Conquest of Canaan

And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelue thousande, euen all the men of Ai.

For Ioshua drewe not his hande backe againe which he had stretched out with the speare, vntill hee had vtterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

Onely the cattell and the spoyle of this citie, Israel tooke for a praye vnto themselues, according vnto the worde of the Lord, which hee commanded Ioshua.

And Ioshua burnt Ai, and made it an heape for euer, and a wildernes vnto this day.

And the King of Ai hee hanged on a tree, vnto the euening. And as soone as the sunne was down, Ioshua commanded that they should take his carkeis downe from the tree, and cast it at the entring of ye gate of the city, and lay thereon a great heape of stones, that remaineth vnto this day.

Then Ioshua built an altar vnto the Lord God of Israel, in mount Ebal,

As Moses the seruant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the booke of the Lawe of Moses, an altar of whole stone, ouer which no man had lift an yron: and they offered thereon burnt offrings vnto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.

Also he wrote there vpon the stones, a rehearsall of the Lawe of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

And all Israel (and their Elders, and officers and their iudges stoode on this side of the Arke, and on that side, before the Priestes of the Leuites, which bare the Arke of the couenant of the Lord) as well the stranger, as he that is borne in the countrey: halfe of them were ouer against mount Gerizim, and halfe of them ouer against mount Ebal, as Moses the seruant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should blesse the people of Israel.

Then afterwarde hee read all the wordes of the Lawe, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the booke of the Lawe.

There was not a worde of all that Moses had commanded, which Ioshua read not before all the Congregation of Israel, as well before the women and the children, as the stranger that was conuersant among them.

And when all the Kings that were beyonde Iorden, in the mountaines and in the valleis, and by all the coastes of the great Sea ouer against Lebanon (as the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hiuites, and the Iebusites) heard thereof,

They gathered themselues together, to fight against Ioshua, and against Israel with one accord.

But the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Ioshua had done vnto Iericho, and to Ai.

And therefore they wrought craftily: for they went, and fayned themselues ambassadours, and tooke olde sackes vpon their asses, and olde bottels for wine, both rent and bound vp,

And olde shoes and clouted vpon their feete: also the raiment vpon them was old, and all their prouision of bread was dried, and mouled.

So they came vnto Ioshua into the hoste to Gilgal, and said vnto him, and vnto the men of Israel, Wee be come from a farre countrey: nowe therefore make a league with vs.

Then the men of Israel said vnto the Hiuites, It may be that thou dwellest among vs, how then can I make a league with thee?

And they said vnto Ioshua, We are thy seruants. Then Ioshua saide vnto them, Who are ye? and whence come ye?

And they answered him, From a very farre countrey thy seruants are come for the Name of the Lord thy God: for we haue heard his fame and all that he hath done in Egypt,

And all that he hath done to the two Kings of the Amorites that were beyonde Iorden, to Sihon King of Heshbon, and to Og King of Bashan, which were at Ashtaroth.

Wherefore our elders, and all the inhabitants of our countrey spake to vs, saying, Take vitailes with you for the iourney, and go to meete them, and say vnto them, Wee are your seruants: now therefore make ye a league with vs.

This our bread we tooke it hote with vs for vittailes out of our houses, the day we departed to come vnto you: but nowe beholde, it is dried, and it is mouled.

Also these bottels of wine which we filled, were newe, and lo, they be rent, and these our garments and our shooes are olde, by reason of the exceeding great iourney.

And the men accepted their tale concerning their vittailes, and counselled not with the mouth of the Lord.