Joshua 7 - 9, Galatians 3 - 4, Psalm 136

Israel Struck Down at Ai

7^aBut the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things devoted to destruction. Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things; therefore the anger of Yahweh burned against the sons of Israel.

²Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near ^aBeth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “¹Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. ³Then they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to strike down Ai; do not have all the people toil up there, for they are few.” ⁴So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but ^athey fled ¹from the men of Ai. ⁵And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men and pursued them ¹from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the ^ahearts of the people melted and became as water.

⁶Then Joshua ^atore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and ^bthey put dust on their heads. ⁷Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord Yahweh, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to make us perish? If only we had been willing ¹to live beyond the Jordan! ⁸“O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their ¹back before their enemies? ⁹“^aAnd the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?”

¹⁰So Yahweh said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? ¹¹“Israel has sinned, and ^athey have also trespassed against My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things devoted to destruction and have both stolen and dealt falsely. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. ¹²“Therefore the ^asons of Israel cannot rise before their enemies; they turn their ¹backs before their enemies, for they have become devoted to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things devoted to destruction from your midst. ¹³“Rise up! ^aSet the people apart as holy and say, ‘Set yourselves apart as holy for tomorrow, for thus Yahweh, the God of Israel, has said, “^bThere are things devoted to destruction in your midst, O Israel. You cannot rise before your enemies until you have removed the things devoted to destruction from your midst.” ¹⁴‘In the morning then you shall come near by your tribes. And it will be that the tribe which ^aYahweh takes by lot shall come near by families, and the family which Yahweh takes shall come near by households, and the household which Yahweh takes shall come near man by man. ¹⁵‘^aAnd it will be that the one who is taken with the things devoted to destruction shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has trespassed against the covenant of Yahweh, and because he ^bhas committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

The Sin of Achan

¹⁶So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by ¹tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷And he brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸And he brought his household near man by man; and ^aAchan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, ^agive glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and declare to me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.” ²⁰So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against Yahweh, the God of Israel, and ¹this is what I did: ²¹I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred ¹shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight; then I ²^,^acoveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”

²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it. ²³And they took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before Yahweh. ²⁴Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his ¹oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to ^athe valley of ²Achor. ²⁵And Joshua said, “Why have you ^atroubled us? Yahweh will trouble you this day.” And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire ¹after they had stoned them with stones. ²⁶Then they raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and Yahweh turned from His burning anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called ^athe valley of ¹Achor to this day.

Ai Given to Israel

8Now Yahweh said to Joshua, “^aDo not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, ^bI have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. ²“So you shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall ^atake only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. ¹Set an ambush for the city behind it.”

³So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. ⁴And he commanded them, saying, “See, you are ^agoing to ambush the city from behind ¹it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. ⁵“Then I and all the people who are with me will come near the city. And it will be that when they come out to meet us as at the first, ^awe will flee before them. ⁶“And they will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ So we will flee before them. ⁷“And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh your God will give it into your hand. ⁸“Then it will be that when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it ^aaccording to the word of Yahweh. See, I have commanded you.” ⁹So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.

¹⁰Now Joshua ^arose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. ¹¹Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. ¹²And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between ^aBethel and Ai, on the west side of the ¹city. ¹³So they set the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. ¹⁴Now it happened that when the king of Ai saw it, the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled ^aby the way of the wilderness. ¹⁶And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and ^awere drawn away from the city. ¹⁷So not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they forsook the city, leaving it open, and pursued Israel.

¹⁸Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “^aStretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹Then the men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. ²⁰Then the men of Ai turned ¹back and looked, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers. ²¹But Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended. So they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. ²²¹And the others came out from the city to meet them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, ²some on this side and some on that side; and they struck them down until ³there was ^ano one remaining for him who survived or escaped. ²³But they seized the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

²⁴Now it happened that when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them fell by the edge of the sword until they were completely destroyed, then all Israel turned back to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵^aSo all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000—all the ¹people of Ai. ²⁶For Joshua ^adid not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted to destruction all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷^aIsrael took only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of Yahweh which He had commanded Joshua. ²⁸So Joshua burned Ai and made it ^aa heap forever, a desolation until this day. ²⁹^aAnd he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave a command, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.

³⁰Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, on ^aMount Ebal, ³¹just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, ^aan altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh and sacrificed peace offerings. ³²And he ^awrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which ¹he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel. ³³^aAnd all Israel with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, the sojourner as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of ^bMount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had given a command at first to bless the people of Israel. ³⁴Then afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in ^athe book of the law. ³⁵There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel ^awith the women and the little ones and the sojourners who were ¹going among them.

The Gibeonites Act Craftily

9Now it happened when ^aall the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill country and in the ¹Shephelah and on all the ^bcoast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon, ^cthe Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, heard of it, ²that they gathered themselves together with ¹^,^aone accord to fight with Joshua and with Israel.

