transition from being landless slaves to landholding free men and women was huge. Joshua leads the transition, first in taking the land (chapters 1 through 12), then in distributing it among the twelve tribes (chapters 13 through 22), and concluding with a solemn covenant-witness (chapters 23 through 24) that bound the people to the gift of land and the worship of the God from whom they received it.

For most modern readers of Joshua, the toughest barrier to embracing this story as sacred is the military strategy of "holy war," what I have translated as the "holy curse"—killing everyone in the conquered cities and totally destroying all the plunder, both animals and goods. Massacre and destruction. "No survivors" is the recurrent refrain. We look back from our time in history and think, "How horrible." But if we were able to put ourselves back in the thirteenth century b.c., we might see it differently, for that Canaanite culture was a snake pit of child sacrifice and sacred prostitution, practices ruthlessly devoted to using the most innocent and vulnerable members of the community (babies and virgins) to manipulate God or gods for gain.

As the Book of Joshua takes the story of salvation forward from the leadership and teaching of Moses, it continues to keep us grounded in places and connected to persons: place names, personal names—hundreds of them. What we often consider to be the subjects of religion—ideas, truths, prayers, promises, beliefs—are never permitted to have a life of their own apart from particular persons and actual places. Biblical religion has a low tolerance for "great ideas" or "sublime truths" or "inspirational thoughts" apart from the people and places in which they occur. God's great love and purposes for us are worked out in the messes, storms and sins, blue skies, daily work, and dreams of our common lives, working with us as we are and not as we should be.

People who want God as an escape from reality, from the often hard conditions of this life, don't find this much to their liking. But to the man or woman wanting more reality, not less—this continuation of the salvation story—Joshua's fierce and devout determination to win land for his people and his extraordinary attention to getting all the tribes and their families name by name assigned to their own place, is good news indeed. Joshua lays a firm foundation for a life that is grounded.

(MSG)

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Chapter 1

1 After the death of Moses the servant of God, God spoke to Joshua, Moses' assistant: 2 "Moses my servant is dead. Get going. Cross this Jordan River, you and all the people. Cross to the country I'm giving to the People of Israel. 3 I'm giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on—just as I promised Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon east to the Great River, the Euphrates River—all the Hittite country—and then west to the Great Sea. It's all yours. 5 All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I'll be with you. I won't give up on you; I won't leave you. 6 Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. 7 Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don't get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you're going. 8 And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed. 9 Haven't I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don't be timid; don't get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take."

The Taking of the Land

10 Then Joshua gave orders to the people's leaders: 11 "Go through the camp and give this order to the people: 'Pack your bags. In three days you will cross this Jordan River to enter and take the land God, your God, is giving you to possess.' " 12 Then Joshua addressed the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He said, 13 "Remember what Moses the servant of God commanded you: God, your God, gives you rest and he gives you this land. 14 Your wives, your children, and your livestock can stay here east of the Jordan, the country Moses gave you; but you, tough soldiers all, must cross the River in battle formation, leading your brothers, helping them 15 until God, your God, gives your brothers a place of rest just as he has done for you. They also will take possession of the land that God, your God, is giving them. Then you will be free to return to your possession, given to you by Moses the servant of God, across the Jordan to the east." 16 They answered Joshua: "Everything you commanded us, we'll do. Wherever you send us, we'll go. 17 We obeyed Moses to the letter; we'll also obey you—we just pray that God, your God, will be with you as he was with Moses. 18 Anyone who questions what you say and refuses to obey whatever you command him will be put to death. Strength! Courage!"

Josh 1:1-18 (MSG)

