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.
καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς Ἰησοῦν μὴ φοβηθῇς μηδὲ δειλιάσῃς λαβὲ μετὰ σοῦ τοὺς ἄνδρας πάντας τοὺς πολεμιστὰς καὶ ἀναστὰς ἀνάβηθι εἰς Γαι ἰδοὺ δέδωκα εἰς τὰς χεῖράς σου τὸν βασιλέα Γαι καὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτοῦ
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.”
καὶ ποιήσεις τὴν Γαι ὃν τρόπον ἐποίησας τὴν Ιεριχω καὶ τὸν βασιλέα αὐτῆς καὶ τὴν προνομὴν τῶν κτηνῶν προνομεύσεις σεαυτῷ κατάστησον δὲ σεαυτῷ ἔνεδρα τῇ πόλει εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω
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
καὶ ἀνέστη Ἰησοῦς καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ὁ πολεμιστὴς ὥστε ἀναβῆναι εἰς Γαι ἐπέλεξεν δὲ Ἰησοῦς τριάκοντα χιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν δυνατοὺς ἐν ἰσχύι καὶ ἀπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς νυκτός
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.
καὶ ἐνετείλατο αὐτοῖς λέγων ὑμεῖς ἐνεδρεύσατε ὀπίσω τῆς πόλεως μὴ μακρὰν γίνεσθε ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἔσεσθε πάντες ἕτοιμοι
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.
καὶ ἐγὼ καὶ πάντες οἱ μετ’ ἐμοῦ προσάξομεν πρὸς τὴν πόλιν καὶ ἔσται ὡς ἂν ἐξέλθωσιν οἱ κατοικοῦντες Γαι εἰς συνάντησιν ἡμῖν καθάπερ καὶ πρῴην καὶ φευξόμεθα ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν
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,
καὶ ὡς ἂν ἐξέλθωσιν ὀπίσω ἡμῶν ἀποσπάσομεν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἐροῦσιν φεύγουσιν οὗτοι ἀπὸ προσώπου ἡμῶν ὃν τρόπον καὶ ἔμπροσθεν
7 you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐξαναστήσεσθε ἐκ τῆς ἐνέδρας καὶ πορεύσεσθε εἰς τὴν πόλιν
8 And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”
κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο ποιήσετε ἰδοὺ ἐντέταλμαι ὑμῖν
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.
καὶ ἀπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς Ἰησοῦς καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν εἰς τὴν ἐνέδραν καὶ ἐνεκάθισαν ἀνὰ μέσον Βαιθηλ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον Γαι ἀπὸ θαλάσσης τῆς Γαι
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.
καὶ ὀρθρίσας Ἰησοῦς τὸ πρωὶ ἐπεσκέψατο τὸν λαόν καὶ ἀνέβησαν αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι κατὰ πρόσωπον τοῦ λαοῦ ἐπὶ Γαι
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.
καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ὁ πολεμιστὴς μετ’ αὐτοῦ ἀνέβησαν καὶ πορευόμενοι ἦλθον ἐξ ἐναντίας τῆς πόλεως ἀπ’ ἀνατολῶν
12 Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
καὶ τὰ ἔνεδρα τῆς πόλεως ἀπὸ θαλάσσης
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.
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.
καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς εἶδεν βασιλεὺς Γαι ἔσπευσεν καὶ ἐξῆλθεν εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτοῖς ἐπ’ εὐθείας εἰς τὸν πόλεμον αὐτὸς καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ὁ μετ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ᾔδει ὅτι ἔνεδρα αὐτῷ ἐστιν ὀπίσω τῆς πόλεως
15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.
καὶ εἶδεν καὶ ἀνεχώρησεν Ἰησοῦς καὶ Ισραηλ ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν
16 Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
καὶ κατεδίωξαν ὀπίσω τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀπέστησαν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως
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.
