At that time Joshua made this solemn declaration: ¹  “The man who attempts to rebuild ²  this city of Jericho ³  will stand condemned before the Lord. ⁴  He will lose his firstborn son when he lays its foundations and his youngest son when he erects its gates!” ⁵ 

But if your own land ¹  is impure, ²  cross over to the Lord’s own land, ³  where the Lord himself lives, ⁴  and settle down among us. ⁵  But don’t rebel against the Lord or us ⁶  by building for yourselves an altar aside from the altar of the Lord our God.

But stay about three thousand feet behind it. ¹  Keep your distance ²  so you can see ³  which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before.”

Joshua tore his clothes; ¹  he and the leaders ²  of Israel lay face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening ³  and threw dirt on their heads. ⁴ 

The Israelites are unable to stand before their enemies; they retreat because they have become subject to annihilation. ¹  I will no longer be with you, ²  unless you destroy what has contaminated you. ³ 

They will attack ¹  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.

All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city. ¹  They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley. ² 

All Jerusalem was terrified ¹  because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai and all its men were warriors.

The Lord routed ¹  them before Israel. Israel ²  thoroughly defeated them ³  at Gibeon. They chased them up the road to the pass ⁴  of Beth Horon and struck them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.

Caleb son of Jephunneh was assigned Kiriath Arba (that is Hebron) within the tribe of Judah, according to the Lord’s instructions to Joshua. (Arba was the father of Anak.) ¹ 

Ephraim’s territory was to the south, and Manasseh’s to the north. The sea was Manasseh’s ¹  western border and their territory ²  touched Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.

It then crossed from there to Luz, to the slope of Luz to the south (that is, Bethel), ¹  and descended to Ataroth Addar located on the hill that is south of lower Beth Horon.

It went northward, extending to En Shemesh and Geliloth opposite the Pass ¹  of Adummim, and descended to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.

When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, ¹  they were satisfied. ² 

or associate with these nations that remain near ¹  you. You must not invoke or make solemn declarations by the names of their gods! ²  You must not worship ³  or bow down to them!

They told Joshua, “We will do everything you say. We will go wherever you send us.

If you should report what we’ve been up to, ¹  we are not bound by this oath you made us swear.”

About forty thousand battle-ready troops ¹  marched past the Lord to fight ²  on the plains of Jericho. ³ 

They ate some of the produce of the land the day after the Passover, including unleavened bread and roasted grain. ¹ 

So about three thousand men went up, but they fled from the men of Ai.