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Chapter 2

Rahab

1 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out from Shittim two men as spies: "Go. Look over the land. Check out Jericho." They left and arrived at the house of a harlot named Rahab and stayed there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, "We've just learned that men arrived tonight to spy out the land. They're from the People of Israel." 3 The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you to stay the night in your house. They're spies; they've come to spy out the whole country." 4 The woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, two men did come to me, but I didn't know where they'd come from. 5 At dark, when the gate was about to be shut, the men left. But I have no idea where they went. Hurry up! Chase them—you can still catch them!" 6 (She had actually taken them up on the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax that were spread out for her on the roof.) 7 So the men set chase down the Jordan road toward the fords. As soon as they were gone, the gate was shut. 8 Before the spies were down for the night, the woman came up to them on the roof 9 and said, "I know that God has given you the land. We're all afraid. Everyone in the country feels hopeless. 10 We heard how God dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt, and what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you put under a holy curse and destroyed. 11 We heard it and our hearts sank. We all had the wind knocked out of us. And all because of you, you and God, your God, God of the heavens above and God of the earth below. 12 "Now promise me by God. I showed you mercy; now show my family mercy. And give me some tangible proof, a guarantee 13 of life for my father and mother, my brothers and sisters—everyone connected with my family. Save our souls from death!" 14 "Our lives for yours!" said the men. "But don't tell anyone our business. When God turns this land over to us, we'll do right by you in loyal mercy." 15 She lowered them down out a window with a rope because her house was on the city wall to the outside. 16 She told them, "Run for the hills so your pursuers won't find you. Hide out for three days and give your pursuers time to return. Then get on your way." 17 The men told her, "In order to keep this oath you made us swear, 18 here is what you must do: Hang this red rope out the window through which you let us down and gather your entire family with you in your house—father, mother, brothers, and sisters. 19 Anyone who goes out the doors of your house into the street and is killed, it's his own fault—we aren't responsible. But for everyone within the house we take full responsibility. If anyone lays a hand on one of them, it's our fault. 20 But if you tell anyone of our business here, the oath you made us swear is canceled—we're no longer responsible." 21 She said, "If that's what you say, that's the way it is," and sent them off. They left and she hung the red rope out the window. 22 They headed for the hills and stayed there for three days until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers had looked high and low but found nothing. 23 The men headed back. They came down out of the hills, crossed the river, and returned to Joshua son of Nun and reported all their experiences. 24 They told Joshua, "Yes! God has given the whole country to us. Everybody there is in a state of panic because of us."

Josh 2:1-24 (MSG)

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Chapter 3

The Jordan

1 Joshua was up early and on his way from Shittim with all the People of Israel with him. He arrived at the Jordan and camped before crossing over. 2 After three days, leaders went through the camp 3 and gave out orders to the people: "When you see the Covenant-Chest of God, your God, carried by the Levitical priests, start moving. Follow it. 4 Make sure you keep a proper distance between you and it, about half a mile—be sure now to keep your distance!—and you'll see clearly the route to take. You've never been on this road before." 5 Then Joshua addressed the people: "Sanctify yourselves. Tomorrow God will work miracle-wonders among you." 6 Joshua instructed the priests, "Take up the Chest of the Covenant and step out before the people." So they took it up and processed before the people. 7 God said to Joshua, "This very day I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel. They'll see for themselves that I'm with you in the same way that I was with Moses. 8 You will command the priests who are carrying the Chest of the Covenant: 'When you come to the edge of the Jordan's waters, stand there on the river bank.' " 9 Then Joshua addressed the People of Israel: "Attention! Listen to what God, your God, has to say. 10 This is how you'll know that God is alive among you—he will completely dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. 11 Look at what's before you: the Chest of the Covenant. Think of it—the Master of the entire earth is crossing the Jordan as you watch. 12 Now take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. 13 When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the Chest of God, Master of all the earth, touch the Jordan's water, the flow of water will be stopped—the water coming from upstream will pile up in a heap." 14 And that's what happened. The people left their tents to cross the Jordan, led by the priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant. 15 When the priests got to the Jordan and their feet touched the water at the edge (the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest), 16 the flow of water stopped. It piled up in a heap—a long way off—at Adam, which is near Zarethan. The river went dry all the way down to the Arabah Sea (the Salt Sea). And the people crossed, facing Jericho. 17 And there they stood; those priests carrying the Chest of the Covenant stood firmly planted on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground. Finally the whole nation was across the Jordan, and not one wet foot.

Josh 3:1-17 (MSG)

