Lexicon :: Strong's H376 - 'îš

“Anyone who rebels against your order and does not obey your words in all that you command him, will be put to death. Above all, be strong and courageous! ”

The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land.”

Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.”

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from.

“At nightfall, when the city gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them! ”

The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the city gate was shut.

and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.[fn]

“When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed[fn] because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.

The men answered her, “We will give our lives for yours. If you don’t report our mission, we will show kindness and faithfulness to you when the LORD gives us the land.”

The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear,

Then the men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed the Jordan. They went to Joshua son of Nun and reported everything that had happened to them.

So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe,

and said to them, “Go across to the ark of the LORD your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each of the Israelite tribes,

For the Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty years until all the nation’s men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies? ”

“When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the troops give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the troops will advance, each man straight ahead.”

So the troops shouted, and the rams’ horns sounded. When they heard the blast of the ram’s horn, the troops gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The troops advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city.

They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword ​— ​every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey.

Joshua said to the two men who had scouted the land, “Go to the prostitute’s house and bring the woman out of there, and all who are with her, just as you swore to her.”

At that time Joshua imposed this curse:

The man who undertakes

the rebuilding of this city, Jericho,

is cursed before the LORD.

He will lay its foundation

at the cost of his firstborn;

he will finish its gates

at the cost of his youngest.

After returning to Joshua they reported to him, “Don’t send all the people, but send about two thousand or three thousand[fn] men to attack Ai. Since the people of Ai are so few, don’t wear out all our people there.”

So about three thousand men[fn] went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai.

The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of them and chased them from outside the city gate to the quarries,[fn] striking them down on the descent. As a result, the people lost heart.[fn]

Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, the men of the city hurried and went out early in the morning so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle at a suitable place facing the Arabah. But he did not know there was an ambush waiting for him behind the city.

Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city exposed while they pursued Israel.

The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.

When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.

The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was twelve thousand ​— ​all the people of Ai.

The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us. How can we make a treaty with you? ”

Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the LORD’s decision.

Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Don’t give up on your servants. Come quickly and save us! Help us, for all the Amorite kings living in the hill country have joined forces against us.”

The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, for I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will be able to stand against you.”

There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD listened to a man, because the LORD fought for Israel.

Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and station men by it to guard the kings.

The people returned safely to Joshua in the camp at Makkedah. And no one dared to threaten the Israelites.

When they had brought the kings to him, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the military commanders who had accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks.