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:
The Lord said to Joshua, “Don't be afraid or downhearted! Take all the fighting men with you and attack Ai, for I'm handing over to you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his 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.
You will do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. However, this time you may keep for yourselves the plunder and the livestock. Set up an ambush behind the town.”
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.
So Joshua and all the people got ready to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at 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:
He ordered them, “You lie in ambush behind the town, not far away. All of you need to be 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;
When I and the rest of the men with me approach the town, the defenders will run out to attack us just like before, and we'll run away from them.
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;
They'll chase after us as we draw them away from the town, because they'll say to each other, ‘They're running away from us just like 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.
While we're running away from them, you will get up from your ambush positions and take the town for the Lord God will hand it over to you.
8 And when you have taken the town, put fire to it, as the Lord has said: see, I have given you your orders.
Once you've captured the town, set it on fire, as the Lord has instructed. Now follow your orders.”
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.
Joshua sent them out, and they went to lie in ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But that night Joshua stayed with the people in the camp.
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.
Early the next morning Joshua got up early and gathered the people and went up to attack Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.
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.
All the fighting men who were with him approached the front of the town, and camped there on the north side, with a valley between them and Ai.
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.
He took about five thousand men and had them lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the town.
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.
So the army took up their positions—the main army to the north of the town, and the ambush to the west. Joshua went that night to 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.
As soon as the king of Ai saw the situation, he and all his men rushed out early in the morning to attack the Israelites where they had before, at a place overlooking the Jordan valley. He didn't know about the ambush waiting on the other side of the town.
15 Then Joshua and all Israel, acting as if they were overcome before them, went in flight by way of the waste land.
Joshua and the Israelites allowed themselves to be driven back, and ran away in the direction 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.
All the men of the town were called out to chase after them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn father from the town.
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.
There wasn't a man left in Ai and Bethel who didn't go out to chase the Israelites. They left the town wide open as they pursued the Israelites.
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.
Then the Lord told Joshua, “Hold up the spear in your hand and point it at Ai, because I'm giving it to you.” So Joshua held up the spear in his hand and pointed it at the town.
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.
As soon as they saw this signal the men lying in ambush got up and rushed into the town. They captured it, and quickly 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.
When the men of Ai looked back they saw the smoke rising up into the sky from the town. They had nowhere to run to, because the Israelites who had been running away towards the wilderness now turned on their pursuers.
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.
For when Joshua and the Israelites saw that the ambush group had captured the town, and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai.
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.
The men from the ambush also came from the town and attacked them, so they were caught on the middle, with the Israelites on both sides. The Israelites cut them down—not a single man survived or got away.
23 But the king of Ai they made prisoner, and took him to Joshua.
Only the king of Ai was captured alive, and he was brought before Joshua.
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.
When the Israelites had finished killing the men of Ai who had chased them towards the wilderness—once they had all been cut down by the sword—the whole Israelite army returned to the town and killed everyone living there.
25 On that day twelve thousand were put to death, men and women, all the people of Ai.
Those who were killed that day numbered twelve thousand, men and women—all the inhabitants of Ai.
26 For Joshua did not take back his hand with the outstretched spear till the destruction of the people of Ai was complete.
For Joshua had continued to hold up his spear until all the people of Ai had been destroyed.
27 But the cattle and the goods from that town, Israel took for themselves, as the Lord had given orders to Joshua.
Only the livestock and plunder were taken from the town by the Israelites, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
28 So Joshua gave Ai to the flames, and made it a waste mass of stones for ever, as it is to this day.
So Joshua burned the town of Ai, making it permanently into a heap of ruins where no one lives to this very day.
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.
He killed the king of Ai and hung his body on a tree until evening. When the sun went down Joshua ordered the body taken down. They threw it down in front of the entrance to the town gate and piled a heap of rocks over it which is still there today.
30 Then Joshua put up an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal,
Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for the Lord, the God of Israel.
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.
He did what Moses, the servant of the Lord, had told the Israelites to do, as recorded in the book of the Law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones which no one has worked with iron tools. On the altar they made burnt offerings and friendship offerings to the Lord.
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.
There in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses.
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.
All the Israelites, the elders, the officers, and the judges stood in two groups facing each other with the priests, the Levites, and the Ark of the Lord's Agreement between them. (Included were the foreigners as well as the native born.) Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim, and half in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses had ordered, for the blessing of the people this first time.
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;
Then Joshua read out the whole Law—all the blessings and curses recorded in the book 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.
Joshua read out every word of Moses' instruction to the whole Israelite assembly, including the women, the children, and the foreigners who lived among them.