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Chapter 4

1 When the whole nation was finally across, God spoke to Joshua: 2 "Select twelve men from the people, a man from each tribe, 3 and tell them, 'From right here, the middle of the Jordan where the feet of the priests are standing firm, take twelve stones. Carry them across with you and set them down in the place where you camp tonight.' " 4 Joshua called out the twelve men whom he selected from the People of Israel, one man from each tribe. 5 Joshua directed them, "Cross to the middle of the Jordan and take your place in front of the Chest of God, your God. Each of you heft a stone to your shoulder, a stone for each of the tribes of the People of Israel, 6 so you'll have something later to mark the occasion. When your children ask you, 'What are these stones to you?' 7 you'll say, 'The flow of the Jordan was stopped in front of the Chest of the Covenant of God as it crossed the Jordan—stopped in its tracks. These stones are a permanent memorial for the People of Israel.' " 8 The People of Israel did exactly as Joshua commanded: They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan—a stone for each of the twelve tribes, just as God had instructed Joshua—carried them across with them to the camp, and set them down there. 9 Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the middle of the Jordan that had marked the place where the priests who carried the Chest of the Covenant had stood. They are still there today. 10 The priests carrying the Chest continued standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything God had instructed Joshua to tell the people to do was done (confirming what Moses had instructed Joshua). The people crossed; no one dawdled. 11 When the crossing of all the people was complete, they watched as the Chest of the Covenant and the priests crossed over. 12 The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had crossed over in battle formation in front of the People of Israel, obedient to Moses' instructions. 13 All told, about 40,000 armed soldiers crossed over before God to the plains of Jericho, ready for battle. 14 God made Joshua great that day in the sight of all Israel. They were in awe of him just as they had been in awe of Moses all his life.
15 God told Joshua, 16 "Command the priests carrying the Chest of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan." 17 Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan." 18 They did it. The priests carrying God's Chest of the Covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan. As soon as the soles of the priests' feet touched dry land, the Jordan's waters resumed their flow within the banks, just as before. 19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month. They set up camp at The Gilgal (The Circle) to the east of Jericho. 20 Joshua erected a monument at The Gilgal, using the twelve stones that they had taken from the Jordan. 21 And then he told the People of Israel, "In the days to come, when your children ask their fathers, 'What are these stones doing here?' 22 tell your children this: 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry ground.' 23 "Yes, God, your God, dried up the Jordan's waters for you until you had crossed, just as God, your God, did at the Red Sea, which had dried up before us until we had crossed. 24 This was so that everybody on earth would recognize how strong God's rescuing hand is and so that you would hold God in solemn reverence always."

Josh 4:1-24 (MSG)

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Chapter 5

1 When all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how God had stopped the Jordan River before the People of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts sank; the courage drained out of them just thinking about the People of Israel. 2 At that time God said to Joshua, "Make stone knives and circumcise the People of Israel a second time." 3 So Joshua made stone knives and circumcised the People of Israel at Foreskins Hill. 4 This is why Joshua conducted the circumcision. All the males who had left Egypt, the soldiers, had died in the wilderness on the journey out of Egypt. 5 All the people who had come out of Egypt, of course, had been circumcised, but all those born in the wilderness along the way since leaving Egypt had not been. 6 The fact is that the People of Israel had walked through that wilderness for forty years until the entire nation died out, all the men of military age who had come out of Egypt but had disobeyed the call of God. God vowed that these would never lay eyes on the land God had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 But their children had replaced them. These are the ones Joshua circumcised. They had never been circumcised; no one had circumcised them along the way. 8 When they had completed the circumcising of the whole nation, they stayed where they were in camp until they were healed. 9 God said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt." That's why the place is called The Gilgal. It's still called that.
10 The People of Israel continued to camp at The Gilgal. They celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the plains of Jericho. 11 Right away, the day after the Passover, they started eating the produce of that country, unraised bread and roasted grain. 12 And then no more manna; the manna stopped. As soon as they started eating food grown in the land, there was no more manna for the People of Israel. That year they ate from the crops of Canaan.
13 And then this, while Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, "Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies'?" 14 He said, "Neither. I'm commander of God's army. I've just arrived." Joshua fell, face to the ground, and worshiped. He asked, "What orders does my Master have for his servant?" 15 God's army commander ordered Joshua, "Take your sandals off your feet. The place you are standing is holy." Joshua did it.

