The Promised Land · c. 1406 BC
Chapter 4
Achan and Ai
Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land.
For parents
The men of Ai kill about thirty-six Israelites in the first attack (Joshua 7:5). Achan is taken to the valley of Achor with his sons and daughters, his animals and everything he has; the Bible says it plainly: “All Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones” (7:24–26). At Ai, Israel kills all the people of the city, twelve thousand men and women, and Joshua hangs the king of Ai on a tree until evening (8:21–29).
At , had warned the people to keep away from what was to destruction. If they took any of it, they would put the camp of under a and bring trouble on it.
But the Israelites did wrong with the devoted things. , the son of , the son of , the son of , of the of , took some of the devoted things. That was why the ’s anger burned against the Israelites.
Joshua sent men from Jericho to , which is beside , east of . “Go up and spy out the land,” he told them. So the men went up and spied out Ai.
They came back to Joshua and said, “Don’t let all the people go up. Let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Don’t make all the people wear themselves out there, because Ai has only a few people.”
So about three thousand men went up there, and they ran away from the men of Ai, who struck down about thirty-six of them. The men of Ai chased them from in front of the gate all the way to , and cut them down on the slope going down. The people lost their courage; it melted away like water.
Joshua tore his clothes. He and the of Israel lay face down on the ground in front of the Lord’s until evening, with dust on their heads, the way people did in grief.
Joshua said, “Oh, Lord God, why did you bring us over the at all? Was it to hand us over to the and destroy us? I wish we had been content to live on the far side of the Jordan!
“Oh, Lord, what should I say, after Israel has turned their backs and run from their enemies? The and everyone living in the land will hear of it. They will close in around us and wipe our name off the earth. And then what will you do for the sake of your great name?”
The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face like that? Israel has sinned. They have broken my , the one I gave them. They have even taken some of the devoted things. Yes, they have stolen, and they have lied. They have put the things in with their own belongings.
“That is why the Israelites can’t stand up to their enemies. They turn and run from their enemies, because they themselves have become devoted to destruction. I won’t be with you anymore unless you destroy the devoted things that are among you.
“Get up! Set the people apart as . Tell them, ‘Make yourselves holy, ready for tomorrow, because the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “There is a devoted thing among you, Israel. You can’t stand up to your enemies until you take the devoted thing away from among you.”
“‘In the morning you are to come forward tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord selects will come forward family by family, and the family he selects will come forward household by household. The household he selects will come forward man by man.
“‘Whoever is caught with the devoted thing is to be burned with fire, he and everything he has, because he has broken the Lord’s covenant, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”
Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and Judah was selected. Judah’s families came forward, and the Zerahites were selected. The Zerahites came forward man by man, and Zabdi was selected. Zabdi’s household came forward man by man, and Achan was selected.
Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and confess to him. Tell me now what you have done. Don’t hide it from me.”
Achan answered Joshua, “I have truly sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I have done. Among the plunder I saw a beautiful robe. I also saw two hundred of silver, about four and a half pounds, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, a little over a pound. I them, and I took them. Look, they’re hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.”
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. Sure enough, it was hidden in his tent, and the silver was under it.
They took the things from the middle of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the Israelites. They laid them down in the Lord’s presence.
Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan, of Zerah’s family, along with the silver, the robe, the wedge of gold, his sons and his daughters, his cattle, his donkeys and his sheep, his tent, and everything he had. They brought them up to the .
Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you today.” All Israel stoned him. They burned them with fire, and they stoned them.
They piled a great heap of stones over him, and it is still there to this day. And the Lord turned from his fierce anger. That is why that place is called the valley of Achor to this day.
The Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t lose heart. Take all the warriors with you. Get up and go up to Ai. Look, I have handed the king of Ai over to you, with his people, his city and his land. Treat Ai and its king the way you treated Jericho and its king, except you will take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
So Joshua and all the warriors got ready to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, strong and brave fighters, and sent them out by night.
He gave them their orders. “Listen,” he said. “You are to lie in ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, and all of you be ready. I will come up to the city with all the people who are with me. When the men of Ai come out against us, the way they did the first time, we will run away from them. They will chase us, and we will lead them away from the city, because they will say, ‘They’re running from us, like the first time.’ So we will run away from them.
“Then you are to come out of hiding and take the city, because the Lord your God will give it to you. Once you have captured the city, set it on fire. Do it the way the Lord has said. Look, I have given you your orders.”
Joshua sent them out, and they went to lie in ambush. They waited between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai. But Joshua stayed with the people that night.
Joshua got up early in the morning and gathered the people. He and the elders of Israel led them up to Ai. All the fighting men with him went up and came near the city. They camped in front of it, on the north side of Ai. There was a valley between Joshua and Ai.
He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. So they put the people in place, the whole army on the north side of the city and the men in ambush on the west side. That night Joshua went into the middle of the valley.
When the king of Ai saw it, he and all his people got up early. The men of the city hurried out to fight Israel at the set time, facing the . But the king didn’t know that men were lying in ambush for him behind the city.
Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten by them, and they ran away along the road to the wilderness.
All the people in the city were called together to chase them. They chased Joshua and were drawn away from the city. Not one man was left in Ai or Bethel; every one of them went out after Israel. They left the city open and chased Israel.
The Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, because I will hand it over to you.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city.
As soon as Joshua stretched out his hand, the men in ambush got up quickly from their hiding place and ran. They went into the city and took it, and they quickly set it on fire.
The men of Ai looked behind them, and there was the smoke of the city, going up to the sky. They had no way to run, this way or that. The Israelites who had been running toward the wilderness turned back on the men chasing them.
Joshua and all Israel saw that the men from the ambush had taken the city, and that its smoke was going up. Then they turned back and killed the men of Ai.
The men from the ambush came out of the city to fight them too. Now the men of Ai were trapped in the middle, with Israelites on this side and on that. Israel struck them down and let none of them survive or escape.
They captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
Israel killed all the people of Ai out in the open country, in the wilderness where they had chased them. Every one of them fell by the sword. When that was finished, all Israel went back to Ai and attacked it with the sword.
Twelve thousand fell that day, men and women, all the people of Ai. Joshua kept his hand stretched out with the javelin until he had completely destroyed everyone who lived in Ai.
Israel took for themselves only the livestock and the goods of that city, as the Lord had commanded Joshua.
So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever. It is still a ruin to this day.
He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sundown Joshua gave the order, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance to the city gate. They piled a great heap of stones over it, a heap that is still there to this day.
Then Joshua built an to the Lord, the God of Israel, on . This was what the servant of the Lord had told the Israelites to do, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses. It was an altar of uncut stones, which no one had touched with an iron tool. On it they offered to the Lord and sacrificed .
There, in front of the Israelites, Joshua wrote a copy of the law of Moses on the stones.
All Israel was there, with their elders, officers and judges, foreigners as well as Israelites by birth. They stood on both sides of the ark, in front of the who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant. Half of them stood in front of , and the other half in front of Mount Ebal. This was what Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded earlier: they were to bless the people of Israel.
After that, Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, everything that is written in the book of the law.
Joshua didn’t leave out a single word of all that Moses had commanded. He read it all to the whole assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.