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Joshua 10:2
He and his people became very afraid when they heard all this because Gibeon was a large town— as large as the royal cities and larger than Ai. And the Gibeonite men were strong warriors.
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Joshua 9:17
The Israelites set out at once to investigate and reached their towns in three days. The names of these towns were Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath jearim.
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2 Samuel 21 1-2 Samuel 21 2
There was a famine during David’s reign that lasted for three years, so David asked the Lord about it. And the Lord said,“ The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.”So the king summoned the Gibeonites. They were not part of Israel but were all that was left of the nation of the Amorites. The people of Israel had sworn not to kill them, but Saul, in his zeal for Israel and Judah, had tried to wipe them out.
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Joshua 8:1-35
Then the Lord said to Joshua,“ Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the town.”So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at nightwith these orders:“ Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action.When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them.We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say,‘ The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then, while we are running from them,you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the Lord your God will give it to you.Set the town on fire, as the Lord has commanded. You have your orders.”So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town and camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the town.That night Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town.So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley.When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town.Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten.Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town.There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the town was left wide open.Then the Lord said to Joshua,“ Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.” Joshua did as he was commanded.As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers.When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai.Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped.Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of Ai in the open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside.So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day— 12,000 in all.For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed.Only the livestock and the treasures of the town were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these as plunder for themselves, as the Lord had commanded Joshua.So Joshua burned the town of Ai, and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day.Joshua impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today.Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.He followed the commands that Moses the Lord’s servant had written in the Book of Instruction:“ Make me an altar from stones that are uncut and have not been shaped with iron tools.” Then on the altar they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord.And as the Israelites watched, Joshua copied onto the stones of the altar the instructions Moses had given them.Then all the Israelites— foreigners and native born alike— along with the elders, officers, and judges, were divided into two groups. One group stood in front of Mount Gerizim, the other in front of Mount Ebal. Each group faced the other, and between them stood the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. This was all done according to the commands that Moses, the servant of the Lord, had previously given for blessing the people of Israel.Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction.Every word of every command that Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them.
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Joshua 6:1-27
Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in.But the Lord said to Joshua,“ I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors.You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days.Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns.When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”So Joshua called together the priests and said,“ Take up the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a ram’s horn.”Then he gave orders to the people:“ March around the town, and the armed men will lead the way in front of the Ark of the Lord.”After Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests with the rams’ horns started marching in the presence of the Lord, blowing the horns as they marched. And the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant followed behind them.Some of the armed men marched in front of the priests with the horns and some behind the Ark, with the priests continually blowing the horns.“ Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded.“ Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!”So the Ark of the Lord was carried around the town once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night in the camp.Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests again carried the Ark of the Lord.The seven priests with the rams’ horns marched in front of the Ark of the Lord, blowing their horns. Again the armed men marched both in front of the priests with the horns and behind the Ark of the Lord. All this time the priests were blowing their horns.On the second day they again marched around the town once and returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around the town seven times.The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people,“ Shout! For the Lord has given you the town!Jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies.“ Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel.Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.”When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.They completely destroyed everything in it with their swords— men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys.Meanwhile, Joshua said to the two spies,“ Keep your promise. Go to the prostitute’s house and bring her out, along with all her family.”The men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all the other relatives who were with her. They moved her whole family to a safe place near the camp of Israel.Then the Israelites burned the town and everything in it. Only the things made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron were kept for the treasury of the Lord’s house.So Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute and her relatives who were with her in the house, because she had hidden the spies Joshua sent to Jericho. And she lives among the Israelites to this day.At that time Joshua invoked this curse:“ May the curse of the Lord fall on anyone who tries to rebuild the town of Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn son, he will lay its foundation. At the cost of his youngest son, he will set up its gates.”So the Lord was with Joshua, and his reputation spread throughout the land.