From: "FamilyNet" 

Bible Reading for March 13

Joshua 7
[1] But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing:
for 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 the LORD 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
spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up
and viewed Ai. [3] And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not
all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and
smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but
few. [4] So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men:
and they fled before the men of Ai.
[5] And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they
chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the
going down: wherefore 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 the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and
put dust upon their heads.
[7] And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought
this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to
destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side
Jordan!
[8] O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
[9] For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of
it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and
what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
[10] And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus
upon thy face?
[11] Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which
I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have
also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own
stuff.
[12] Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies,
but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed:
neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from
among you.
[13] Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to
morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing
in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies,
until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. [14] In the morning
therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be,
that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families
thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households;
and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.
[15] And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall
be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed
the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. [16]
So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes;
and the tribe of Judah was taken: [17] And he brought the family of Judah;
and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the
Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:
[18] And he brought his household 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 unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD
God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast
done; hide it not from me.
[20] And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the
LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: [21] When I saw among
the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver,
and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then 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] So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto 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 unto
Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the
LORD.
[24] And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and
the silver, and the garment, and the wedge 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 unto the valley of Achor. [25] And
Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this
day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire,
after they had stoned them with stones. [26] And they raised over him a
great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness
of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of
Achor, unto this day.

Joshua 8
[1] And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take
all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given
into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
[2] And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her
king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a
prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it. [3] So
Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua
chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valour, and sent them away by
night.
[4] And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the
city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all
ready:
[5] And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the
city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the
first, that we will flee before them,
[6] (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the
city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we
will flee before them.
[7] Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the
LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. [8] And it shall be, when ye
have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the
commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
[9] Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in ambush, and
abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that
night among the people.
[10] And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and
went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. [11] And all
the people, even the people of war that were with him, went up, and drew
nigh, and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai: now
there was a valley between them and Ai. [12] And he took about five
thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the
west side of the city. [13] And when they had set the people, even all the
host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the west
of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. [14] And
it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up
early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and
all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain; but he wist not that
there were liers in ambush against him behind the city. [15] And Joshua and
all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of
the wilderness.
[16] And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue
after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the
city. [17] And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, that went not out
after Israel: and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel. [18]
And the LORD said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand
toward Ai; for I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the
spear that he had in his hand toward the city. [19] And the ambush arose
quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out
his hand: and they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set
the city on fire. [20] And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw,
and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no
power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the
wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
[21] And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city,
and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew
the men of Ai.
[22] And the other issued out of the city against them; so they were in the
midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side: and they smote
them, so that they let none of them remain or escape. [23] And the king of
Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. [24] And it came to pass,
when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the
field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all
fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the
Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
[25] And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women,
were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. [26] For Joshua drew not his
hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly
destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. [27] Only the cattle and the spoil of
that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word
of the LORD which he commanded Joshua. [28] And Joshua burnt Ai, and made
it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
[29] And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as
the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down
from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and
raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day. [30]
Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal, [31]
As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is
written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over
which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt
offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. [32] And he wrote
there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the
presence of the children of Israel. [33] And all Israel, and their elders,
and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side
before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the
LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them
over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as
Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless
the people of Israel. [34] And afterward he read all the words of the law,
the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of
the law. [35] There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which
Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and
the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.

Joshua 9
[1] And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan,
in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea
over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the
Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof; [2] That they
gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with
one accord.
[3] And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto
Jericho and to Ai,
[4] They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been
ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old,
and rent, and bound up;
[5] And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them;
and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy. [6] And they went
to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of
Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with
us.
[7] And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell
among us; and how shall we make a league with you? [8] And they said unto
Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and
from whence come ye? [9] And they said unto him, From a very far country
thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD thy God: for we have
heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,
[10] And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond
Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at
Ashtaroth.
[11] Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to
us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them,
and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league
with us. [12] This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our
houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry,
and it is mouldy:
[13] And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold,
they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason
of the very long journey.
[14] And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth
of the LORD.
[15] And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let
them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. [16] And it
came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with
them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt
among them.
[17] And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on
the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth,
and Kirjath-jearim.
[18] And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the
congregation had sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel. And all the
congregation murmured against the princes. [19] But all the princes said
unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of
Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. [20] This we will do to them;
we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath
which we sware unto them. [21] And the princes said unto them, Let them
live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the
congregation; as the princes had promised them.
[22] And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore
have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among
us?
[23] Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from
being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my
God.
[24] And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy
servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you
all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before
you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have
done this thing.
[25] And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right
unto thee to do unto us, do.
[26] And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the
children of Israel, that they slew them not. [27] And Joshua made them that
day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the
altar of the LORD, even unto this day, in the place which he should choose.

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