¹ But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.

² And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai.

³ And they returned to Joshua, and said to him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labor thither; for they are but few.

⁴ So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.

⁵ And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

⁶ And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.

⁷ And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, why hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? O that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of Jordan.

⁸ O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turn their backs before their enemies!

⁹ For the Canaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will environ us, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do to thy great name?

¹⁰ And the LORD said to Joshua, Arise; Why liest thou thus upon thy face?

¹¹ Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own goods.

¹² Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

¹³ Rise, sanctify the people, and say, sanctify yourselves against to-morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thy enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

¹⁴ In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to their families: and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.

¹⁵ And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

¹⁶ So Joshua rose early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:

¹⁷ And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:

¹⁸ And he brought his household man by man; and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

¹⁹ And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to him; and tell me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me.

²⁰ And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done.

²¹ When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it.

²³ And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.

²⁴ And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them to the valley of Achor.

²⁵ And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.

²⁶ And they raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger: wherefore the name of that place was called the valley of Achor to this day.

¹ And Joshua the son of Nun sent from Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go, view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into the house of a harlot, named Rahab, and lodged there.

² And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to-night of the children of Israel, to search out the country.

³ And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that have come to thee, who have entered into thy house: for they have come to search out all the country.

⁴ And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men to me, but I knew not whence they were:

⁵ And it came to pass about the time of shutting the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went, I know not: pursue after them quickly; for ye will overtake them.

⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

⁷ And the men pursued them the way to Jordan to the fords: and as soon as they who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸ And before they had lain down, she came up to them upon the roof;

⁹ And she said to the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror hath fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

¹⁰ For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

¹¹ And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

¹² Now therefore, I pray you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have showed you kindness, that ye will also show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token:

¹³ And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

¹⁴ And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

¹⁵ Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town-wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

¹⁶ And she said to them, Depart to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned: and afterward ye may go your way.

¹⁷ And the men said to her, We will be blameless of this thy oath which thou hast made us swear.

¹⁸ Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window by which thou didst let us down: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household home to thee.

¹⁹ And it shall be, that whoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

²⁰ And if thou shalt utter this our business, then we will be quit of thy oath which thou hast made us to swear.

²¹ And she said, According to your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

²² And they went, and came to the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers had returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.

²³ So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:

²⁴ And they said to Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.