Josh 5:1-15 (MSG)

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Chapter 6

Jericho

1 Jericho was shut up tight as a drum because of the People of Israel: no one going in, no one coming out. 2 God spoke to Joshua, "Look sharp now. I've already given Jericho to you, along with its king and its crack troops. 3 Here's what you are to do: March around the city, all your soldiers. Circle the city once. Repeat this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry seven ram's horn trumpets in front of the Chest. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, the priests blowing away on the trumpets. 5 And then, a long blast on the ram's horn—when you hear that, all the people are to shout at the top of their lungs. The city wall will collapse at once. All the people are to enter, every man straight on in." 6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and told them, "Take up the Chest of the Covenant. Seven priests are to carry seven ram's horn trumpets leading God's Chest." 7 Then he told the people, "Set out! March around the city. Have the armed guard march before the Chest of God." 8 And it happened. Joshua spoke, the people moved: Seven priests with their seven ram's horn trumpets set out before God. They blew the trumpets, leading God's Chest of the Covenant. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the trumpet-blowing priests; the rear guard was marching after the Chest, marching and blowing their trumpets. 10 Joshua had given orders to the people, "Don't shout. In fact, don't even speak—not so much as a whisper until you hear me say, 'Shout!'—then shout away!" 11 He sent the Chest of God on its way around the city. It circled once, came back to camp, and stayed for the night. 12 Joshua was up early the next morning and the priests took up the Chest of God. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven ram's horn trumpets marched before the Chest of God, marching and blowing the trumpets, with the armed guard marching before and the rear guard marching after. Marching and blowing of trumpets! 14 On the second day they again circled the city once and returned to camp. They did this six days. 15 When the seventh day came, they got up early and marched around the city this same way but seven times—yes, this day they circled the city seven times. 16 On the seventh time around the priests blew the trumpets and Joshua signaled the people, "Shout!—God has given you the city! 17 The city and everything in it is under a holy curse and offered up to God. "Except for Rahab the harlot—she is to live, she and everyone in her house with her, because she hid the agents we sent. 18 "As for you, watch yourselves in the city under holy curse. Be careful that you don't covet anything in it and take something that's cursed, endangering the camp of Israel with the curse and making trouble for everyone. 19 All silver and gold, all vessels of bronze and iron are holy to God. Put them in God's treasury." 20 The priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the blast of the trumpets, they gave a thunderclap shout. The wall fell at once. The people rushed straight into the city and took it. 21 They put everything in the city under the holy curse, killing man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey. 22 Joshua ordered the two men who had spied out the land, "Enter the house of the harlot and rescue the woman and everyone connected with her, just as you promised her." 23 So the young spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, and brothers—everyone connected with her. They got the whole family out and gave them a place outside the camp of Israel. 24 But they burned down the city and everything in it, except for the gold and silver and the bronze and iron vessels—all that they put in the treasury of God's house. 25 But Joshua let Rahab the harlot live—Rahab and her father's household and everyone connected to her. She is still alive and well in Israel because she hid the agents whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 26 Joshua swore a solemn oath at that time:
Cursed before God is the man who sets out to rebuild this city Jericho. He'll pay for the foundation with his firstborn son, he'll pay for the gates with his youngest son.
27 God was with Joshua. He became famous all over the land.

Josh 6:1-27 (MSG)

