Joshua 7:1-6

¹Yahweh had commanded that all the things that they had captured in Jericho should be destroyed to show that they belong to him. But there was a man from the tribe of Judah named Achan. He was the son of Carmi and grandson of Zabdi and great-grandson of Zerah. He disobeyed what Yahweh had commanded and took for himself some of those things. So Yahweh was very angry with the Israelis.

²Joshua told some of his men to go from Jericho to Ai town, which was east of Bethel city and near Beth-Aven town. He said to them, “Go to Ai and ◄spy out the area/see what the area is like►.” So the men went.

³When they returned to Joshua they said, “There are only a few people in Ai. So we do not need to send all of our soldiers to defeat them. Send two thousand or three thousand men to attack them. That will be enough.”

⁴So about three thousand Israeli men went to attack Ai. But the men of Ai defeated them badly.

⁵They killed about thirty-six Israelis and chased the rest of Israeli men from the city gate to the bottom of the hill. When the other Israelis saw that this had happened, they became very discouraged.

⁶Joshua and the other Israeli leaders tore their clothes because they were very sad about being defeated. They prostrated themselves on the ground in front of the Sacred Tent in which was the sacred chest. They stayed there until that evening. They also threw dirt on their heads to show that they were very sad about what had happened.