3. They returned to Joshua, and said to him, “Don’t let all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and strike Ai. Don’t make all the people to toil there, for there are only a few of them.”
4. So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai.
5. The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them, and they chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like water.
6. Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the Lord’s ark until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
7. Joshua said, “Alas, Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan!
8. Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies!
9. For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
10. The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face like that?
11. Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken some of the devoted things, and have also stolen, and also deceived. They have even put it among their own stuff.
12. Therefore the children of Israel can’t stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will not be with you any more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.
13. “Get up! Sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for the Lord, the God of Israel, says, “There is a devoted thing among you, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you.”
14. “‘In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. It shall be that the tribe which the Lord selects shall come near by families. The family which the Lord selects shall come near by households. The household which the Lord selects shall come near man by man.
15. It shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the Lord’s covenant, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”
16. So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes. The tribe of Judah was selected.
17. He brought near the family of Judah; and he selected the family of the Zerahites. He brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was selected.