Through the Bible: Judges

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJOS">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="JOS.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Ai Destroyed</div><div class="p"> 1Then the Lord said to Joshua, &#8220;Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night 4with these orders: &#8220;Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don&#8217;t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. 5I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. 6They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, &#8216;They are running away from us as they did before.&#8217; So when we flee from them, 7you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. 8When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai&#8212;but Joshua spent that night with the people.</div><div class="p"> 10Early the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai. 11The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13So the soldiers took up their positions&#8212;with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.</div><div class="p"> 14When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. 16All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. 17Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.</div><div class="p"> 18Then the Lord said to Joshua, &#8220;Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.&#8221; So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand. 19As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.</div><div class="p"> 20The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. 21For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. 22Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. 23But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.</div><div class="p"> 24When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25Twelve thousand men and women fell that day&#8212;all the people of Ai. 26For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed#8:26 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them. all who lived in Ai. 27But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.</div><div class="p"> 28So Joshua burned Ai#8:28 Ai means the ruin. and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. 29He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.</div><div class="s1">The Covenant Renewed at Mount Ebal</div><div class="p"> 30Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, 31as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses&#8212;an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. 33All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.</div><div class="p"> 34Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law&#8212;the blessings and the curses&#8212;just as it is written in the Book of the Law. 35There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJOS">
 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="JOS.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="s1">The Gibeonite Deception</div><div class="p"> 1Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things&#8212;the kings in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites)&#8212; 2they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.</div><div class="p"> 3However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded#9:4 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint) They prepared provisions and loaded their donkeys with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. 5They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. 6Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, &#8220;We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7The Israelites said to the Hivites, &#8220;But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;We are your servants,&#8221; they said to Joshua.</div><div class="p">But Joshua asked, &#8220;Who are you and where do you come from?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9They answered: &#8220;Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the Lord your God. For we have heard reports of him: all that he did in Egypt, 10and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan&#8212;Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. 11And our elders and all those living in our country said to us, &#8216;Take provisions for your journey; go and meet them and say to them, &#8220;We are your servants; make a treaty with us.&#8221;&#8198;&#8217; 12This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is. 13And these wineskins that we filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord. 15Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.</div><div class="p"> 16Three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors, living near them. 17So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim. 18But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the Lord, the God of Israel.</div><div class="p">The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders, 19but all the leaders answered, &#8220;We have given them our oath by the Lord, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now. 20This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that God&#8217;s wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them.&#8221; 21They continued, &#8220;Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly.&#8221; So the leaders&#8217; promise to them was kept.</div><div class="p"> 22Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, &#8220;Why did you deceive us by saying, &#8216;We live a long way from you,&#8217; while actually you live near us? 23You are now under a curse: You will never be released from service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24They answered Joshua, &#8220;Your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. 25We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26So Joshua saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them. 27That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the assembly, to provide for the needs of the altar of the Lord at the place the Lord would choose. And that is what they are to this day.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJOS">
 <div class="chapter ch10" data-usfm="JOS.10">
 <div class="label">10</div><div class="s1">The Sun Stands Still</div><div class="p"> 1Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed#10:1 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 28, 35, 37, 39 and 40. it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and had become their allies. 2He and his people were very much alarmed at this, because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were good fighters. 3So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon. 4&#8220;Come up and help me attack Gibeon,&#8221; he said, &#8220;because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Then the five kings of the Amorites&#8212;the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon&#8212;joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it.</div><div class="p"> 6The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: &#8220;Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. 8The Lord said to Joshua, &#8220;Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. 10The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.</div><div class="p"> 12On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Sun, stand still over Gibeon,</div><div class="q2">and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.&#8221;</div><div class="q1"> 13So the sun stood still,</div><div class="q2">and the moon stopped,</div><div class="q2">till the nation avenged itself on#10:13 Or nation triumphed over its enemies,</div><div class="m">as it is written in the Book of Jashar.</div><div class="p">The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!</div><div class="p"> 15Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.</div><div class="s1">Five Amorite Kings Killed</div><div class="p"> 16Now the five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Makkedah. 17When Joshua was told that the five kings had been found hiding in the cave at Makkedah, 18he said, &#8220;Roll large rocks up to the mouth of the cave, and post some men there to guard it. 19But don&#8217;t stop; pursue your enemies! Attack them from the rear and don&#8217;t let them reach their cities, for the Lord your God has given them into your hand.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20So Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely, but a few survivors managed to reach their fortified cities. 21The whole army then returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah, and no one uttered a word against the Israelites.</div><div class="p"> 22Joshua said, &#8220;Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me.&#8221; 23So they brought the five kings out of the cave&#8212;the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. 24When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had come with him, &#8220;Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.&#8221; So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks.</div><div class="p"> 25Joshua said to them, &#8220;Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.&#8221; 26Then Joshua put the kings to death and exposed their bodies on five poles, and they were left hanging on the poles until evening.</div><div class="p"> 27At sunset Joshua gave the order and they took them down from the poles and threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. At the mouth of the cave they placed large rocks, which are there to this day.</div><div class="s1">Southern Cities Conquered</div><div class="p"> 28That day Joshua took Makkedah. He put the city and its king to the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it. He left no survivors. And he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.</div><div class="p"> 29Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Makkedah to Libnah and attacked it. 30The Lord also gave that city and its king into Israel&#8217;s hand. The city and everyone in it Joshua put to the sword. He left no survivors there. And he did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.</div><div class="p"> 31Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Libnah to Lachish; he took up positions against it and attacked it. 32The Lord gave Lachish into Israel&#8217;s hands, and Joshua took it on the second day. The city and everyone in it he put to the sword, just as he had done to Libnah. 33Meanwhile, Horam king of Gezer had come up to help Lachish, but Joshua defeated him and his army&#8212;until no survivors were left.</div><div class="p"> 34Then Joshua and all Israel with him moved on from Lachish to Eglon; they took up positions against it and attacked it. 35They captured it that same day and put it to the sword and totally destroyed everyone in it, just as they had done to Lachish.</div><div class="p"> 36Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron and attacked it. 37They took the city and put it to the sword, together with its king, its villages and everyone in it. They left no survivors. Just as at Eglon, they totally destroyed it and everyone in it.</div><div class="p"> 38Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned around and attacked Debir. 39They took the city, its king and its villages, and put them to the sword. Everyone in it they totally destroyed. They left no survivors. They did to Debir and its king as they had done to Libnah and its king and to Hebron.</div><div class="p"> 40So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. 41Joshua subdued them from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and from the whole region of Goshen to Gibeon. 42All these kings and their lands Joshua conquered in one campaign, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.</div><div class="p"> 43Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.</div>
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