Difference between revisions of "Jos 7-8"

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CHAPTER 7

BUT the children of Israelcommitted a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, theson of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: andthe anger of the Lord was kindledagainst the children of Israel.
2 And Joshuasent men from Jerichoto Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, onthe east side of Beth-el, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view thecountry. And the men went up and viewed Ai.
3 And they returned to Joshua, and said untohim, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men goup and smite Ai; and make not all thepeople to labour thither; for they are but few.
4 So there went up thither of the people aboutthree thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.
5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirtyand six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim,and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted,and became as water.
6 ¶ And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell tothe earth upon his face before the ark of the Lorduntil the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon theirheads.
7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all broughtthis people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, todestroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!
8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneththeir backs before their enemies!
9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants ofthe land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cutoff our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
10 ¶ And the Lordsaid unto Joshua, Get thee up;wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
11 Israel hath sinned, and they havealso transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even takenof the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they haveput it even among their own stuff.
12 Therefore the children of Israel couldnot stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before theirenemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more,except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctifyyourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst notstand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from amongyou.
14 In the morning therefore ye shall be broughtaccording to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord takethshall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lordshall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man.
15 And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt withfire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of theLord, and because he hath wroughtfolly in Israel.
16 ¶ So Joshua rose up early in the morning,and brought Israel by theirtribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:
17 And he brought the family of Judah;and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of theZarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:
18 And he brought his household man by man; andAchan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah,was taken.
19 And Joshuasaid unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession untohim; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.
20 And Achan answered Joshua,and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LordGod of Israel,and thus and thus have I done:
21 When I saw among the spoils a goodlyBabylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold offifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of mytent, and the silver under it.
22 ¶ So Joshua sent messengers, and they ranunto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silverunder it.
23 And they took them out of the midst of thetent, and brought them unto Joshua,and unto all the children of Israel,and laid them out before the Lord.
24 And Joshua,and all Israel with him,took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge ofgold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and hissheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.
25 And Joshuasaid, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lordshall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, andburned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
26 And they raised over him a great heap ofstones unto this day. So the Lordturned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place wascalled, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

CHAPTER 8

AND the Lordsaid unto Joshua, Fear not, neither bethou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai:see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city,and his land:
2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thoudidst unto Jerichoand her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take fora prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
3 ¶ So Joshua arose, and all the people of war,to go up against Ai: and Joshua choseout thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by night.
4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, yeshall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready:
5 And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto thecity: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at thefirst, that we will flee before them,
6 (For they will come out after us) till wehave drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as atthe first: therefore we will flee before them.
7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, andseize upon the city: for the Lordyour God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: accordingto the commandment of the Lordshall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9 ¶ Joshuatherefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and abode betweenBeth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshualodged that night among the people.
10 And Joshuarose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and theelders of Israel,before the people to Ai.
11 And all the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city,and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them and Ai.
12 And he took about five thousand men, and setthem to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city.
13 And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city, and theirliers in wait on the west of the city, Joshuawent that night into the midst of the valley.
14 ¶ And it came to pass, when the king of Aisaw it, that they hasted and rose upearly, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and allhis people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city.
15 And Joshuaand all Israelmade as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
16 And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and theypursued after Joshua, and were drawnaway from the city.
17 And there was not a man left in Ai orBeth-el, that went not out after Israel:and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18 And the Lordsaid unto Joshua, Stretch out thespear that is in thy hand toward Ai;for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshuastretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city.
19 And the ambush arose quickly out of theirplace, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they enteredinto the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them,they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and theyhad no power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to thewilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
21 And when Joshuaand all Israelsaw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the cityascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
22 And the other issued out of the city againstthem; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and someon that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain orescape.
23 And the king of Ai they took alive, andbrought him to Joshua.
24 And it came to pass, when Israel had made anend of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wildernesswherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of thesword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, andsmote it with the edge of the sword.
25 And so it was, that all that fell that day,both of men and women, were twelvethousand, even all the men of Ai.
26 For Joshuadrew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he hadutterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took fora prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord which he commanded Joshua.
28 And Joshuaburnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree untileventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshuacommanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it atthe entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
30 ¶ Then Joshuabuilt an altar unto the Lord Godof Israel in mount Ebal,
31 As Mosesthe servant of the Lord commandedthe children of Israel,as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones,over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.
32 ¶ And he wrote there upon the stones a copyof the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
33 And all Israel, and their elders, andofficers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side beforethe priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he thatwas born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of themover against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the peopleof Israel.
34 And afterward he read all the words of thelaw, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the bookof the law.
35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshuaread not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and thelittle ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.

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