He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and ruined ¹  the high places where the priests had offered sacrifices, from Geba to Beer Sheba. ²  He tore down the high place of the goat idols ³  situated at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city official, on the left side of the city gate.

from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;

Joshua continued, ¹  “This is how you will know the living God is among you and that he will truly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.

Joshua told them, “Go in front of the ark of the Lord your God to the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to put a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the Israelite tribes.

They said to Joshua, “It was carefully reported to your subjects ¹  how the Lord your God commanded Moses his servant to assign you the whole land and to destroy all who live in the land from before you. Because of you we were terrified ²  we would lose our lives, so we did this thing.

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest Joshua son of Jehozadak, ¹  along with the whole remnant of the people, ²  obeyed ³  the Lord their God. They responded favorably to the message of the prophet Haggai, who spoke just as the Lord their God had instructed him, ⁴  and the people began to respect the Lord. ⁵ 

Even so, take heart, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord. ‘Take heart, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and ¹  all you citizens of the land,’ ²  says the Lord, ‘and begin to work. For I am with you,’ says the Lord who rules over all.

So all the assembly which had returned from the exile constructed temporary shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. Everyone experienced very great joy. ¹ 

Joshua said, ¹  “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to ²  the Lord God of Israel.”

The angel ¹  spoke up to those standing all around, “Remove his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you ²  in fine clothing.”

The Lord handed it and its king over to Israel, and Israel ¹  put the sword to all who lived there; they ²  left no survivors. They ³  did to its king what they ⁴  had done to the king of Jericho. ⁵ 

However, the whole community threatened to stone them. ¹  But ²  the glory ³  of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent ⁴  of meeting.

He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel ¹  and Ai.

The Lord handed Lachish over to Israel and they ¹  captured it on the second day. They put the sword to all who lived there, just as they had done to Libnah.

And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who ¹  will seek counsel ²  for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. ³  At his command ⁴  they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”

The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. The son of Elah: Kenaz. ¹ 

Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ¹ 

So he said, “These are the two anointed ones ¹  who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

He told the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones represent?’ ¹ 

So Joshua made sure they marched the ark of the Lord around the city one time. ¹  Then they went back to the camp and spent the night there. ²