- And it was after the death of Moses that the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, saying,
- Rise up and pass the Jordan to the land which I have given to the children of Israel, and
thou shalt make the children of Israel inherit the land.
- Every place upon which the sole of your feet shall tread shall belong to you, from the
wilderness of Lebanon unto the great river the river of Perath shall be your boundary.
- No man shall stand up against thee all the days of thy life; as I was with Moses, so will I be
with thee, only be strong and of good courage to observe all the law which Moses
commanded thee, turn not from the way either to the right or to the left, in order that thou
mayest prosper in all that thou doest.
- And Joshua commanded the officers of Israel, saying, Pass through the camp and
command the people, saying, Prepare for yourselves provisions, for in three days more you
will pass the Jordan to possess the land.
- And the officers of the children of Israel did so, and they commanded the people and they
did all that Joshua had commanded.
- And Joshua sent two men to spy out the land of Jericho, and the men went and spied out
Jericho.
- And at the end of seven days they came to Joshua in the camp and said to him, The Lord
has delivered the whole land into our hand, and the inhabitants thereof are melted with fear
because of us.
- And it came to pass after that, that Joshua rose up in the morning and all Israel with him,
and they journeyed from Shittim, and Joshua and all Israel with him passed the Jordan; and
Joshua was eighty-two years old when he passed the Jordan with Israel.
- And the people went up from Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they
encamped in Gilgal at the eastern corner of Jericho.
- And the children of Israel kept the Passover in Gilgal, in the plains of Jericho, on the
fourteenth day at the month, as it is written in the law of Moses.
- And the manna ceased at that time on the morrow of the Passover, and there was no
more manna for the children of Israel, and they ate of the produce of the land of Canaan.
- And Jericho was entirely closed against the children of Israel, no one came out or went in.
- And it was in the second month, on the first day of the month, that the Lord said to Joshua,
Rise up, behold I have given Jericho into thy hand with all the people thereof; and all your
fighting men shall go round the city, once each day, thus shall you do for six days.
- And the priests shall blow upon trumpets, and when you shall hear the sound of the
trumpet, all the people shall give a great shouting, that the walls of the city shall fall down; all
the people shall go up every man against his opponent.
- And Joshua did so according to all that the Lord had commanded him.
- And on the seventh day they went round the city seven times, and the priests blew upon
trumpets.
- And at the seventh round, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has delivered the
whole city into our hands.
- Only the city and all that it contains shall be accursed to the Lord, and keep yourselves
from the accursed thing, lest you make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it.
- But all the silver and gold and brass and iron shall be consecrated to the Lord, they shall
come into the treasury of the Lord.
- And the people blew upon trumpets and made a great shouting, and the walls of Jericho
fell down, and all the people went up, every man straight before him, and they took the city
and utterly destroyed all that was in it, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep
and ass, with the edge of the sword.
- And they burned the whole city with fire; only the vessels of silver and gold, and brass and
iron, they put into the treasury of the Lord.
- And Joshua swore at that time, saying, Cursed be the man who builds Jericho; he shall lay
the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates
thereof.
- And Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, son of Judah, dealt
treacherously in the accursed thing, and he took of the accursed thing and hid it in the tent,
and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
- And it was after this when the children of Israel had returned from burning Jericho, Joshua
sent men to spy out also Ai, and to fight against it.
- And the men went up and spied out Ai, and they returned and said, Let not all the people
go up with thee to Ai, only let about three thousand men go up and smite the city, for the men
thereof are but few.
- And Joshua did so, and there went up with him of the children of Israel about three
thousand men, and they fought against the men of Ai.
- And the battle was severe against Israel, and the men of Ai smote thirty-six men of Israel,
and the children of Israel fled from before the men of Ai.
- And when Joshua saw this thing, he tore his garments and fell upon his face to the ground
before the Lord, he, with the elders of Israel, and they put dust upon their heads.
- And Joshua said, Why O Lord didst thou bring this people over the Jordan? what shall I
say after the Israelites have turned their backs against their enemies?
- Now therefore all the Canaanites, inhabitants of the land, will hear this thing, and surround
us and cut off our name.
- And the Lord said to Joshua, Why dost thou fall upon thy face? rise, get thee off, for the
Israelites have sinned, and taken of the accursed thing; I will no more be with them unless
they destroy the accursed thing from amongst them.
- And Joshua rose up and assembled the people, and brought the Urim by the order of the
Lord, and the tribe of Judah was taken, and Achan the son of Carmi was taken.
- And Joshua said to Achan, Tell me my son, what hast thou done, and Achan said, I saw
amongst the spoil a goodly garment of Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver, and a
wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight; I coveted them and took them, and behold they are all
hid in the earth in the midst of the tent.
- And Joshua sent men who went and took them from the tent of Achan, and they brought
them to Joshua.
- And Joshua took Achan and these utensils, and his sons and daughters and all belonging
to him, and they brought them into the valley of Achor.
