The Book of Joshua marks a new beginning, to the story of Israel in Canaan. Yet the story continues straight on without a break. Deuteronomy had looked forward to the Israelites occupying Canaan

7.2: Take It Easy

2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai [ha’ay, The Ruin], which is by Bet Aven [Trouble House], east of Bet-el. He said to them, ‘Go up and investigate the region’. The men went up and investigated Ai, 3 and came back to Joshua and said to him, ‘The entire company should not go up. Some two or three thousand men should go up and strike down Ai. You shouldn’t make the entire company get weary there, because they are few’. 4 So some 3000 of the company went up, but they took flight before the men of Ai. 5 The men of Ai struck down some thirty-six of them, and pursued them before the gateway as far as the quarries and struck them down on the slope.

The company’s mind melted, turned to water. 6 Joshua tore his clothes and fell on his face to the ground before Yahweh’s chest until the evening, he and Israel’s elders, and they put dirt on their head. 7 Joshua said, ‘Oh, Lord Yahweh, why did you bring this people across the Jordan at all, to give us into the hand of the Amorites to obliterate us? If only we had resolved to live across the Jordan. 8 As for me, Lord, what am I to say after Israel has turned its back before its enemies? 9 The Canaanites and all the people living in the country will hear and surround us us and cut off our name from the earth, and what will you do about your great name?’

10 Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘Get yourself up. Why are you falling on your face there? 11 Israel has done wrong. Yes, they’ve contravened my pact about which I gave them orders. They’ve both taken some of the things that were to be devoted, and they’ve stolen, and they’ve acted deceitfully, and they’ve put things in their bags. 12 The Israelites won’t be able to stand before their enemies, they’ll turn their back before their enemies, because they’ve become something to be devoted. I shall not be with you any more unless you annihilate from among you the thing that’s to be devoted.

7.13: Coveting Can Kill

13 Get up, make the people sacred. You’re to say, “Make yourselves sacred for tomorrow, because Yahweh, the God of Israel, has said this: There’s something to be devoted among you, Israel. You can’t stand before your enemies until you’ve removed what is to be devoted from among you”.

14 In the morning you’re to draw near by your clans. The clan that Yahweh takes is to draw near by kin-groups. The kin-group that Yahweh takes is to draw near by households. The household that Yahweh takes is to draw near man by man. 15 The one who is taken in the net is to burn in fire, he and everything that belongs to him, because he contravened Yahweh’s pact and because he did something villainous in Israel’.

16 Joshua started early in the morning and presented Israel by its clans, and the clan of Judah was taken. 17 He presented the kin-group of Judah, and he took the kin-group of Zerah. He presented the kin-group of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 He presented his household man by man, and Akan ben Karmi, son of Zabdi son of Zerah of the clan of Judah was taken. 19 Joshua said to Akan, ‘Son, please give honour to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Please tell me what you’ve done. Don’t hide it from me’. 20 Akan answered Joshua, ‘Truly I’m the one who’s done wrong against Yahweh, the God of Israel. This actual thing is what I did. 21 I saw in the spoil a fine coat from Shin’ar, and 200 sheqels of silver, and a bar of gold fifty sheqels in weight. I desired them and took them. There, they’re buried in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath’.

22 Joshua sent envoys and they ran to the tent, and there, it was buried in his tent, with the silver underneath. 23 They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the Israelites, and they laid them out before Yahweh.

7.24: Purging Away the Trespass

24 Joshua took Akan ben Zerah, the silver, the coat, the gold bar, and his sons, his daughters, his ox, his donkey, his flock, his tent, and everything that he had, he and all Israel with him, and brought them up to Disaster Vale. 25 Joshua said, ‘How you’ve brought disaster on us! Yahweh will bring disaster on you this day’. All Israel pelted him with stones. They burned them in fire and executed them by stoning, 26 and raised a great heap of stones over them until this day. And Yahweh turned back from his angry burning.

That’s why they’ve named that place Disaster Vale, until this day.

