Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

content and dwelt beyond the Jordan! ⁸Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel hath turned their backs before their enemies! ⁹For when the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land hear of it, they will compass us round, and cut off our name from the earth; and what wilt Thou do for Thy great name?'

      ¹⁰And the Lord said unto Joshua: 'Get thee up; wherefore, now, art thou fallen upon thy face? ¹¹Israel hath sinned; yea, they have even transgressed My covenant which I commanded them; yea, they have even taken of the devoted thing; and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have even put it among their own stuff. ¹²Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies, they turn their backs before their enemies, because they are become accursed; I will not be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. ¹³Up, sanctify the people, and say: Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow; for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: There is a curse in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. ¹⁴In the morning therefore ye shall draw near by your tribes; and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come near by families; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come near by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come near man by man. ¹⁵And it shall be that he that is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath; because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought a wanton deed in Israel.'

¹⁶So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷And he brought near the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zerahites. And he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man; and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸And he brought near his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹And Joshua said unto Achan: 'My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide nothing from me.' ²⁰And Achan answered Joshua, and said: 'Of a truth I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. ²¹When I saw among the spoil a goodly ³Shinar mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.' ²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. ²³And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel; and they laid them down before the Lord. ²⁴And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up unto the valley of Achor. ²⁵And Joshua said: 'Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day.' And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones. ²⁶And they raised over him a great heap of stones, unto this day; and the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called The valley of ⁴Achor, unto this day.

      8And the Lord said unto Joshua: 'Fear not, neither be thou 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. ²And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king; only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves; set thee an ambush for the city behind it.' ³So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valour, and sent them forth by night. ⁴And he commanded them, saying: 'Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready. ⁵And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city; and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. ⁶And they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say: They flee before us, as at the first; so we will flee before them. ⁷And ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸And it shall be, when ye have seized upon the city, that ye shall set the city on fire; according to the word of the Lord shall ye do; see, I have commanded you.' ⁹And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to the ambushment, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.

      ¹⁰And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ¹¹And all the people, even the men 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 him and Ai. ¹²And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai. ¹³So the people set themselves in array, even all the host that was on the north of the city, their rear lying in wait on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the vale. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hastened and rose up early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, in front of the Arabah; but he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. ¹⁶And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them; and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el, that went not out after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.

      ¹⁸And the Lord said unto Joshua: 'Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thy hand.' And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it; and they hastened and set the city on fire. ²⁰And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way; and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. ²¹And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned back, and slew the men of Ai. ²²And the other came forth out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side; and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape. ²³And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

      ²⁴And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, even in the wilderness wherein they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. ²⁶For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of the Lord which He commanded Joshua. ²⁸So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day. ²⁹And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the eventide; and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his carcass down from the tree, and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised thereon a great heap of stones, unto this day.

      ³⁰Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal, ³¹as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man had lifted up any iron; and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace-offerings. ³²And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote before the children of Israel. ³³And all Israel, and their elders and officers,