Conquest of Canaan

and all who fall during the day, of men and of women, are twelve thousand--all men of Ai.

And Joshua hath not brought back his hand which he stretched out with the javelin till that he hath devoted all the inhabitants of Ai;

only, the cattle and the spoil of that city have Israel spoiled for themselves, according to the word of Jehovah which He commanded Joshua.

And Joshua burneth Ai, and maketh it a heap age-during--a desolation unto this day;

and the king of Ai he hath hanged on the tree till even-time, and at the going in of the sun hath Joshua commanded, and they take down his carcase from the tree, and cast it unto the opening of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones till this day.

Then doth Joshua build an altar to Jehovah, God of Israel, in mount Ebal,

as Moses, servant of Jehovah, commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses--an altar of whole stones, over which he hath not waved iron--and they cause to go up upon it burnt-offerings to Jehovah, and sacrifice peace-offerings;

and he writeth there on the stones the copy of the law of Moses, which he hath written in the presence of the sons of Israel.

And all Israel, and its elders, and authorities, and its judges, are standing on this side and on that of the ark, over-against the priests, the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, as well the sojourner as the native, half of them over-against mount Gerizim, and the half of them over-against mount Ebal, as Moses servant of Jehovah commanded to bless the people of Israel at the first.

And afterwards he hath proclaimed all the words of the law, the blessing and the reviling, according to all that is written in the book of the law;

there hath not been a thing of all that Moses commanded which Joshua hath not proclaimed before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the infants, and the sojourner who is going in their midst.

And it cometh to pass, when all the kings who are beyond the Jordan, in the hill-country, and in the low-country, and in every haven of the great sea, over-against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, hear--

that they gather themselves together to fight with Joshua, and with Israel--one mouth.

And the inhabitants of Gibeon have heard that which Joshua hath done to Jericho and to Ai,

and they work, even they, with subtilty, and go, and feign to be ambassadors, and take old sacks for their asses, and wine-bottles, old, and rent, and bound up,

and sandals, old and patched, on their feet, and old garments upon them, and all the bread of their provision is dry--it was crumbs.

And they go unto Joshua, unto the camp at Gilgal, and say unto him, and unto the men of Israel, `From a land far off we have come, and now, make with us a covenant;'

and the men of Israel say unto the Hivite, `It may be in our midst ye are dwelling, and how do we make with thee a covenant?'

and they say unto Joshua, `Thy servants we are .' And Joshua saith unto them, `Who are ye? and whence come ye?'

And they say unto him, `From a land very far off have thy servants come, for the name of Jehovah thy God, for we have heard His fame, and all that He hath done in Egypt,

and all that He hath done to the two kings of the Amorite who are beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who is in Ashtaroth.

`And our elders, and all the inhabitants of our land speak unto us, saying, Take in your hand provision for the way, and go to meet them, and ye have said unto them, Your servants we are , and now, make with us a covenant;

this our bread--hot we provided ourselves with it out of our houses, on the day of our coming out to go unto you, and now, lo, it is dry, and hath been crumbs;

and these are the wine-bottles which we filled, new, and lo, they have rent; and these, our garments and our sandals, have become old, from the exceeding greatness of the way.'

And the men take of their provision, and the mouth of Jehovah have not asked;