³Now the inhabitants of ^aGibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai. ⁴So they also acted craftily and went and traveled as envoys and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys, and wineskins worn-out and torn and ¹mended, ⁵and worn-out and patched sandals on their feet, and worn-out clothes on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and was crumbled. ⁶And they went to Joshua to the ^acamp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; so now, cut a covenant with us.” ⁷Then the men of Israel said to the ^aHivites, “Perhaps you are living ¹within our land; ^bhow then shall we cut a covenant with you?” ⁸But they said to Joshua, “^aWe are your servants.” Then Joshua said to them, “Who are you and where do you come from?” ⁹They said to him, “Your servants have come from ^aa very far country because of the ¹fame of Yahweh your God; for ^bwe have heard the report of Him and all that He did in Egypt, ¹⁰and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan who was at Ashtaroth. ¹¹“So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them and say to them, “^aWe are your servants; now then, cut a covenant with us.”’ ¹²“This bread of ours was warm when we took it for our provisions out of our houses on the day that we left to come to you; but now behold, it is dry and has become crumbled. ¹³“And these wineskins which we filled were new, and behold, they are torn; and these clothes of ours and our sandals are worn out because of the very long journey.” ¹⁴So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but ^athey did not ask for the ¹command of Yahweh. ¹⁵^aAnd Joshua made peace with them and cut a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.

¹⁶Now it happened at the end of three days after they had cut a covenant with them, that they heard that they were near them and that they were living ¹nearly among them. ¹⁷Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were ^aGibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim. ¹⁸But the sons of Israel did not strike them down because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders. ¹⁹Then all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel, so now we cannot touch them. ²⁰“This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be upon us for the oath which we swore to them.” ²¹So the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” Thus they became ^ahewers of wood and drawers of water for the whole congregation, just as the leaders had spoken to them.

²²Then Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ ^awhen you are living nearly in the midst of us? ²³“So now, you are ^acursed, and ¹you shall never be cut loose from being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.” ²⁴So they answered Joshua and said, “^aBecause it was certainly told to your slaves that Yahweh your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; therefore we feared greatly for our lives because of you and have done this thing. ²⁵“So now, behold, ^awe are in your hands; do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.” ²⁶Thus he did to them and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, and they did not kill them. ²⁷But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of Yahweh, to this day, ^ain the place which He would choose.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

3O foolish ^aGalatians, who bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ ^bwas publicly portrayed as crucified? ²This is the only thing I want to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of ¹the Law, or by ²^,^ahearing with faith? ³Are you so foolish? Having begun ¹by the Spirit, are you now ²being perfected by the flesh? ⁴Did you ¹suffer so many things for nothing—^aif indeed it was for nothing? ⁵So then, does He who ^aprovides you with the Spirit and ^bworks ¹miracles among you, do it by the works of ²the Law, or by ³^,^chearing with faith?

⁶Just as ^aAbraham ^bbelieved God and it was counted to him as righteousness, ⁷so know that ^athose who are of faith, those are ^bsons of Abraham. ⁸And the Scripture, foreseeing that God ¹would justify the ²Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “^aAll the nations will be blessed in you.” ⁹So then ^athose who are of faith are blessed with ¹Abraham, the believer.

¹⁰For as many as are of the works of ¹the Law are under a curse, for it is written, “^aCursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to do them.” ¹¹Now that ^ano one is justified ¹by ²the Law before God is evident, ³for “^bThe righteous shall live by faith.” ¹²¹However, the Law is not ²of faith; rather, “^aHe who does them shall live ³by them.” ¹³Christ ^aredeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “^bCursed is everyone who hangs on ^ca ¹tree”— ¹⁴in order that ^ain Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might ¹come to the Gentiles, so that we ^bwould receive ^cthe promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Promise by Faith

¹⁵^aBrothers, ^bI speak ¹in human terms: ^ceven though it is only a man’s ²covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds ³conditions to it. ¹⁶Now the promises were spoken ^ato Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And ^bto your seed,” that is, Christ. ¹⁷And what I am saying is this: the Law, which came ^a430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to abolish the promise. ¹⁸For ^aif the inheritance is by law, it is no longer by promise, but ^bGod has granted it to Abraham through promise.

¹⁹^aWhy the Law then? It was added ¹because of trespasses, having been ^bordained through angels ^cby the hand of a mediator, until ^dthe seed would come to whom the promise had been made. ²⁰Now ^aa mediator is not ¹for one person only, whereas God is one. ²¹Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? ^aMay it never be! For ^bif a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed be by law. ²²But the Scripture has ^ashut up ¹everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

²³But before faith came, we were held in custody under the Law, ^abeing shut up for the coming faith to be revealed. ²⁴Therefore the Law has become our ^atutor unto Christ, so that ^bwe may be justified by faith. ²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a ¹^,^atutor. ²⁶For you are all ^asons of God through faith in ^bChrist Jesus. ²⁷For all of you who were ^abaptized into Christ have ^bclothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸^aThere is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is no ^bmale and female, for ^cyou are all one in ^dChrist Jesus. ²⁹And if ^ayou ¹belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s ²seed, heirs according to ^bpromise.

