Joshua 8
1 Then the Lord said to Joshua, Have no fear and do not be troubled: take with you all the fighting-men and go up against Ai: for I have given into your hands the king of Ai and his people and his town 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 are to do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king: but their goods and their cattle you may take for yourselves: let a secret force be stationed to make a surprise attack on the town from the back.
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 fighting-men got ready to go up against Ai; and Joshua took thirty thousand men of war, and sent them out by 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 And he gave them their orders, saying, Go and take up your position secretly at the back of the town: do not go very far away, and let all of you 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 And I and all the people with me will come near the town, and when they come out against us as they did before, we will go in flight 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 And they will come out after us, till we have got them away from the town; for they will say, They have gone in flight from us as before; so we will go in flight before them;
Till they pursuing us be drawn farther from the city: for they will think that we flee as before.
7 Then you will get up from your secret position and take the town, for the Lord your God will give it up into your hands.
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 town, put fire to it, as the Lord has said: see, I have given you your 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 took up a secret position between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of Ai: but Joshua kept with the people that night.
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 And early in the morning Joshua got up, and put the people in order, and he and the chiefs of Israel went up before the people 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 And all the fighting-men who were with him went up and came near the town, and took up a position on the north side of Ai facing the town, with a valley between him and the town.
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 And taking about five thousand men, he put them in position for a surprise attack on the west side of Ai, between Beth-el and Ai.
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 all the people were in their places, the army on the north side of the town and the secret force on the west; and that night Joshua went down 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 Now when the king of Ai saw it, he got up quickly and went out to war against Israel, he and all his people, to the slope going down to the valley; but he had no idea that a secret force was waiting at the back of the town.
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 Then Joshua and all Israel, acting as if they were overcome before them, went in flight by way of the waste land.
But Josue, and all Israel gave back, making as if they were afraid, and fleeing by the way of the wilderness.
16 And all the people in Ai came together to go after them; and they went after Joshua, moving away from the town.
But they shouting together, and encouraging one another, pursued them. And when they were come from the city,
17 There was not a man in Ai and Beth-el who did not go out after Israel; and the town was open and unwatched while they went after 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 And the Lord said to Joshua, Let your spear be stretched out against Ai; for I will give it into your hands. So Joshua took up his spear, stretching it out in the direction of the town.
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 Then the secret force came quickly from their place, and running forward when they saw his hand stretched out, went into the town and took it, and put fire to it straight away.
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 Then the men of Ai, looking back, saw the smoke of the town going up to heaven, and were unable to go this way or that: and the people who had gone in flight to the waste land were turned back on those who were coming after them.
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 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the town had been taken by the surprise attack, and that the smoke of the town had gone up, turning round they overcame 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 Then the other force came out of the town against them, so that they were being attacked on this side and on that: and Israel overcame them and let not one of them get away with his life.
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 the king of Ai they made prisoner, and took him to Joshua.
And they took the king of the city of Hai alive, and brought him to Josue.
24 Then, after the destruction of all the people of Ai in the field and in the waste land where they went after them, and when all the people had been put to death without mercy, all Israel went back to Ai, and put to death all who were in it without mercy.
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 On that day twelve thousand were put to death, men and women, 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 For Joshua did not take back his hand with the outstretched spear till the destruction of the people of Ai was complete.
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 But the cattle and the goods from that town, Israel took for themselves, as the Lord had given orders to 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 gave Ai to the flames, and made it a waste mass of stones for ever, as it is to this day.
And he burned the city, and made it a heap for ever:
29 And he put the king of Ai to death, hanging him on a tree till evening: and when the sun went down, Joshua gave them orders to take his body down from the tree, and put it in the public place of the town, covering it with a great mass of stones, which is there 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 Then Joshua put up an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal,
Then Josue built an altar to the Lord the God of Israel in mount Hebal,
31 In the way ordered by Moses, the servant of the Lord, as it is recorded in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones, untouched by any iron instrument: and on it they made burned offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord.
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 he made there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, writing it before the eyes of the children of Israel.
And he wrote upon stones the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had ordered before the children of Israel.
33 And all Israel, those who were Israelites by birth, as well as the men from other lands living with them, and their responsible men and their overseers and judges, took their places round the ark, in front of the priests, the Levites, whose work it was to take up the ark of the Lord's agreement; half of them were stationed in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, in agreement with the orders for the blessing of the children of Israel which Moses, the servant of the Lord, had given.
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 And after, he gave them all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, as it is all recorded 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 Reading to all the meeting of Israel, with the women and the children and the men from other lands who were living among them, every word of the orders which Moses had given.
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.