- And Joshua burned them there with fire, and all the Israelites stoned Achan with stones,
and they raised over him a heap of stones, therefore did he call that place the valley of Achor,
so the Lord's anger was appeased, and Joshua afterward came to the city and fought against
it.
- And the Lord said to Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed, behold I have given into
thy hand Ai, her king and her people, and thou shalt do unto them as thou didst to Jericho
and her king, only the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall you take for a prey for
yourselves; lay an ambush for the city behind it.
- So Joshua did according to the word of the Lord, and he chose from amongst the sons of
war thirty thousand valiant men, and he sent them, and they lay in ambush for the city.
- And he commanded them, saying, When you shall see us we will flee before them with
cunning, and they will pursue us, you shall then rise out of the ambush and take the city, and
they did so.
- And Joshua fought, and the men of the city went out toward Israel, not knowing that they
were lying in ambush for them behind the city.
- And Joshua and all the Israelites feigned themselves wearied out before them, and they
fled by the way of the wilderness with cunning.
- And the men of Ai gathered all the people who were in the city to pursue the Israelites, and
they went out and were drawn away from the city, not one remained, and they left the city
open and pursued the Israelites.
- And those who were lying in ambush rose up out of their places, and hastened to come to
the city and took it and set it on fire, and the men of Ai turned back, and behold the smoke of
the city ascended to the skies, and they had no means of retreating either one way or the
other.
- And all the men of Ai were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side,
and they smote them so that not one of them remained.
- And the children of Israel took Melosh king of Ai alive, and they brought him to Joshua,
and Joshua hanged him on a tree and he died.
- And the children of Israel returned to the city after having burned it, and they smote all
those that were in it with the edge of the sword.
- And the number of those that had fallen of the men of Ai, both man and woman, was
twelve thousand; only the cattle and the spoil of the city they took to themselves, according to
the word of the Lord to Joshua.
- And all the kings on this side Jordan, all the kings of Canaan, heard of the evil which the
children of Israel had done to Jericho and to Ai, and they gathered themselves together to
fight against Israel.
- Only the inhabitants of Gibeon were greatly afraid of fighting against the Israelites lest they
should perish, so they acted cunningly, and they came to Joshua and to all Israel, and said
unto them, We have come from a distant land, now therefore make a covenant with us.
- And the inhabitants of Gibeon over-reached the children of Israel, and the children of
Israel made a covenant with them, and they made peace with them, and the princes of the
congregation swore unto them, but afterward the children of Israel knew that they were
neighbors to them and were dwelling amongst them.
- But the children of Israel slew them not; for they had sworn to them by the Lord, and they
became hewers of wood and drawers of water.
- And Joshua said to them, Why did you deceive me, to do this thing to us? and they
answered him, saying, Because it was told to thy servants all that you had done to all the
kings of the Amorites, and we were greatly afraid of our lives, and we did this thing.
- And Joshua appointed them on that day to hew wood and to draw water, and he divided
them for slaves to all the tribes of Israel.
- And when Adonizedek king of Jerusalem heard all that the children of Israel had done to
Jericho and to Ai, he sent to Hoham king of Hebron and to Piram king at Jarmuth, and to
Japhia king of Lachish and to Deber king of Eglon, saying,
- Come up to me and help me, that we may smite the children of Israel and the inhabitants
of Gibeon who have made peace with the children of Israel.
- And they gathered themselves together and the five kings of the Amorites went up with all
their camps, a mighty people numerous as the sand of the sea shore.
- And all these kings came and encamped before Gibeon, and they began to fight against
the inhabitants of Gibeon, and all the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua, saying, Come up quickly
to us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites have gathered together to fight against us.
- And Joshua and all the fighting people went up from Gilgal, and Joshua came suddenly to
them, and smote these five kings with a great slaughter.
- And the Lord confounded them before the children at Israel, who smote them with a
terrible slaughter in Gibeon, and pursued them along the way that goes up to Beth Horon
unto Makkedah, and they fled from before the children of Israel.
- And whilst they were fleeing, the Lord sent upon them hailstones from heaven, and more
of them died by the hailstones, than by the slaughter of the children of Israel.
- And the children of Israel pursued them, and they still smote them in the road, going on
and smiting them.
- And when they were smiting, the day was declining toward evening, and Joshua said in
the sight of all the people, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of
Ajalon, until the nation shall have revenged itself upon its enemies.
- And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Joshua, and the sun stood still in the midst of the
heavens, and it stood still six and thirty moments, and the moon also stood still and hastened
not to go down a whole day.
- And there was no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of
a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.
[Book of Jasher
Referred to in Joshua and Second Samuel.
faithfully translated (1840)
from the Original Hebrew into English.
A Reprint of Photo Lithographic Reprint of Exact Edition
Published by J.H. Parry & Co., Salt Lake City: 1887]