Conquest of Canaan

A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.

Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.

Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.

At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,

just as 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: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. 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 commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.

There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.

Now when news of this reached all the kings west of the Jordan—those in the hill country, the foothills, and all along the coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon (the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites)—

they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.

But the people of Gibeon, having heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

acted deceptively and set out as envoys, carrying on their donkeys worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.

They put worn, patched sandals on their feet and threadbare clothing on their bodies, and their whole supply of bread was dry and moldy.

They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land; please make a treaty with us.”

But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you dwell near us. How can we make a treaty with you?”

“We are your servants,” they said to Joshua. Then Joshua asked them, “Who are you and where have you come from?”

“Your servants have come from a very distant land,” they replied, “because of the fame of the LORD your God. For we have heard the reports about Him: all that He did in Egypt,

and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.

So the elders and inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go to meet them and say to them: We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us.’

This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But take a look, it is now dry and moldy.

These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are cracked. And these clothes and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.”

Then the men of Israel sampled their provisions, but did not seek the counsel of the LORD.