Then he and all his men returned to the man of God. Naaman stood in front of Elisha and said, “Now I know that there’s no god in the whole world, except the God of Israel. So please accept a present from me.”
When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence. They realized we had done this work with the help of our God.
In every province and every city where the king’s message and decree arrived, the Jews were happy and joyful, feasting and enjoying a holiday. Then many common people pretended to be Jews because they were terrified of the Jews.
This is the divine revelation about Egypt. The Lord is riding on a fast-moving cloud and is coming to Egypt. Egypt’s idols will tremble in his presence. Egypt’s courage will fail.
I have appointed my sword to slaughter people at all their gates so that their hearts will sink and many will die. Yes! It’s ready to flash like lightning. It’s polished to kill.
Where are we going anyway? Our own men have discouraged us by saying, ‘The people there are taller and stronger than we are. The cities are big with sky-high walls! We even saw the people of Anak there.’ ”
The officers should also tell the troops, “If you are afraid or have lost your courage, you may go home. Then you won’t ruin the morale of the other Israelites.”
All the Amorite kings west of the Jordan River and all the Canaanite kings along the Mediterranean Sea heard that the Lord had dried up the Jordan River so that the Israelites could cross. So they lost heart and had no courage left to face the people of Israel.
The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, chasing them from the city gate to the slope of the stone quarries. Israel’s troops lost heart and were scared stiff.
They answered Joshua, “We were told that the Lord your God commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and destroy all who live there. We deceived you because we feared for our lives.