8 Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed. Take the entire battle company with you and set off, go up to Ai. See, I’ve given into your hand the king of Ai, his town, his people, and his region. 2 You’re to do to Ai and to its king as you did to Jericho and to its king, only its spoil and its animals you may treat as plunder for yourselves. Set yourself an ambush for the town, behind it’.

3 So Joshua and all the battle company set off to go up to Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 men, forceful strong men, sent them by night, 4 and ordered them, ‘See, you’re going to be men in an ambush for the town, behind the town. Don’t be very far from the town, and all of you be ready. 5 I and the entire company that’s with me—we’ll draw near the town, and when they come out to meet us like the first time, we’ll flee before them. 6 They’ll come out after us till we’ve drawn them away from the town, because they’ll say ‘They’re fleeing before us like the first time’. So we’ll flee before them, 7 and you’ll get up out of the ambush and take possession of the town. Yahweh your God will give it into your hand. 8 When you’ve taken the town, set the town on fire. You’re to act in accordance with Yahweh’s word. See, I’ve given you orders’.

8.9: The Game Plan Executed

9 So Joshua sent them, they went to the ambush, and they settled down between Bet-el and Ai, west of Ai. Joshua stayed the night among the company. 10 Joshua started early in the morning and numbered the company, and he and Israel’s elders went up before the company to Ai. 11 All the battle company that was with him went up, moved close and came in front of the town, and camped north of Ai. There was a ravine between them and Ai.

12 So he had taken some 5000 men and set them as an ambush between Bet-el and Ai, west of the town, 13 and the company set up the entire camp, which was north of the town, and its rearguard west of the town. Joshua had gone that night into the middle of the vale.

14 When the king of Ai saw it, the men of the town hurried and started early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his company, at the set place facing the steppe; he didn’t know that there was an ambush for him behind the town. 15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten before them and fled by the wilderness road. 16 The entire company that was in Ai cried out to one another to pursue after them, and they pursued after Joshua and tore out of the town. 17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bet El who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the town open and pursued after Israel.

18 Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘Hold out the javelin that’s in your hand toward Ai, because I shall give it into your hand’. Joshua held out the javelin that was in his hand toward the town, 19 while the ambush quickly got up out of its place. They ran when he held out his hand, came into the town and captured it, and hurried and set the town on fire.

8.20: Ai Becomes a Ruin

20 The men of Ai turned their face behind them and looked: there, smoke from the town went up to the heavens. There was no capacity in them to go this way or that when the company fleeing to the wilderness turned onto the pursuer 21 and Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the town and that smoke from the town had gone up, and they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 When these [Israelites] came out of the town to meet them, in relation to Israel they were in the middle, some [Israelites] on one side and some on the other. They struck them down so they didn’t let anyone remain to it as escapee or survivor. 23 The king of Ai they took alive and presented him to Joshua.

24 When Israel had finished slaughtering all the people living in Ai in in the fields, in the wilderness where they had pursued them, and all of them had fallen to the mouth of the sword until they had come to an end, all Israel went back to Ai and struck it down with the mouth of the sword.

25 All those who fell that day, both men and women, 12,000, all the people living in Ai. 26 Joshua didn’t take back his hand with which he held out his javelin until he had devoted all the people living in Ai 27 Only the animals and the spoil in that town did Israel take as plunder for themselves, in accordance with Yahweh’s word with which he had ordered Joshua. 28 Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent ruin, a desolation until this day. 29 The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the time of evening. At sundown Joshua ordered, and they took down his corpse from the tree, threw it at the entrance of the town gateway, and set up over it a great heap of stones, until this day.

8.30: It’s Over Even When It’s Not Over

30 Then Joshua built an altar for Yahweh the God of Israel on Mount Ebal, 31 as Moses Yahweh’s servant ordered the Israelites, as it is written in Moses’ instruction document: an altar of whole stones on which no one had wielded iron. They offered up on it burnt offerings for Yahweh and made well-being sacrifices. 32 He wrote there on the stones a copy of Moses’ instruction that he had written, before the Israelites. 33 All Israel, its elders,the overseers, and its rulers, were standing on each side of the chest, facing the Levitical priests who carried Yahweh’s pact chest, resident and native alike, half of them facing Mount Gerizim and half of them facing Mount Ebal, as Moses Yahweh’s servant had ordered beforehand, to bless the people of Israel.

