88 PASS OVER YARDEN
YAHWEH commands Yahshua to prepare the People to pass over Jordan to possess the Land. Jericho is Besieged, Taken, and Destroyed. Achan brings evil upon the camp by Purloining the cursed thing, and Brings Destruction upon Himself. All is taken and Destroyed. The Gibeonites cunningly save themselves. Five Kings rise up against Yisrael and are destroyed. The Sun and Moon stand still at Yahshua's Command.
1 And it was after the death of Mosheh that YAHWEH said to Yahshua the son of Nun, saying,
2 Rise up and pass the Jordan to the land which I have given to the children of Yisrael, and you shalt make the children of Yisrael inherit the land.
3 Every place upon which the sole of your feet shall tread shall belong to you, from the wilderness of Lebanon unto the great river the river of Perath shall be your boundary.
4 No man shall stand up against you all the days of your life; as I was with Mosheh, so will I be with you, only be strong and of good courage to observe all the law which Mosheh commanded you, turn not from the way either to the right or to the left, in order that you may prosper in all that you do.
5 And Yahshua commanded the officers of Yisrael, saying, Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, Prepare for yourselves provisions, for in three days more you will pass the Jordan to possess the land.
6 And the officers of the children of Yisrael did so, and they commanded the people and they did all that Yahshua had commanded.
7 And Yahshua sent two men to spy out the land of Jericho, and the men went and spied out Jericho.
8 And at the end of seven days they came to Yahshua in the camp and said to him, YAHWEH has delivered the whole land into our hand, and the inhabitants thereof are melted with fear because of us.
9 And it came to pass after that, that Yahshua rose up in the morning and all Yisrael with him, and they journeyed from Shittim, and Yahshua and all Yisrael with him passed the Jordan; and Yahshua was eighty-two years old when he passed the Jordan with Yisrael.
10 And the people went up from Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped in Gilgal at the eastern corner of Jericho.
11 And the children of Yisrael kept the Passover in Gilgal, in the plains of Jericho, on the fourteenth day at the month, as it is written in the law of Mosheh.
12 And the manna ceased at that time on the morrow of the Passover, and there was no more manna for the children of Yisrael, and they ate of the produce of the land of Canaan.
13 And Jericho was entirely closed against the children of Yisrael, no one came out or went in.
14 And it was in the second month, on the first day of the month, that YAHWEH said to Yahshua, Rise up, behold I have given Jericho into your hand with all the people thereof; and all your fighting men shall go round the city, once each day, thus shall you do for six days.
15 And the priests shall blow upon trumpets, and when you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall give a great shouting, that the walls of the city shall fall down; all the people shall go up every man against his opponent.
16 And Yahshua did so according to all that YAHWEH had commanded him.
17 And on the seventh day they went round the city seven times, and the priests blew upon trumpets.
18 And at the seventh round, Yahshua said to the people, Shout, for YAHWEH has delivered the whole city into our hands.
19 Only the city and all that it contains shall be accursed to YAHWEH, and keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you make the camp of Yisrael accursed and trouble it.
20 But all the silver and gold and brass and iron shall be consecrated to YAHWEH, they shall come into the treasury of YAHWEH.
21 And the people blew upon trumpets and made a great shouting, and the walls of Jericho fell down, and all the people went up, every man straight before him, and they took the city and utterly destroyed all that was in it, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and ass, with the edge of the sword.
22 And they burned the whole city with fire; only the vessels of silver and gold, and brass and iron, they put into the treasury of YAHWEH.
23 And Yahshua swore at that time, saying, Cursed be the man who builds Jericho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates thereof.
24 And Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, son of Yahudah, dealt treacherously in the accursed thing, and he took of the accursed thing and hid it in the tent, and the anger of YAHWEH was kindled against Yisrael.
25 And it was after this when the children of Yisrael had returned from burning Jericho, Yahshua sent men to spy out also Ai, and to fight against it.
26 And the men went up and spied out Ai, and they returned and said, Let not all the people go up with you to Ai, only let about three thousand men go up and smite the city, for the men thereof are but few.
27 And Yahshua did so, and there went up with him of the children of Yisrael about three thousand men, and they fought against the men of Ai.
28 And the battle was severe against Yisrael, and the men of Ai smote thirty-six men of Yisrael, and the children of Yisrael fled from before the men of Ai.
29 And when Yahshua saw this thing, he tore his garments and fell upon his face to the ground before YAHWEH, he, with the elders of Yisrael, and they put dust upon their heads.
30 And Yahshua said, Why O YAHWEH did you bring this people over the Jordan? what shall I say after the Yisraelites have turned their backs against their enemies?
31 Now therefore all the Canaanites, inhabitants of the land, will hear this thing, and surround us and cut off our name.
32 And YAHWEH said to Yahshua, Why did you fall upon your face? rise, get you off, for the Yisraelites have sinned, and taken of the accursed thing; I will no more be with them unless they destroy the accursed thing from among them.
33 And Yahshua rose up and assembled the people, and brought the Urim by the order of YAHWEH, and the tribe of Yahudah was taken, and Achan the son of Carmi was taken.
34 And Yahshua said to Achan, Tell me my son, what have you done, and Achan said, I saw among the spoil a goodly garment of Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight; I coveted them and took them, and behold they are all hid in the earth in the midst of the tent.
35 And Yahshua sent men who went and took them from the tent of Achan, and they brought them to Yahshua.
36 And Yahshua took Achan and these utensils, and his sons and daughters and all belonging to him, and they brought them into the valley of Achor.
37 And Yahshua burned them there with fire, and all the Yisraelites stoned Achan with stones, and they raised over him a heap of stones, therefore did he call that place the valley of Achor, so YAHWEH's anger was appeased, and Yahshua afterward came to the city and fought against it.
38 And YAHWEH said to Yahshua, Fear not, neither be you dismayed, behold I have given into your hand Ai, her king and her people, and you shalt do unto them as you did to Jericho and her king, only the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall you take for a prey for yourselves; lay an ambush for the city behind it.
39 So Yahshua did according to the word of YAHWEH, and he chose from among the sons of war thirty thousand valiant men, and he sent them, and they lay in ambush for the city.
40 And he commanded them, saying, When you shall see us we will flee before them with cunning, and they will pursue us, you shall then rise out of the ambush and take the city, and they did so.
41 And Yahshua fought, and the men of the city went out toward Yisrael, not knowing that they were lying in ambush for them behind the city.
42 And Yahshua and all the Yisraelites feigned themselves wearied out before them, and they fled by the way of the wilderness with cunning.
43 And the men of Ai gathered all the people who were in the city to pursue the Yisraelites, and they went out and were drawn away from the city, not one remained, and they left the city open and pursued the Yisraelites.
44 And those who were lying in ambush rose up out of their places, and hastened to come to the city and took it and set it on fire, and the men of Ai turned back, and behold the smoke of the city ascended to the skies, and they had no means of retreating either one way or the other.
45 And all the men of Ai were in the midst of Yisrael, some on this side and some on that side, and they smote them so that not one of them remained.
46 And the children of Yisrael took Melosh king of Ai alive, and they brought him to Yahshua, and Yahshua hanged him on a tree and he died.
47 And the children of Yisrael returned to the city after having burned it, and they smote all those that were in it with the edge of the sword.
48 And the number of those that had fallen of the men of Ai, both man and woman, was twelve thousand; only the cattle and the spoil of the city they took to themselves, according to the word of YAHWEH to Yahshua.
49 And all the kings on this side Jordan, all the kings of Canaan, heard of the evil which the children of Yisrael had done to Jericho and to Ai, and they gathered themselves together to fight against Yisrael.
50 Only the inhabitants of Gibeon were greatly afraid of fighting against the Yisraelites lest they should perish, so they acted cunningly, and they came to Yahshua and to all Yisrael, and said unto them, We have come from a distant land, now therefore make a covenant with us.
51 And the inhabitants of Gibeon over-reached the children of Yisrael, and the children of Yisrael made a covenant with them, and they made peace with them, and the princes of the congregation swore unto them, but afterward the children of Yisrael knew that they were neighbors to them and were dwelling among them.
52 But the children of Yisrael slew them not; for they had sworn to them by YAHWEH, and they became hewers of wood and drawers of water.
53 And Yahshua said to them, Why did you deceive me, to do this thing to us? and they answered him, saying, Because it was told to your servants all that you had done to all the kings of the Amorites, and we were greatly afraid of our lives, and we did this thing.
54 And Yahshua appointed them on that day to hew wood and to draw water, and he divided them for slaves to all the tribes of Yisrael.
55 And when Adonizedek king of Yerusalem heard all that the children of Yisrael had done to Jericho and to Ai, he sent to Hoham king of Hebron and to Piram king at Jarmuth, and to Japhia king of Lachish and to Deber king of Eglon, saying,
56 Come up to me and help me, that we may smite the children of Yisrael and the inhabitants of Gibeon who have made peace with the children of Yisrael.
57 And they gathered themselves together and the five kings of the Amorites went up with all their camps, a mighty people numerous as the sand of the sea shore.
58 And all these kings came and encamped before Gibeon, and they began to fight against the inhabitants of Gibeon, and all the men of Gibeon sent to Yahshua, saying, Come up quickly to us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites have gathered together to fight against us.
59 And Yahshua and all the fighting people went up from Gilgal, and Yahshua came suddenly to them, and smote these five kings with a great slaughter.
60 And YAHWEH confounded them before the children at Yisrael, who smote them with a terrible slaughter in Gibeon, and pursued them along the way that goes up to Beth Horon unto Makkedah, and they fled from before the children of Yisrael.
61 And while they were fleeing, YAHWEH sent upon them hailstones from heaven, and more of them died by the hailstones, than by the slaughter of the children of Yisrael.
62 And the children of Yisrael pursued them, and they still smote them in the road, going on and smiting them.
63 And when they were smiting, the day was declining toward evening, and Yahshua said in the sight of all the people, Sun, stand you still upon Gibeon, and you moon in the valley of Ajalon, until the nation shall have revenged itself upon its enemies.
64 And YAHWEH hearkened to the voice of Yahshua, and the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens, and it stood still six and thirty moments, and the moon also stood still and hastened not to go down a whole day.
65 And there was no day like that, before it or after it, that YAHWEH hearkened to the voice of a man, for YAHWEH fought for Yisrael.