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Chapter 7

Achan

1 Then the People of Israel violated the holy curse. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took some of the cursed things. God became angry with the People of Israel. 2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai (The Ruin), which is near Beth Aven just east of Bethel. He instructed them, "Go up and spy out the land." The men went up and spied out Ai. 3 They returned to Joshua and reported, "Don't bother sending a lot of people—two or three thousand men are enough to defeat Ai. Don't wear out the whole army; there aren't that many people there." 4 So three thousand men went up—and then fled in defeat before the men of Ai! 5 The men of Ai killed thirty-six—chased them from the city gate as far as The Quarries, killing them at the descent. The heart of the people sank, all spirit knocked out of them. 6 Joshua ripped his clothes and fell on his face to the ground before the Chest of God, he and the leaders throwing dirt on their heads, prostrate until evening. 7 Joshua said, "Oh, oh, oh... Master, God. Why did you insist on bringing this people across the Jordan? To make us victims of the Amorites? To wipe us out? Why didn't we just settle down on the east side of the Jordan? 8 Oh, Master, what can I say after this, after Israel has been run off by its enemies? 9 When the Canaanites and all the others living here get wind of this, they'll gang up on us and make short work of us—and then how will you keep up your reputation?" 10 God said to Joshua, "Get up. Why are you groveling? 11 Israel has sinned: They've broken the covenant I commanded them; they've taken forbidden plunder—stolen and then covered up the theft, squirreling it away with their own stuff. 12 The People of Israel can no longer look their enemies in the eye—they themselves are plunder. I can't continue with you if you don't rid yourselves of the cursed things. 13 "So get started. Purify the people. Tell them: Get ready for tomorrow by purifying yourselves. For this is what God, the God of Israel, says: There are cursed things in the camp. You won't be able to face your enemies until you have gotten rid of these cursed things. 14 "First thing in the morning you will be called up by tribes. The tribe God names will come up clan by clan; the clan God names will come up family by family; and the family God names will come up man by man. 15 The person found with the cursed things will be burned, he and everything he has, because he broke God's covenant and did this despicable thing in Israel." 16 Joshua was up at the crack of dawn and called Israel up tribe by tribe. The tribe of Judah was singled out. 17 Then he called up the clans and singled out the Zerahites. He called up the Zerahite families and singled out the Zabdi family. 18 He called up the family members one by one and singled out Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah. 19 Joshua spoke to Achan, "My son, give glory to God, the God of Israel. Make your confession to him. Tell me what you did. Don't keep back anything from me." 20 Achan answered Joshua, "It's true. I sinned against God, the God of Israel. This is how I did it. 21 In the plunder I spotted a beautiful Shinar robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a fifty-shekel bar of gold, and I coveted and took them. They are buried in my tent with the silver at the bottom." 22 Joshua sent off messengers. They ran to the tent. And there it was, buried in the tent with the silver at the bottom. 23 They took the stuff from the tent and brought it to Joshua and to all the People of Israel and spread it out before God. 24 Joshua took Achan son of Zerah, took the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his ox, donkey, sheep, and tent—everything connected with him. All Israel was there. They led them off to the Valley of Achor (Trouble Valley). 25 Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? God will now trouble you. Today!" And all Israel stoned him—burned him with fire and stoned him with stones. 26 They piled a huge pile of stones over him. It's still there. Only then did God turn from his hot anger. That's how the place came to be called Trouble Valley right up to the present time.

Josh 7:1-26 (MSG)

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Chapter 8

Ai

1 God said to Joshua, "Don't be timid and don't so much as hesitate. Take all your soldiers with you and go back to Ai. I have turned the king of Ai over to you—his people, his city, and his land. 2 "Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may plunder its stuff and cattle to your heart's content. Set an ambush behind the city." 3 Joshua and all his soldiers got ready to march on Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, tough, seasoned fighters, and sent them off at night 4 with these orders: "Look sharp now. Lie in ambush behind the city. Get as close as you can. Stay alert. 5 I and the troops with me will approach the city head-on. When they come out to meet us just as before, we'll turn and run. 6 They'll come after us, leaving the city. As we are off and running, they'll say, 'They're running away just like the first time.' 7 That's your signal to spring from your ambush and take the city. God, your God, will hand it to you on a platter. 8 Once you have the city, burn it down. God says it, you do it. Go to it. I've given you your orders." 9 Joshua sent them off. They set their ambush and waited between Bethel and Ai, just west of Ai. Joshua spent the night with the people. 10 Joshua was up early in the morning and mustered his army. He and the leaders of Israel led the troops to Ai. 11 The whole army, fighting men all, marched right up within sight of the city and set camp on the north side of Ai. There was a valley between them and Ai. 12 He had taken about five thousand men and put them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city. 13 They were all deployed, the main army to the north of the city and the ambush to the west. Joshua spent the night in the valley. 14 So it happened that when the king of Ai saw all this, the men of the city lost no time; they were out of there at the crack of dawn to join Israel in battle, the king and his troops, at a field en route to the Arabah. The king didn't know of the ambush set against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be chased; they ran toward the wilderness. 16 Everybody in the city was called to the chase. They pursued Joshua and were led away from the city. 17 There wasn't a soul left in Ai or Bethel who wasn't out there chasing after Israel. The city was left empty and undefended as they were chasing Israel down. 18 Then God spoke to Joshua: "Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai—I'm giving it to you." Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward Ai. 19 At the signal the men in ambush sprang to their feet, ran to the city, took it, and quickly had it up in flames. 20 The men of Ai looked back and, oh! saw the city going up in smoke. They found themselves trapped with nowhere to run. 21 The army on the run toward the wilderness did an about-face—Joshua and all Israel, seeing that the ambush had taken the city, saw it going up in smoke, turned and attacked the men of Ai. 22 Then the men in the ambush poured out of the city. The men of Ai were caught in the middle with Israelites on both sides—a real massacre. And not a single survivor. 23 Except for the king of Ai; they took him alive and brought him to Joshua. 24 When it was all over, Israel had killed everyone in Ai, whether in the fields or in the wilderness where they had chased them. When the killing was complete, the Israelites returned to Ai and completed the devastation. 25 The death toll that day came to 12,000 men and women—everyone in Ai. 26 Joshua didn't lower his outstretched javelin until the sacred destruction of Ai and all its people was completed. 27 Israel did get to take the livestock and loot left in the city; God's instructions to Joshua allowed for that. 28 Joshua burned Ai to the ground. A "heap" of nothing forever, a "no-place"—go see for yourself. 29 He hanged the king of Ai from a tree. At evening, with the sun going down, Joshua ordered the corpse cut down. They dumped it at the entrance to the city and piled it high with stones—you can go see that also.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the God of Israel on Mount Ebal. 31 He built it following the instructions of Moses the servant of God to the People of Israel and written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses, an altar of whole stones that hadn't been chiseled or shaped by an iron tool. On it they offered to God Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrificed Peace-Offerings. 32 He also wrote out a copy of The Revelation of Moses on the stones. He wrote it with the People of Israel looking on. 33 All Israel was there, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, standing on opposite sides of the Chest, facing the Levitical priests who carry God's Covenant Chest. Half of the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim and half with their backs to Mount Ebal to bless the People of Israel, just as Moses the servant of God had instructed earlier. 34 After that, he read out everything written in The Revelation, the Blessing and the Curse, everything in the Book of The Revelation. 35 There wasn't a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua didn't read to the entire congregation—men, women, children, and foreigners who had been with them on the journey.