34 After this, he read out all the words of the instruction, the blessing and the slight, in accordance with all that’s written in the instruction document. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses ordered that Joshua didn’t read out in front of Israel’s entire congregation, with the women and little ones and the residents who were going among them

9 When all the kings who were across the Jordan heard, in the highland, in the foothills, and on the entire coast of the Great Sea to near the Lebanon (the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivvite, and the Yebusite), 2 they gathered together to battle with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord.

9.3: How to Take Israel In

3 The people living in Gib’on heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, 4 and they for their part acted with shrewdness. They went and behaved like envoys, but got worn-out sacks for their donkeys and worn-out wineskins, cracked and mended, 5 with worn-out, patched boots on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves, and all the bread they had as their provisions was dry and hard. 6 They went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the Israelites, ‘We’ve come from a country far away, so now, solemnize a pact with us’.

7 The Israelites said to the Hivvites, ‘Maybe you’re living among us. How can I solemnize a pact with you?’ 8 They said to Joshua, ‘We are your servants’. Joshua said to them, ‘Who are you? Where do you come from?’

9 They said to him, ‘Your servants have come from a country very far away by reason of the name of Yahweh your God, because we’ve heard the report about him, about all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two Amorite kings who were across the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan who was in Ashtarot. 11 Our elders and all the people living in our country said to us, ‘Get in your hand provisions for the journey and go to meet them and say to them: “We are your servants, so now, solemnize a pact with us”. 12 This is our bread: we brought it hot as our provision from our houses on the day we left to go to you, but now – here, it’s dry and hard. 13 These wineskins that we filled new – here, they’ve cracked. These clothes of ours and boots of ours have worn out from the great length of the journey’.

14 The people took some of their provisions and didn’t ask for Yahweh’s bidding. 15 Joshua made peace with them and solemnized a pact with them to let them live, and the assembly’s leaders swore an oath to them.

9.16: How to Swallow Your Pride

16 At the end of three days after they solemnized the pact with them, they heard that they were near them, living among them.

17 The Israelites moved on and came to their towns on the third day. Their towns were Gib’on, Qephirah, Be’erot, and Ye’arim Township. 18 The Israelites didn’t strike them down because the assembly’s leaders had sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel. The entire assembly protested at the leaders, 19 but all the leaders said to the entire assembly, ‘We ourselves swore to them by Yahweh the God of Israel. We can’t now touch them. 20 We’ll do this to them: we’ll let them live, so that there won’t be fury against us because of the oath we swore to them’, 21 so the leaders said to them, ‘They’re to live’, but they became woodchoppers and water carriers for the entire assembly, as the leaders spoke concerning them.

22 So Joshua called them and spoke to them: ‘Why did you beguile us in saying, “We live very far away from you”, and you’re living among us? 23 You’re now cursed. None of you will stop being a servant, both woodchoppers and water carriers for my God’s house’. 24 They answered Joshua, ‘Because it had been clearly told to your servants that Yahweh your God ordered Moses his servant to give you the entire country and to annihilate all the people living in the country from before you. We were very fearful for our lives from before you, so we did this thing. 25 But now, here we are, in your hand. Act toward us in accordance with what is good and with what is right in your eyes to act toward us’.

26 He did so to them: he rescued them from the hand of the Israelites, and they didn’t slaughter them. 27 That day Joshua made them woodchoppers and water carriers for the assembly and for Yahweh’s altar, until this day, at the site that he would choose.

10:1 Five Kings Panic

10 When Adonay-tsedeq king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and devoted it (as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king), and that the inhabitants of Gib’on had made peace with Israel and were among them, 2 people were very fearful, because Gib’on was a big town, like one of the royal towns, and because it was bigger than Ai, and all its men were strong men. 3 So Adonay-tsedeq king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Pir’am king of Yarmut,to Yaphia king of Lakish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying 5 ‘Go up to me and help me, and we’ll strike down Gib’on, because it’s made peace with Joshua and with the Israelites’.

