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Joshua 10:2
So Adoni-zedek and his people were greatly alarmed because Gibeon was a large city like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were warriors.
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Joshua 9:17
So the Israelites set out and reached the Gibeonite 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
During David’s reign there was a famine for three successive years, so David inquired of the Lord. The Lord answered,“ It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family when he killed the Gibeonites.”The Gibeonites were not Israelites but rather a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but Saul had tried to kill them in his zeal for the Israelites and Judah. So David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them.
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Joshua 8:1-35
The Lord said to Joshua,“ Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole military force with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land.Treat Ai and its king as you did Jericho and its king; you may plunder its spoil and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”So Joshua and the whole military force set out to attack Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 fighting men and sent them out at night.He commanded them:“ Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready.Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say,‘ They are fleeing from us as before.’ While we are fleeing from them,you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God has handed it over to you.After taking the city, set it on fire. Follow the Lord’s command— see that you do as I have ordered you.”So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.Joshua started early the next morning and mobilized them. Then he and the elders of Israel led the troops up to Ai.All those who were with him went up and approached the city, arriving opposite Ai, and camped to the north of it, with a valley between them and the city.Now Joshua had taken about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.The military force was stationed in this way: the main camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, the men of the city hurried and went out early in the morning so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle at a suitable place facing the Arabah. But he did not know there was an ambush waiting for him behind the city.Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten back by them and fled toward the wilderness.Then all the troops of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city exposed while they pursued Israel.Then the Lord said to Joshua,“ Hold out the sword in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the city over to you.” So Joshua held out his sword toward it.When he held out his hand, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They ran, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.Then men in ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces, some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained,but they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.When Israel had finished killing everyone living in Ai who had pursued them into the open country, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the sword.The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was 12,000— all the people of Ai.Joshua did not draw back his hand that was holding the sword until all the inhabitants of Ai were completely destroyed.Israel plundered only the cattle and spoil of that city for themselves, according to the Lord’s command that He had given Joshua.Joshua burned Ai and left it a permanent ruin, desolate to this day.He hung the body of the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take his body down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and put a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the Lord, the God of Israel,just as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. Then they offered burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it.There on the stones, Joshua copied the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the Israelites.All Israel, foreigner and citizen alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark of the Lord’s covenant facing the Levitical priests who carried it. As Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded earlier, half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, to bless the people of Israel.Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law— the blessings as well as the curses— according to all that is written in the book of the law.There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, the little children, and the foreigners who were with them.
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Joshua 6:1-27
Now Jericho was strongly fortified because of the Israelites— no one leaving or entering.The Lord said to Joshua,“ Look, I have handed Jericho, its king, and its fighting men over to you.March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days.Have seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark. But on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the trumpets.When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the people will advance, each man straight ahead.”So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them,“ Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven trumpets in front of the ark of the Lord.”He said to the people,“ Move forward, march around the city, and have the armed troops go ahead of the ark of the Lord.”After Joshua had spoken to the people, seven priests carrying seven trumpets before the Lord moved forward and blew the trumpets; the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them.While the trumpets were blowing, the armed troops went in front of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard went behind the ark.But Joshua had commanded the people:“ Do not shout or let your voice be heard. Don’t let one word come out of your mouth until the time I say,‘ Shout!’ Then you are to shout.”So the ark of the Lord was carried around the city, circling it once. They returned to the camp and spent the night there.Joshua got up early the next morning. The priests took the ark of the Lord,and the seven priests carrying seven trumpets marched in front of the ark of the Lord. While the trumpets were blowing, the armed troops went in front of them, and the rear guard went behind the ark of the Lord.On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times.After the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people,“ Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.But the city and everything in it are set apart to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will live, because she hid the men we sent.But keep yourselves from the things set apart, or you will be set apart for destruction. If you take any of those things, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster on it.For all the silver and gold, and the articles of bronze and iron, are dedicated to the Lord and must go into the Lord’s treasury.”So the people shouted, and the trumpets sounded. When they heard the blast of the trumpet, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The people advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city.They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword— every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey.Joshua said to the two men who had scouted the land,“ Go to the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out of there, and all who are with her, just as you promised her.”So the young men who had scouted went in and brought out Rahab and her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and settled them outside the camp of Israel.They burned up the city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.However, Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and she lives in Israel to this day.At that time Joshua imposed this curse: The man who undertakes the rebuilding of this city, Jericho, is cursed before the Lord. He will lay its foundation at the cost of his firstborn; he will set up its gates at the cost of his youngest.And the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.
