<p class="bodytext">Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone into the battle, &#8220;This is the ordinance of the law that the <sc>Lordsc> commanded Moses:

and said to him,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Your servants have taken a count<n id="2" /> of the men who were in the battle, who were under our authority,<n id="3" /> and not one is missing.

<p class="bodytext">Then Moses replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;If you will do this thing, and if you will arm yourselves for battle before the <sc>Lordsc>,

<t /><p class="bodytext">Next we set out on<n id="1" /> the route to Bashan,<n id="2" /> but King Og of Bashan and his whole army<n id="3" /> came out to meet us in battle at Edrei.<n id="4" />

Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it.

Or who among you<n id="1" /> has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.&#8221;

When you came to this place King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to make war and we defeated them.

This is why Joshua had to circumcise them: All the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt died on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt.<n id="1" />

Have all the warriors march around the city one time;<n id="1" /> do this for six days.

<p class="bodytext">Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai.<n id="1" /> Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night.

All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city.<n id="1" /> They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley.<n id="2" />

Joshua and his whole army caught them by surprise at the Waters of Merom and attacked them.<n id="1" />

No city made peace with the Israelites (except the Hivites living in Gibeon);<n id="1" /> they had to conquer all of them,<n id="2" />

Today I am still as strong as when Moses sent me out. I can fight and go about my daily activities with the same energy I had then.<n id="1" />

(Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba. Arba was a famous Anakite.<n id="1" />) Then the land was free of war.p>

<p class="bodytext">These were the nations the <sc>Lordsc> permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel &#8211; he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites.<n id="1" />

He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war.<n id="1" />

The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The Israelite army<n id="1" /> took heart<n id="2" /> and once more arranged their battle lines, in the same place where they had taken their positions the day before.

Ten thousand men, well-trained soldiers from all Israel, then made a frontal assault against Gibeah &#8211; the battle was fierce.<n id="1" /> But the Benjaminites did not realize that disaster was at their doorstep.<n id="2" />