5 So the five Amorite kings, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Yarmut, the king of Lakish, and the king of Eglon, they and their entire camp, gathered together, went up, camped against Gib’on, and did battle against it. 6 The people of Gib’on sent to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, saying ‘Don’t slacken your hands from your servants, go up to us quickly, deliver us, help us, because all the kings of the Amorites, the people living in the highland, have collected together against us’. 7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and the entire battle company with him, all the forceful strong men.

8 Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘Don’t be afraid of them, because I’ve given them into your hand. Not one of them will stand before you’. 9 Joshua came on them by surprise; he had gone up all night from Gilgal, 10 and Yahweh put them into a turmoil before Israel. He struck them down in a great rout at Gib’on and pursued them on the road to the Bet-horon ascent, and struck them down as far as Azeqah and as far as Maqqedah.

10.11: No Compromise

11 While they were fleeing from before Israel (they were on the Bet-horon descent), Yahweh threw big stones at them from the heavens, as far as Azeqah. More died who died through the hailstones than the Israelites slaughtered with the sword.

12 Joshua spoke to Yahweh then, on the day Yahweh gave over the Amorites before the Israelites, and said before the eyes of Israel,
Sun stand still at Gib’on

moon at the Ayyalon Vale!

13 The sun stood still,

the moon halted,

Until a nation

took redress from its foes.

(It’s written on the Document of the Upright One, isn’t it.)
The sun stood in the middle of the heavens and didn’t hasten to set, the like of a whole day. 14 There hasn’t been anything like that day before it or after it for Yahweh’s listening to someone’s voice, because Yahweh was battling for Israel.

15 Joshua and all Israel with him went back to the camp at Gilgal, 16 and these five kings fled and hid in a cave at Maqqedah. 17 It was told Joshua, ‘Five kings have been found hiding in a cave at Maqqedah’. 18 Joshua said, ‘Roll big stones to the cave’s mouth and appoint men over it to keep them. 19 But you, don’t halt, pursue after your enemies and hit them from the rear. Don’t let them come to their towns, because Yahweh your God has given them into your hand’. 20 When Joshua and the Israelites had finished striking them down in a great rout until they had come to an end, though some survivors escaped from them and came to their fortified towns, 21 the entire company went back to the camp to Joshua at Maqqedah in safety. No one loosened his tongue about the Israelites.

10.22 Open the Cave

22 Joshua said, ‘Open the cave mouth and bring these five kings out of the cave to me’. 23 They did so: they brought these five kings out of the cave to him, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Yarmut, the king of Lakish, the king of Eglon. 24 When they brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called all the Israelites and said to the commander over the men of battle who had gone with him, ‘Draw near, put your feet on the necks of these kings’. They drew near and put their feet on their necks. 25 Joshua said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared. Be strong, stand firm, because Yahweh will act like this to all your enemies with whom you’re battling’.

26 After this, Joshua struck them down. He put them to death and hanged them on five trees. They were hanged on the trees until the evening. 27 At the time when the sun went down, Joshua gave an order and they took them down from the trees, threw them into the cave where they had hidden, and put big stones on the cave mouth, until this very day.

28 That day Joshua captured Maqqedah and struck it down, it and its king, with the mouth of the sword. He ‘devoted’ them, along with every person who was in it. He didn’t let a survivor remain. He did to the king of Maqqedah as he had done to the king of Jericho. 29 Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Maqqedah to Libnah and battled with Libnah, 30 and Yahweh gave it, too, into Israel’s hand, it and its king. He struck it down with the mouth of the sword, along with every person who was in it. He didn’t let a survivor remain in it. He did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.

10.31: Welcome to the Wild Wild West

31 Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lakish and camped against it and battled against it, 32 and Yahweh gave Lakish into Israel’s hand. He captured it on the second day and struck it down with mouth of the sword, along with every person who was in it, in accordance with all that he had done to Libnah. 33 Horam king of Gezer had gone up then to help Lakish, but Joshua struck down him and his company until he didn’t let a survivor remain to him.

