So Joshua made sure they marched the ark of the <sc>Lordsc> around the city one time.<n id="1" /> Then they went back to the camp and spent the night there.<n id="2" />p>

They went<n id="1" /> to the hill country and stayed there for three days, long enough for those chasing them<n id="2" /> to return. Their pursuers<n id="3" /> looked all along the way but did not find them.<n id="4" />

Then the two men returned &#8211; they came down from the hills, crossed the river,<n id="1" /> came to Joshua son of Nun, and reported to him all they had discovered.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Bright and early the next morning Joshua and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan.<n id="1" /> They camped there before crossing the river.<n id="2" />

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" />

When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked.<n id="1" /> They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities &#8211; Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.

Joshua and the Israelites almost totally wiped them out, but some survivors did escape to the fortified cities.<n id="1" />

All these kings gathered and joined forces<n id="1" /> at the Waters of Merom to fight Israel.p>

Pick three men from each tribe. I will send them out to walk through the land and make a map of it for me.<n id="1" />

The men journeyed<n id="1" /> through the land and mapped it and its cities out into seven regions on a scroll. Then they came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.

They went to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them:

<t /><p class="bodytext">Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them:<n id="1" /> &#8220;Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.&#8221;<n id="2" /> They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there.<n id="3" />

So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside<n id="1" /> the Israelite camp.

<t /><p class="bodytext">The Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan and built there, near the Jordan, an impressive altar.<n id="1" />