Joshua 8
1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
And the Lord said to Josue: Fear not, nor be thou dismayed: take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, arise and go up to the town of Hai. Behold I have delivered into thy hand the king thereof, and the people, and the city, and the land.
2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”
And thou shalt do to the city of Hai, and to the king thereof, as thou hast done to Jericho, and to the king thereof: but the spoils and all the cattle you shall take for a prey to yourselves: lay an ambush for the city behind it.
3 So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night
And Josue arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him, to go up against Hai: and he sent thirty thousand chosen valiant men in the night,
4 with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.
And commanded them, saying: Lay an ambush behind the city: and go not very far from it: and be ye all ready.
5 Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.
But I and the rest of the multitude which is with me; will approach on the contrary side against the city. And when they shall come out against us, we will flee, and turn our backs, as we did before:
6 They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them,
Till they pursuing us be drawn farther from the city: for they will think that we flee as before.
7 you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
And whilst we are fleeing, and they pursuing, you shall arise out of the ambush, and shall destroy the city: and the Lord your God will deliver it into our hands.
8 And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”
And when you shall have taken it, set it on fire, and you shall do all things so as I have commanded.
9 So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.
And he sent them away, and they went on to the place of the ambush, and abode between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city of Hai. But Josue stayed that night in the midst of the people,
10 Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.
And rising early in the morning, he mustered his soldiers, and went up with the ancients in the front of the army environed with the aid of the fighting men.
11 Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.
And when they were come, and were gone up over against the city, they stood on the north side of the city, between which and them there was a valley in the midst.
12 Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
And he had chosen five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the same city:
13 So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.
But all the rest of the army went in battle array on the north side, so that the last of that multitude reached to the west side of the city. So Josue went that night, and stood in the midst of the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city.
And when the king of Hai saw this, he made haste in the morning, and went out with all the army of the city, and set it in battle array toward the desert, not knowing that there lay an ambush behind his back.
15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.
But Josue, and all Israel gave back, making as if they were afraid, and fleeing by the way of the wilderness.
16 Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
But they shouting together, and encouraging one another, pursued them. And when they were come from the city,
17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.
And not one remained in the city of Hai and of Bethel, that did not pursue after Israel, leaving the towns open as they had rushed out,
18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,
The Lord said to Josue: Lift up the shield that is in thy hand, towards the city of Hai, for I will deliver it to thee.
19 and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
And when he had lifted up his shield towards the city, the ambush that lay hid, rose up immediately: and going to the city, took it and set it on fire.
20 When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.
And the men of the city, that pursued after Josue, looking back and seeing the smoke of the city rise up to heaven, had no more power to flee this way or that way: especially as they that had counterfeited flight, and were going toward the wilderness, turned back most valiantly against them that pursued.
21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.
So Josue and all Israel seeing that the city was taken, and that the smoke of the city rose up, returned and slew the men of Hai.
22 Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.
And they also that had taken and set the city on fire, issuing out of the city to meet their own men, began to cut off the enemies who were surrounded by them. So that the enemies being cut off on both sides, not one of so great a multitude was saved.
23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
And they took the king of the city of Hai alive, and brought him to Josue.
24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.
So all being slain that had pursued after Israel in his flight to the wilderness, and tailing by the sword in the same place, the children of Israel returned and laid waste the city.
25 A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.
And the number of them that fell that day, both of men and women, was twelve thousand persons all of the city of Hai.
26 Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.
But Josue drew not back his hand, which he had stretched out on high, holding the shield, till all the inhabitants of Hai were slain.
27 Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.
And the children of Israel divided among them the cattle and the prey of the city, as the Lord had commanded Josue.
28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
And he burned the city, and made it a heap for ever:
29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
And he hung the king thereof on a gibbet until the evening and the going down of the sun. Then Josue commanded, and they took down his carcass from the gibbet: and threw it in the very entrance of the city, heaping upon it a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this present day.
30 At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,
Then Josue built an altar to the Lord the God of Israel in mount Hebal,
31 just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.
As Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, and it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of unhewn stones which iron had not touched: and he offered upon it holocausts to the Lord, and immolated victims of peace offerings.
32 And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
And he wrote upon stones the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had ordered before the children of Israel.
33 All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.
And all the people, and the ancients, and the princes and judges stood on both sides of the ark, before the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, both the stranger and he that was born among them, half of them by mount Garizim, and half by mount Hebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. And first he blessed the people of Israel.
34 Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.
After this he read all the words of the blessing and the cursing and all things that were written in the hook of the law.
35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.
He left out nothing of those things which Moses had commanded, but he repeated all before all the people of Israel, with the women and children and strangers that dwelt among them.