Josh 8:1-35 (MSG)

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Chapter 9

Gibeon

1 All the kings west of the Jordan in the hills and foothills and along the Mediterranean seacoast north toward Lebanon—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Girgashites, and Jebusites—got the news. 2 They came together in a coalition to fight against Joshua and Israel under a single command. 3 The people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai 4 and cooked up a ruse. They posed as travelers: their donkeys loaded with patched sacks and mended wineskins, 5 threadbare sandals on their feet, tattered clothes on their bodies, nothing but dry crusts and crumbs for food. 6 They came to Joshua at Gilgal and spoke to the men of Israel, "We've come from a far-off country; make a covenant with us." 7 The men of Israel said to these Hivites, "How do we know you aren't local people? How could we then make a covenant with you?" 8 They said to Joshua, "We'll be your servants." Joshua said, "Who are you now? Where did you come from?" 9 They said, "From a far-off country, very far away. Your servants came because we'd heard such great things about God, your God—all those things he did in Egypt! 10 And the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth! 11 Our leaders and everybody else in our country told us, 'Pack up some food for the road and go meet them. Tell them, We're your servants; make a covenant with us.' 12 "This bread was warm from the oven when we packed it and left to come and see you. Now look at it—crusts and crumbs. 13 And our cracked and mended wineskins, good as new when we filled them. And our clothes and sandals, in tatters from the long, hard traveling." 14 The men of Israel looked them over and accepted the evidence. But they didn't ask God about it. 15 So Joshua made peace with them and formalized it with a covenant to guarantee their lives. The leaders of the congregation swore to it. 16 And then, three days after making this covenant, they learned that they were next-door neighbors who had been living there all along! 17 The People of Israel broke camp and set out; three days later they reached their towns—Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. 18 But the People of Israel didn't attack them; the leaders of the congregation had given their word before the God of Israel. But the congregation was up in arms over their leaders. 19 The leaders were united in their response to the congregation: "We promised them in the presence of the God of Israel. We can't lay a hand on them now. 20 But we can do this: We will let them live so we don't get blamed for breaking our promise." 21 Then the leaders continued, "We'll let them live, but they will be woodcutters and water carriers for the entire congregation." And that's what happened; the leaders' promise was kept. 22 But Joshua called the Gibeonites together and said, "Why did you lie to us, telling us, 'We live far, far away from you,' when you're our next-door neighbors? 23 For that you are cursed. From now on it's menial labor for you—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God." 24 They answered Joshua, "We got the message loud and clear that God, your God, commanded through his servant Moses: to give you the whole country and destroy everyone living in it. We were terrified because of you; that's why we did this. 25 That's it. We're at your mercy. Whatever you decide is right for us, do it." 26 And that's what they did. Joshua delivered them from the power of the People of Israel so they didn't kill them. 27 But he made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the Altar of God at the place God chooses. They still are.

Josh 9:1-27 (MSG)