Chapter 88

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AND it was after the death of Mosheh that Yahuah said to Yahusha the son of Nun, saying,

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Rise up and pass the Yardan to the land which I have given to the children of Yashar'el, and you shall make the children of Yashar'el inherit the land.

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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.

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No man shall stand up against you all the days of your life; as I was with Mosheh, so will I be with you, only be strong and of good courage to observe all the Torah which Mosheh commanded you, turn not from the way either to the right or to the left, in order that you may prosper in all that you do.

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And Yahusha commanded the officers of Yashar'el, saying, Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, Prepare for yourselves provisions, for in three days more you will pass the Yardan to possess the land.

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And the officers of the children of Yashar'el did so, and they commanded the people and they did all that Yahusha had commanded.

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And Yahusha sent two men to spy out the land of Yeriycho, and the men went and spied out Yeriycho.

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And at the end of seven days they came to Yahusha in the camp and said to him, Yahuah has delivered the whole land into our hand, and the inhabitants thereof are melted with fear because of us.

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And it came to pass after that, that Yahusha rose up in the morning and all Yashar'el with him, and they journeyed from Shittiym, and Yahusha and all Yashar'el with him passed the Yardan; and Yahusha was eighty two years old when he passed the Yardan with Yashar'el.

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And the people went up from the Yardan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped in Gilgal at the eastern corner of Yeriycho.

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And the children of Yashar'el kept the Pecach in Gilgal, in the plains of Yeriycho, on the fourteenth day at the month, as it is written in the Torah of Mosheh.

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And the manna ceased at that time on the morrow of the Pecach, and there was no more manna for the children of Yashar'el, and they ate of the produce of the land of Kena`an.

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And Yeriycho was entirely closed against the children of Yashar'el, no one came out or went in.

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And it was in the second month, on the first day of the month, that Yahuah said to Yahusha, Rise up, behold I have given Yeriycho into your 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.

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And the priests shall blow upon shofars, and when you shall hear the sound of the shofar, 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.

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And Yahusha did so according to all that Yahuah had commanded him.

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And on the seventh day they went round the city seven times, and the priests blew upon shofars.

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And at the seventh round, Yahusha said to the people, Shout, for Yahuah has delivered the whole city into our hands.

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Only the city and all that it contains shall be accursed to Yahuah, and guard yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you make the camp of Yashar'el accursed and trouble it.

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But all the silver and gold and brass and iron shall be consecrated to Yahuah, they shall come into the treasury of Yahuah.

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And the people blew upon shofars and made a great shouting, and the walls of Yeriycho 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.

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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 Yahuah.

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And Yahusha swore at that time, saying, Cursed be the man who builds Yeriycho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates thereof.

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And Akan the son of Karmiy, the son of Zavdiy, the son of Zerach, son of Yahudah, dealt treacherously in the accursed thing, and he took of the accursed thing and hid it in the tent, and the anger of Yahuah was kindled against Yashar'el.

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And it was after this when the children of Yashar'el had returned from burning Yeriycho, Yahusha sent men to spy out also Ai, and to fight against it.

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And the men went up and spied out Ai, and they returned and said, Let not all the people go up with you to Ai, only let about three thousand men go up and smite the city, for the men thereof are but few.

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And Yahusha did so, and there went up with him of the children of Yashar'el about three thousand men, and they fought against the men of Ai.

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And the battle was severe against Yashar'el, and the men of Ai smote thirty six men of Yashar'el, and the children of Yashar'el fled from before the men of Ai.

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And when Yahusha saw this thing, he tore his garments and fell upon his face to the ground before Yahuah, he, with the elders of Yashar'el, and they put dust upon their heads.

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And Yahusha said, Why O Yahuah did you bring this people over the Yardan? what shall I say after Yashar'el has turned their backs against their enemies?

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Now therefore all the Kena`aniym, inhabitants of the land, will hear this thing, and surround us and cut off our name.

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And Yahuah said to Yahusha, Why do you fall upon your face? rise, get you off, for Yashar'el has sinned, and taken of the accursed thing; I will no more be with them unless they destroy the accursed thing from amongst them.

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And Yahusha rose up and assembled the people, and brought the Uriym by the order of Yahuah, and the tribe of Yahudah was taken, and Akan the son of Karmiy was taken.

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And Yahusha said to Akan, Tell me my son, what have you done, and Akan said, I saw amongst the spoil a goodly garment of Shin'ar and two hundred sheqels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty sheqels weight; I coveted them and took them, and behold they are all hid in the earth in the midst of the tent.

