¹ But the children of Israel committed unfaithfulness in that which had been brought under the curse: 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 Jehovah 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 Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and spy out the country. And the men went up and spied out Ai.

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

⁴ And there went up thither of the people about three thousand men, but they fled before the men of Ai.

⁵ And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty-six men; and they pursued them from before the gate to Shebarim, and smote them on the descent. Then 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 Jehovah until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and threw dust upon their heads.

⁷ And Joshua said, Alas, Lord Jehovah, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh that we had been content and had remained beyond the Jordan!

⁸ Ah Lord! what shall I say after Israel have turned their backs before their enemies?

⁹ When the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear [of it], they will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

¹⁰ And Jehovah said to Joshua, Rise up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?

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

¹² And the children of Israel shall not be able to stand before their enemies: they shall turn their backs before their enemies, for they have made themselves accursed. I will no more be with you, except ye destroy the accursed thing from your midst.

¹³ Rise up, hallow the people, and say, hallow yourselves for to-morrow; for thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, Israel: thou shalt not be able to stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from your midst.

¹⁴ And ye shall be brought near in the morning according to your tribes; and it shall be, that the tribe which Jehovah taketh shall come forward by families, and the family which Jehovah taketh shall come forward by households; and the household which Jehovah taketh shall come forward man by man.

¹⁵ And it shall be, that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he hath, because he hath transgressed the covenant of Jehovah, and because he hath wrought wickedness in Israel.

¹⁶ And Joshua rose early in the morning, and caused Israel to come forward by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.

¹⁷ And he caused the families of Judah to come forward, and he took the family of the Zarhites. And he caused the family of the Zarhites to come forward man by man, and Zabdi was taken.

¹⁸ And he caused his household to come forward 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 Jehovah the God of Israel, and make confession to him: tell me now what thou hast done, keep it not back from me.

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

²¹ I saw among the spoils a beautiful mantle of Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a golden bar of fifty shekels weight, and 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 And 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 out of the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before Jehovah.

²⁴ Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the bar 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 up into the valley of Achor.

²⁵ And Joshua said, How hast thou troubled us! Jehovah will trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones.

²⁶ And they raised over him a great heap of stones, [which is there] to this day. And Jehovah turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called, The Valley of Achor, to this day.

¹ And all the children of Israel went forth, and the assembly gathered together as one man, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and the land of Gilead, unto Jehovah at Mizpah.

² And the heads of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the congregation of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

³ And the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. And the children of Israel said, Tell [us], how was this wickedness?

⁴ Then the Levite, the husband of the woman that was murdered, answered and said, I came to Gibeah that [belongs] to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.

⁵ And the citizens of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house because of me, by night; they thought to slay me, and my concubine have they humbled so that she died.

⁶ Then I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout the country of the inheritance of Israel; for they have committed lewdness and villany in Israel.

⁷ Behold, all ye, children of Israel, deliberate and give here [your] counsel.

⁸ And all the people rose up as one man, saying, We will not any one go to his tent, neither will we any one turn into his house.

⁹ But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: [we go] by lot against it;

¹⁰ and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to fetch victuals for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the villany that they have wrought in Israel.

¹¹ And all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.

¹² And the tribes of Israel sent men to all the families of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that has been done among you?

¹³ And now give up the men, the sons of Belial, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But [the children of] Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel.

¹⁴ And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities of Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.

¹⁵ And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities, twenty-six thousand men that drew sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.

¹⁶ Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; all these slang stones at a hair [breadth], and missed not.

¹⁷ And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword: all these were men of war.

¹⁸ And the children of Israel arose and went up to Bethel, and inquired of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And Jehovah said, Judah first.

¹⁹ And the children of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.

²⁰ And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah.

²¹ And the children of Benjamin went forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty-two thousand men.

²² And the people, the men of Israel, took courage, and set the battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.

²³ And the children of Israel went up and wept before Jehovah until even, and inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And Jehovah said, go up against him.

²⁴ And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.

²⁵ And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and again destroyed to the ground of the children of Israel eighteen thousand men: all these drew the sword.

²⁶ Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up and came to Bethel, and wept, and abode there before Jehovah, and fasted that day until even, and offered up burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before Jehovah.

²⁷ And the children of Israel inquired of Jehovah (and the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,

²⁸ and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And Jehovah said, Go up; for to-morrow I will give them into thy hand.

²⁹ And Israel set liers in wait against Gibeah, round about.

³⁰ And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at the other times.

³¹ And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city, and began to smite of the people, slaying as at the former times, in the highways, of which one leads to Bethel and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

³² And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. And the children of Israel said, Let us flee, that we may draw them from the city to the highways.

³³ And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-Tamar; and the ambush of Israel rushed forth out of their place, out of the meadows of Geba.

³⁴ And there came from opposite Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was severe; but they knew not that disaster was coming upon them.

³⁵ And Jehovah smote Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjaminites that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men: all these drew the sword.

³⁶ And the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten. -- And the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they trusted to the ambush that they had set against Gibeah.

³⁷ And the ambush hasted, and fell upon Gibeah; and the ambush drew along, and smote the whole city with the edge of the sword.

³⁸ Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambush, that they should make a thick column of smoke rise up out of the city.

³⁹ And when the men of Israel turned back in the battle, Benjamin began to smite, slaying of the men of Israel about thirty men; for they said, Surely they are quite routed before us as in the first battle.

⁴⁰ And when the burning began to rise up out of the city as a pillar of smoke, Benjamin looked behind, and behold, the whole city ascended [in smoke] to the heavens.

⁴¹ Then the men of Israel turned back, and the men of Benjamin were amazed, for they saw that disaster was come upon them.

⁴² And they turned before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in their midst.

⁴³ They encompassed the Benjaminites, chased them, trode them down at the resting-place over against Gibeah toward the sun-rising.

⁴⁴ And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men: all these, men of valour.

⁴⁵ And they turned and fled towards the wilderness to the cliff of Rimmon, and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men; and pursued hard after them to Gidom, and slew two thousand men of them.

⁴⁶ So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men that drew the sword: all these, men of valour.

⁴⁷ And six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness to the cliff of Rimmon, and abode at the cliff of Rimmon four months.

⁴⁸ And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of [every] city as the cattle, and all that was found; even all the cities that were found did they set on fire.