οὐ κατελείφθη οὐθεὶς ἐν τῇ Γαι ὃς οὐ κατεδίωξεν ὀπίσω Ισραηλ καὶ κατέλιπον τὴν πόλιν ἀνεῳγμένην καὶ κατεδίωξαν ὀπίσω Ισραηλ
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,
καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς Ἰησοῦν ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐν τῷ γαίσῳ τῷ ἐν τῇ χειρί σου ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν εἰς γὰρ τὰς χεῖράς σου παραδέδωκα αὐτήν καὶ τὰ ἔνεδρα ἐξαναστήσονται ἐν τάχει ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῶν καὶ ἐξέτεινεν Ἰησοῦς τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ τὸν γαῖσον ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν
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.
καὶ τὰ ἔνεδρα ἐξανέστησαν ἐν τάχει ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῶν καὶ ἐξήλθοσαν ὅτε ἐξέτεινεν τὴν χεῖρα καὶ ἤλθοσαν ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ κατελάβοντο αὐτὴν καὶ σπεύσαντες ἐνέπρησαν τὴν πόλιν ἐν πυρί
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.
καὶ περιβλέψαντες οἱ κάτοικοι Γαι εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω αὐτῶν καὶ ἐθεώρουν καπνὸν ἀναβαίνοντα ἐκ τῆς πόλεως εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν καὶ οὐκέτι εἶχον ποῦ φύγωσιν ὧδε ἢ ὧδε
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.
καὶ Ἰησοῦς καὶ πᾶς Ισραηλ εἶδον ὅτι ἔλαβον τὰ ἔνεδρα τὴν πόλιν καὶ ὅτι ἀνέβη ὁ καπνὸς τῆς πόλεως εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν καὶ μεταβαλόμενοι ἐπάταξαν τοὺς ἄνδρας τῆς Γαι
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.
καὶ οὗτοι ἐξήλθοσαν ἐκ τῆς πόλεως εἰς συνάντησιν καὶ ἐγενήθησαν ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς παρεμβολῆς οὗτοι ἐντεῦθεν καὶ οὗτοι ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐπάταξαν ἕως τοῦ μὴ καταλειφθῆναι αὐτῶν σεσωσμένον καὶ διαπεφευγότα
23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
καὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῆς Γαι συνέλαβον ζῶντα καὶ προσήγαγον αὐτὸν πρὸς Ἰησοῦν
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.
καὶ ὡς ἐπαύσαντο οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ ἀποκτέννοντες πάντας τοὺς ἐν τῇ Γαι τοὺς ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις καὶ ἐν τῷ ὄρει ἐπὶ τῆς καταβάσεως οὗ κατεδίωξαν αὐτοὺς ἀπ’ αὐτῆς εἰς τέλος καὶ ἀπέστρεψεν Ἰησοῦς εἰς Γαι καὶ ἐπάταξεν αὐτὴν ἐν στόματι ῥομφαίας
25 A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.
καὶ ἐγενήθησαν οἱ πεσόντες ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς καὶ ἕως γυναικὸς δώδεκα χιλιάδες πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Γαι
26 Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.
27 Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.
πλὴν τῶν κτηνῶν καὶ τῶν σκύλων τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει πάντα ἃ ἐπρονόμευσαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ κατὰ πρόσταγμα κυρίου ὃν τρόπον συνέταξεν κύριος τῷ Ἰησοῖ
28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
καὶ ἐνεπύρισεν Ἰησοῦς τὴν πόλιν ἐν πυρί χῶμα ἀοίκητον εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἔθηκεν αὐτὴν ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης
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.
καὶ τὸν βασιλέα τῆς Γαι ἐκρέμασεν ἐπὶ ξύλου διδύμου καὶ ἦν ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου ἕως ἑσπέρας καὶ ἐπιδύνοντος τοῦ ἡλίου συνέταξεν Ἰησοῦς καὶ καθείλοσαν αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου καὶ ἔρριψαν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν βόθρον καὶ ἐπέστησαν αὐτῷ σωρὸν λίθων ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης
30 At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
