Verse 3

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,

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Referenced Verses

  • Josh 10:2 : 2 he and his people were very afraid because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, even greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty warriors.
  • Josh 9:17 : 17 So the Israelites set out and on the third day they arrived at the cities of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.
  • 2 Sam 21:1-2 : 1 During the days of David, there was a famine for three years, year after year. David sought the presence of the Lord, and the Lord said, "It concerns Saul and his house, who are guilty of bloodshed, for he killed the Gibeonites." 2 So the king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites but a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn an oath to them, but Saul had tried to kill them in his zeal for Israel and Judah.)
  • Josh 6:1-9 : 1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites; no one was allowed to go out or come in. 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, 'See, I have delivered Jericho, its king, and its mighty warriors into your hands.' 3 You and all the fighting men are to march around the city once. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry seven ram’s horn trumpets in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, and the priests are to blow the trumpets. 5 When you hear the sound of a long blast from the ram’s horn, have all the people give a loud shout. Then the wall of the city will collapse, and the people will go up—each straight ahead. 6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, 'Take up the Ark of the Covenant, and have seven priests carry seven trumpets before it.' 7 And he commanded the people, 'Advance and march around the city, with the armed men going ahead of the ark of the LORD.' 8 After Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark, all while the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the people, 'Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, and do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!' 11 So he had the Ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there. 12 Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests carried the Ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven ram's horn trumpets marched ahead of the Ark of the LORD, blowing the trumpets as they went. The armed guard went before them, and the rear guard followed behind the Ark of the LORD, all while the trumpets sounded continuously. 14 On the second day, they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did the same for six days. 15 On the seventh day, they rose early, at dawn, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day alone, they circled the city seven times. 16 On the seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua said to the people, 'Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!' 17 The city and all within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and those with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers we sent. 18 But you must keep yourselves from taking any of the things devoted to destruction; otherwise, you will bring destruction upon the camp of Israel and trouble it. 19 All the silver, gold, bronze, and iron are holy to the LORD and must go into His treasury. 20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted. At the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a great shout, the wall collapsed. Each person charged straight in, and they captured the city. 21 They devoted to destruction everything in the city—men and women, young and old, as well as oxen, sheep, and donkeys—by the edge of the sword. 22 But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, 'Go to the house of the prostitute and bring her out, along with everyone who belongs to her, just as you swore to her.' 23 So the young men who had scouted the land went in and brought out Rahab, along with her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and placed them outside the camp of Israel. 24 Then they burned the city and everything in it with fire. However, they put the silver, gold, bronze, and iron items into the treasury of the LORD's house. 25 Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, along with her family and everyone belonging to her, and she has lived among the Israelites to this day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. 26 At that time, Joshua pronounced this oath: 'Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up to rebuild this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn, he will lay its foundation; and at the cost of his youngest, he will set up its gates.' 27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.
  • Josh 8:1-9 : 1 The Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid or dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you and go up to Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land." 2 "Do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. However, you may take its spoil and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city, behind it." 3 So Joshua and all the fighting men rose to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. 4 He commanded them, saying, "Behold, you are to lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go far from the city, but all of you stay ready." 5 "I and all the people with me will approach the city, and when they come out to meet us as they did before, we will flee before them." 6 "They will chase after us until we lure them away from the city, for they will say, 'They are running away from us as they did before.' So we will flee before them." 7 "Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hands." 8 "When you have taken the city, you shall set it on fire, as the Lord has commanded. See, I have commanded you." 9 So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site, remaining between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai. Joshua spent that night among the people. 10 Joshua rose early in the morning, mustered the people, and he and the elders of Israel went up before the people to Ai. 11 All the fighting men who were with him went up and approached the city. They camped to the north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12 He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city. 13 The people positioned all the camp to the north of the city, while a rear guard was placed to the west of the city. That night, Joshua went into the valley. 14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all his men of the city hurried and rose early, going out to meet Israel in battle at the appointed place near the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush was set against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled toward the wilderness. 16 All the people of Ai were summoned to pursue them. They chased after Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city unguarded and pursued Israel. 18 The Lord said to Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand." So Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city. 19 As soon as he stretched out his hand, the ambush rose quickly from their position, ran into the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire. 20 When the men of Ai looked back, they saw the smoke of the city rising to the sky, and they had no power to flee in any direction. The Israelites who had fled toward the wilderness now turned against their pursuers. 21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that its smoke was rising, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 The others came out from the city to meet them, so the men of Ai were surrounded by the Israelites, some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until no survivors or fugitives were left. 23 But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. 24 When Israel finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open field and in the wilderness where they had pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were completely destroyed, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the sword. 25 On that day, twelve thousand men and women, all the people of Ai, fell. 26 Joshua did not draw back the hand with which he had stretched out the javelin until he had completely destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took for themselves, according to the word of the Lord that He commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day. 29 He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sunset, Joshua gave the command, and they took his body down from the tree, threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and piled over it a large heap of stones, which remains to this day. 30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal. 31 He built it according to what Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses. 33 All Israel, along with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who were carrying it. Both the sojourner and the native-born were present. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half stood in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel. 34 Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. 35 Not a single word of all that Moses had commanded was omitted; Joshua read it all to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, the children, and the foreigners living among them.