Sonship in Christ

4Now I say, as long as the heir is a ¹child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is ²owner of everything, ²but he is under guardians and stewards until the date set by the father. ³So also we, while we were children, were ^aenslaved under the ¹^,^belemental things of the world. ⁴But when ^athe fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, ^bborn of a woman, born ^cunder ¹the Law, ⁵so that He might redeem those who were under ¹the Law, that we might receive the adoption as ^asons. ⁶And because you are sons, ^aGod sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “^bAbba! Father!” ⁷Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and ^aif a son, then an heir ¹through God.

⁸However at that time, ^awhen you did not know God, you were ^bslaves to ^cthose which by nature are no gods. ⁹But now, having known God, or rather having been ^aknown by God, ^bhow is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless ¹^,^celemental things, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? ¹⁰You ^aobserve days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored ¹over you for nothing.

¹²I beg of you, ^abrothers, ^bbecome as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. ¹³But you know that it was because of a ¹bodily illness that I proclaimed the gospel to you the ²first time; ¹⁴and that which was a ¹trial to you in my ²bodily condition you did not despise or ³loathe, but ^ayou received me as an angel of God, as ^bChrist Jesus Himself. ¹⁵Where then is ¹that sense of blessing you had? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶So have I become your enemy ^aby ¹telling you the truth? ¹⁷They zealously seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will zealously seek them. ¹⁸But it is good always to be zealously sought in a commendable ¹manner, and ^anot only when I am present with you. ¹⁹^aMy children, with whom ^bI am again in labor until ^cChrist is formed in you— ²⁰but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, because ^aI am perplexed about you.

An Allegory of Two Covenants

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not ^alisten to the Law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, ^aone by the servant-woman and ^bone by the free woman. ²³But ^athe son by the servant-woman had been born according to the flesh, while ^bthe son by the free woman through the promise. ²⁴¹^,^aThis is ²spoken with allegory, for these women are two covenants: one from ^bMount Sinai bearing children into ^cslavery; ³she is Hagar. ²⁵Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But ^athe Jerusalem above is free; ¹she is our mother. ²⁷For it is written, “^aRejoice, barren woman who does not give birth;Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor;For more numerous are the children of the desolate oneThan of the one who has a husband.”

²⁸And you brothers, ^ain accordance with Isaac, are ^bchildren of promise. ²⁹But as at that time ^ahe who was born according to the flesh ^bwas persecuting him who was born according to the Spirit, ^cso it is now also. ³⁰But what does the Scripture say? “^aCast out the servant-woman and her son,For ^bthe son of the servant-woman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.”

³¹So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant-woman, ¹but of the free woman.

His Lovingkindness Endures Forever

136^aGive thanks to Yahweh, for ^bHe is good,For ^cHis lovingkindness endures forever.²Give thanks to the ^aGod of gods,For His lovingkindness endures forever.³Give thanks to the ^aLord of lords,For His lovingkindness endures forever.⁴To Him who ^aalone does great ¹wonders,For His lovingkindness endures forever;⁵To Him who ^amade the heavens ^bwith ¹skill,For His lovingkindness endures forever;⁶To Him who ^aspread out the earth above the waters,For His lovingkindness endures forever;⁷To Him who ^amade the great lights,For His lovingkindness endures forever:⁸The ^asun to rule ¹by day,For His lovingkindness endures forever,⁹The ^amoon and stars to rule ¹by night,For His lovingkindness endures forever.¹⁰To Him who ^astruck ¹the Egyptians through their firstborn,For His lovingkindness endures forever,¹¹Then ^abrought Israel out from their midst,For His lovingkindness endures forever,¹²With a ^astrong hand and an ^boutstretched arm,For His lovingkindness endures forever.¹³To Him who ^adivided the ¹Red Sea in two,For His lovingkindness endures forever,¹⁴And ^amade Israel pass through the midst of it,For His lovingkindness endures forever,¹⁵But ^aHe ¹overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the ²Red Sea,For His lovingkindness endures forever.¹⁶To Him who ^aled His people through the wilderness,For His lovingkindness endures forever;¹⁷To Him who ^astruck great kings,For His lovingkindness endures forever,¹⁸And ^akilled ¹mighty kings,For His lovingkindness endures forever:¹⁹^aSihon, king of the Amorites,For His lovingkindness endures forever,²⁰And ^aOg, king of Bashan,For His lovingkindness endures forever,²¹And ^agave their land as an inheritance,For His lovingkindness endures forever,²²Even an inheritance to Israel His ^aservant,For His lovingkindness endures forever.²³Who ^aremembered us in our low estate,For His lovingkindness endures forever,²⁴And has ^asnatched us from our adversaries,For His lovingkindness endures forever;²⁵Who ^agives food to all flesh,For His lovingkindness endures forever.²⁶Give thanks to the ^aGod of heaven,For His lovingkindness endures forever.