34 Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lakish to Eglon and camped against it and battled against it. 35 That day they captured it and struck it down with the mouth of the sword. Every person who was in it he devoted that day, in accordance with all that he had done to Lakish. 36 Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron and battled against it. 37 They captured it and struck it down with the mouth of the sword, its king and all its towns and every person who was in it. He didn’t let a survivor remain, in accordance with all that he had done to Eglon. He devoted it and every person who was in it.

38 Joshua and all Israel with him went back to Debir and battled against it. 39 He captured it and its king and all its towns. They struck them down with the mouth of the sword and devoted every person who was in it. He didn’t let a survivor remain. As he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and to its king, and as he had done to Libnah and to its king.

10.40: Welcome to the Wild Wild North

40 Joshua struck down the entire country: the highland, the Negeb, the foothills, and the slopes, with all their kings. He didn’t let a survivor remain. Anything that breathed he devoted, as Yahweh the God of Israel had ordered. 41 Joshua struck them down from Qadesh Barnea to Gaza [Azzah], all the Goshen region, and as far as Gib’on. 42 All these kings and their country Joshua captured at a single stroke, because Yahweh the God of Israel was battling for Israel. 43 Then Joshua and all Israel with him went back to the camp at Gilgal.

11 When Yabin king of of Hatsor heard, he sent to Yobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Akshaph, 2 to the kings who were to the north, in the highland, in the steppe south of Kinneret, in the foothills, and in the Dor Heights on the west, 3 the Canaanite on the east and on the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Yebusite in the highland, and the Hivvite beneath Hermon in the region of The Watchtower. 4 They went out, those and their entire camp with them, a company as numerous as the sand that’s on the seashore in its large number, with very numerous horse and chariotry. 5 All these kings arranged to meet, and came and camped together at Merom Water to do battle with Israel.

6 Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘Don’t be afraid before them, because tomorrow at this very time I’m going to give all of them up, run through before Israel. You’re to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots in fire’. 7 So Joshua and all his battle company with him came on them at Merom Water by surprise. They fell on them, 8 and Yahweh gave them into Israel’s hand. They struck them down and pursued them as far as Great Tsidon, as far as Misrephot Water, and as far as Watchtower Valley on the east, and struck them down until they let no survivor remain. 9 Joshua did to them as Yahweh had said to him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots in fire.

11.10: The Entire Country Taken

10 Joshua turned back at that time and captured Hatsor, and its king he struck down with the sword, because Hatsor was formerly head of all these kingdoms. 11 They struck down every person who was in it with the mouth of the sword, devoting them. Nothing that breathed was left, while he burned Hatsor in fire.

12 All these royal towns and their kings Joshua captured. He struck them down with the mouth of the sword and devoted them, as Moses Yahweh’s servant had ordered. 13 Yet all the towns that were standing on their mound Israel didn’t burn, except that Joshua burned Hatsor alone. 14 All the spoil in these towns and the animals the Israelites took as plunder for themselves. They struck down only all the human beings with the mouth of the sword until they had annihilated them; they didn’t let anything that breathed remain. 15 As Yahweh had ordered Moses his servant, so Moses had ordered Joshua, and so Joshua did. He didn’t take out anything from all that Yahweh had ordered Moses.

16 So Joshua took this entire country: the highland, the entire Negeb, the entire Goshen region, the foothills, the steppe, the highland of Israel and its foothills, 17 from Bald Mountain which goes up to Se’ir and as far as Ba’al Gad in the Lebanon Valley beneath Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings, struck them down, and put them to death.

18 For a long time Joshua did battle with all these kings. 19 There was no town that made peace with the Israelites except the Hivvites living in Gib’on. They took everything in battle, 20 because it issued from Yahweh to stiffen their heart to meet with Israel in battle, in order that he might devote them without there being any grace for them—in order that rather he might annihilate them, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.