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And Yahusha sent men who went and took them from the tent of Akan, and they brought them to Yahusha.

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And Yahusha took Akan and these utensils, and his sons and daughters and all belonging to him, and they brought them into the valley of Akor.

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And Yahusha burned them there with fire, and all Yashar'el stoned Akan with stones, and they raised over him a heap of stones, therefore did he call that place the valley of Akor, so Yahuah's anger was appeased, and Yahusha afterward came to the city and fought against it.

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And Yahuah said to Yahusha, Fear not, neither be dismayed, behold I have given into your hand Ai, her king and her people, and you shall do unto them as you did to Yeriycho 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.

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So Yahusha did according to the Word of Yahuah, 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.

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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.

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And Yahusha fought, and the men of the city went out toward Yashar'el, not knowing that they were lying in ambush for them behind the city.

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And Yahusha and all Yashar'el feigned themselves wearied out before them, and they fled by the way of the wilderness with cunning.

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And the men of Ai gathered all the people who were in the city to pursue Yashar'el, and they went out and were drawn away from the city, not one remained, and they left the city open and pursued Yashar'el.

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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.

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And all the men of Ai were in the midst of Yashar'el, some on this side and some on that side, and they smote them so that not one of them remained.

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And the children of Yashar'el took Melosh king of Ai alive, and they brought him to Yahusha, and Yahusha hanged him on a tree and he died.

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And the children of Yashar'el returned to the city after having burned it, and they smote all those that were in it with the edge of the sword.

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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 Yahuah to Yahusha.

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And all the kings on this side of the Yardan, all the kings of Kena`an, heard of the evil which the children of Yashar'el had done to Yeriycho and to Ai, and they gathered themselves together to fight against Yashar'el.

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Only the inhabitants of Giv'on were greatly afraid of fighting against Yashar'el lest they should perish, so they acted cunningly, and they came to Yahusha and to all Yashar'el, and said unto them, We have come from a distant land, now therefore cut a covenant with us.

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And the inhabitants of Giv'on over reached the children of Yashar'el, and the children of Yashar'el cut a covenant with them, and they made peace with them, and the princes of the assembly swore unto them, but afterward the children of Yashar'el knew that they were neighbors to them and were dwelling amongst them.

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But the children of Yashar'el slew them not; for they had sworn to them by Yahuah, and they became hewers of wood and drawers of water.

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And Yahusha said to them, Why did you deceive me, to do this thing to us? and they answered him, saying, Because it was told to your servants all that you had done to all the kings of the Emoriym, and we were greatly afraid of our lives, and we did this thing.

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And Yahusha appointed them on that day to hew wood and to draw water, and he divided them for slaves to all the tribes of Yashar'el.

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And when Adoniy-Tsedeq king of Yerushalayim heard all that the children of Yashar'el had done to Yeriycho and to Ai, he sent to Hoham king of Chevron and to Pir'am king at Yarmuth, and to Yaphiya king of Lakiysh and to Deviyr king of Eglon, saying,

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Come up to me and help me, that we may smite the children of Yashar'el and the inhabitants of Giv'on who have made peace with the children of Yashar'el.

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And they gathered themselves together and the five kings of the Emoriym went up with all their camps, a mighty people numerous as the sand of the sea shore.

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And all these kings came and encamped before Giv'on, and they began to fight against the inhabitants of Giv'on, and all the men of Giv'on sent to Yahusha, saying, Come up quickly to us and help us, for all the kings of the Emoriym have gathered together to fight against us.

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And Yahusha and all the fighting people went up from Gilgal, and Yahusha came suddenly to them, and smote these five kings with a great slaughter.

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And Yahuah confounded them before the children at Yashar'el, who smote them with a terrible slaughter in Giv'on, and pursued them along the way that goes up to Beyt Choron unto Maqqedah, and they fled from before the children of Yashar'el.

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And while they were fleeing, Yahuah sent upon them hailstones from heaven, and more of them died by the hailstones, than by the slaughter of the children of Yashar'el.

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And the children of Yashar'el pursued them, and they still smote them in the road, going on and smiting them.

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And when they were smiting, the day was declining toward evening, and Yahusha said in the sight of all the people, Sun, stand you still upon Giv'on, and you moon in the valley of Ayalon, until the nation shall have revenged itself upon its enemies.

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And Yahuah hearkened to the voice of Yahusha, 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.

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And there was no day like that, before it or after it, that Yahuah hearkened to the voice of a man, for Yahuah fought for Yashar'el.



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