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Joshua 10:2
he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were warriors.
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Joshua 9:17
And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.
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2 Samuel 21 1-2 Samuel 21 2
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said,“ There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.
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Joshua 8:1-35
And the Lord said to Joshua,“ Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land.And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night.And he commanded them,“ Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready.And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, we shall flee before them.And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say,‘ They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them.Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand.And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.”So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley.And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness.So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city.Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.Then the Lord said to Joshua,“ Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire.So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers.And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped.But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword.And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai.But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the Lord that he commanded Joshua.So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day.And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses,“ an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel.And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.
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Joshua 6:1-27
Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.And the Lord said to Joshua,“ See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days.Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them,“ Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.”And he said to the people,“ Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them.The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually.But Joshua commanded the people,“ You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.”So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually.And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times.And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people,“ Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said,“ Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.”So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel.And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord.But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying,“ Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho.“ At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.”So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.
