The Biblical Book of Joshua (NIV), Chs. 5-7, as Related to Shirley Jackson's Short Story "The Lottery"
 

The Fall of Jericho

¹³Now 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 went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"
¹⁴"Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?"
¹⁵The commander of the lord's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

6

        Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
        ²Then the lord said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. ³March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. ⁴Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. ⁵When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."

        So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." ⁷And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD."

        ⁸When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the lord's covenant followed them. The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. ^l0But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" ¹¹So he had the ark of the lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there.

        ¹²Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the lord. ¹³The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the lord, marching and blowing the trumpets. ¹⁴So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

        ¹⁵On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the lord has given you the city! ¹⁷The city and all that is in it are to be devoted* to the lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring disaster on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the lord and must go into his treasury."

        ²⁰When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. ²¹They devoted the city to the lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it -- men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

        ²²Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." ²³So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

        ²⁴Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the lord's house. ²⁵But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho -- and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

        ²⁶At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the lord is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:

                    "At the cost of his firstborn son
                        will he lay its foundations;
                 at the cost of his youngest
                        will he set up its gates."

²⁷So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

Achan's Sin

7
        But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted* things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri,'' the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the lord's anger burned against Israel.

        ²Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, "Go up and spy out the region." So the men went up and spied out Ai.

        ³When they returned to Joshua, they said, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there." ⁴So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, ⁵who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries^r and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

        ⁶Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. ⁷And Joshua said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! ⁸O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?"

        ¹⁰The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? "Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. ¹²That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

        ¹³"Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it.

        ¹⁴" 'In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD takes shall come forward clan by clan; the clan that the lord takes shall come forward family by family; and the family that the lord takes shall come forward man by man. ¹⁵He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the LORD and has done a disgraceful thing in Israel!' "

        "'Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was taken. ¹⁷The clans of Judah came forward, and he took the Zerahites. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was taken. ¹⁸Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

        ¹⁹Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD," the God of Israel, and give him the praise [or confess to him]. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me."

        ²⁰Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: ²¹When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia,' two hundred shekels'' of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels,' I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."

        ²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. ²³They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD.

        ²⁴Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵Joshua said, "Why have you brought this disaster on us? The LORD will bring disaster on you today."

        Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. ²⁶Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor' ever since.
 

______________

*"devoted" translates a Hebrew term referring to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them, but sometimes as gifts for the traveling sanctuary or future Temple.