One Year Bible.

The Defeat at Ai

¹The Israelites, however, acted unfaithfully regarding the things devoted to destruction. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart. So the anger of the LORD burned against the Israelites.

²Meanwhile, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

³On returning to Joshua, they reported, “There is no need to send all the people; two or three thousand men are enough to go up and attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, you need not wear out all our people there.”

⁴So about three thousand men went up, but they fled before the men of Ai. ⁵And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them, chasing them from the gate as far as the quarries and striking them down on the slopes. So the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown before the ark of the LORD until evening, as did the elders of Israel; and they all sprinkled dust on their heads.

⁷“O, Lord GOD,” Joshua said, “why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be destroyed? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! ⁸O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back and run from its enemies? ⁹When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

¹⁰But the LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! Why have you fallen on your face? ¹¹Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these things with their own possessions. ¹²This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you whatever is devoted to destruction.

¹³Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them. ¹⁴In the morning you must present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD selects shall come forward clan by clan, and the clan that the LORD selects shall come forward family by family, and the family that the LORD selects shall come forward man by man. ¹⁵The one who is caught with the things devoted to destruction must be burned, along with all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrage in Israel.’”

The Sin of Achan

¹⁶So Joshua arose early the next morning and had Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was selected. ¹⁷He had the clans of Judah come forward, and the clan of the Zerahites was selected. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward, and the family of Zabdi was selected. ¹⁸And he had the family of Zabdi come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.

¹⁹So Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make a confession to Him. I urge you to tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

²⁰“It is true,” Achan replied, “I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did: ²¹When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

²²So Joshua sent messengers who ran to the tent, and there it all was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. ²³They took the things from inside the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites, and spread them out before the LORD.

²⁴Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the cloak, the bar of gold, his sons and daughters, his oxen and donkeys and sheep, his tent, and everything else he owned, and brought them to the Valley of Achor.

²⁵“Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the LORD will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies. ²⁶And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

The Conquest of Ai

¹Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. ²And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”

³So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night ⁴with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready. ⁵Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them. ⁶They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them, ⁷you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”

⁹So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.

¹⁰Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai. ¹¹Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.

¹²Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. ¹³So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.

¹⁴When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city. ¹⁵Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. ¹⁶Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.

¹⁸Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai, ¹⁹and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

²⁰When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers. ²¹When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai. ²²Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained. ²³But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

²⁴When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well. ²⁵A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day— all the people of Ai. ²⁶Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai. ²⁷Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

²⁸So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day. ²⁹He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.

Joshua Renews the Covenant

³⁰At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel, ³¹just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

³²And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. ³³All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

³⁴Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law— the blessings and the curses— according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.

The Proclamation of Cyrus

¹In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:

²“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.

³Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. ⁴And let every survivor, wherever he lives, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.’”

⁵So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites— everyone whose spirit God had stirred— prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

⁶And all their neighbors supported them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuables, in addition to all their freewill offerings.

Cyrus Restores the Holy Vessels

⁷King Cyrus also brought out the articles belonging to the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the temple of his gods. ⁸Cyrus king of Persia had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. ⁹This was the inventory:

30 gold dishes,

1,000 silver dishes,

29 silver utensils,

¹⁰30 gold bowls,

410 matching silver bowls,

and 1,000 other articles.

¹¹In all, there were 5,400 gold and silver articles. Sheshbazzar brought all these along when the exiles went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

The Faith of the Centurion

¹When Jesus had concluded His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum. ²There a highly valued servant of a centurion was sick and about to die. ³When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to ask Him to come and heal his servant. ⁴They came to Jesus and pleaded with Him earnestly, “This man is worthy to have You grant this, ⁵for he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”

⁶So Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends with the message: “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. ⁷That is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to You. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁸For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it.”

⁹When Jesus heard this, He marveled at the centurion. Turning to the crowd following Him, He said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” ¹⁰And when the messengers returned to the house, they found the servant in good health.

Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son

¹¹Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples went with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. ¹²As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.

¹³When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. “Young man,” He said, “I tell you, get up!” ¹⁵And the dead man sat up and began to speak! Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶A sense of awe swept over all of them, and they glorified God. “A great prophet has appeared among us!” they said. “God has visited His people!” ¹⁷And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding region.

John’s Inquiry

¹⁸Then John’s disciples informed him about all these things. ¹⁹So John called two of his disciples and sent them to ask the Lord, “Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?”

²⁰When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?’”

²¹At that very hour Jesus healed many people of their diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and He gave sight to many who were blind. ²²So He replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. ²³Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of Me.”

Jesus Testifies about John

²⁴After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind? ²⁵Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear elegant clothing and live in luxury are found in palaces.

²⁶What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷This is the one about whom it is written:

‘Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You,

who will prepare Your way before You.’

²⁸I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John, yet even the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹All the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, acknowledged God’s justice. For they had received the baptism of John. ³⁰But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.

³¹“To what, then, can I compare the men of this generation? What are they like? ³²They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another:

‘We played the flute for you,

and you did not dance;

we sang a dirge,

and you did not weep.’

³³For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

A Sinful Woman Anoints Jesus

³⁶Then one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷When a sinful woman from that town learned that Jesus was dining there, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume. ³⁸As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume.

³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him — for she is a sinner!”

⁴⁰But Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, Teacher,” he said.

⁴¹“Two men were debtors to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them. Which one, then, will love him more?”

⁴³“I suppose the one who was forgiven more,” Simon replied.

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

⁴⁴And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You did not greet Me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing My feet since I arrived. ⁴⁶You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume. ⁴⁷Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

⁴⁸Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹But those at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰And Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”