He has done this so all the nations of the earth might recognize the Lord’s power and so you might always obey the Lord your God.”

Now all the men who left were circumcised, but all the sons born on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt were uncircumcised.

The seventh time around, the priests blew the rams’ horns and Joshua told the army, “Give the battle cry, for the Lord is handing the city over to you!

I and all the troops who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them.

They will attack us until we have lured them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are retreating from us like before.’ We will retreat from them.

When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.

They told him, “Your subjects have come from a very distant land because of the reputation of the Lord your God, for we have heard the news about all he did in Egypt

Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby.

The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. The whole community criticized the leaders,

All Jerusalem was terrified because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai and all its men were warriors.

“Come to my aid so we can attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”

The Lord told Joshua, “Don’t be afraid of them, for I am handing them over to you. Not one of them can resist you.”

There has not been a day like it before or since. The Lord obeyed a man, for the Lord fought for Israel!

But don’t you delay! Chase your enemies and catch them! Don’t allow them to retreat to their cities, for the Lord your God is handing them over to you.”

Joshua captured in one campaign all these kings and their lands, for the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.

Now Moses had assigned land to the two-and-a-half tribes east of the Jordan, but he assigned no land to the Levites.

for the daughters of Manasseh were assigned land among his sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh.

Simeon’s assigned land was taken from Judah’s allotted portion, for Judah’s territory was too large for them; so Simeon was assigned land within Judah.

You saw everything the Lord your God did to all these nations on your behalf, for the Lord your God fights for you.

One of you makes a thousand run away, for the Lord your God fights for you as he promised you he would.