I repeat, ¹  be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, ²  for I, the Lord your God, am with you in all you do.” ³ 

But Israel did plunder the cattle and the goods of the city, in accordance with the Lord’s orders to Joshua. ¹ 

for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses. ¹ 

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

Now Joshua had instructed the army, ¹  “Do not give a battle cry ²  or raise your voices; say nothing ³  until the day I tell you, ‘Give the battle cry.’ ⁴  Then give the battle cry!” ⁵ 

Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenantal commandment! ¹  They have taken some of the riches; ²  they have stolen them and deceitfully put them among their own possessions. ³ 

Joshua read aloud every commandment Moses had given ¹  before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, children, and resident foreigners who lived among them. ² 

I will drive out before the Israelites all who live in the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, ¹  all the Sidonians; you be sure to parcel it out to Israel as I instructed you.” ² 

He told ¹  them, “Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city; all of you be ready!

Make sure you are ¹  very strong and brave! Carefully obey ²  all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! ³  Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful ⁴  in all you do. ⁵ 

He hung the king of Ai on a tree, leaving him exposed until evening. ¹  At sunset Joshua ordered that his corpse be taken down from the tree. ²  They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and erected over it a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day). ³ 

At sunset Joshua ordered his men to take them down from the trees. ¹  They threw them into the cave where they had hidden and piled large stones over the mouth of the cave. (They remain to this very day.) ² 

But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love ¹  the Lord your God, follow all his instructions, ²  obey ³  his commands, be loyal to him, ⁴  and serve him with all your heart and being!” ⁵ 

The seventh time around, the priests blew the rams’ horns and Joshua told the army, ¹  “Give the battle cry, ²  for the Lord is handing the city over to you! ³ 

All the people, ¹  rulers, ²  leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there. ³  Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord’s servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony. ⁴ 

When Joshua gave the army its orders, ¹  the seven priests carrying the seven rams’ horns before the Lord moved ahead and blew the horns as the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed behind.

So the Israelites assigned these cities and their grazing areas to the Levites from their own holdings, as the Lord had instructed.

When the men started out, Joshua told those going to map out the land, “Go, walk through the land, map it out, and return to me. Then I will draw lots for you before the Lord here in Shiloh.”

As the Lord had instructed, they gave him the city he requested – Timnath Serah in the Ephraimite hill country. He built up the city and lived in it.

The Lord told Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city ¹  over to you.” So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand.