Joshua 8
1 And the Lord said to Joshua, Fear not, nor be timorous: take with you all the men of war, and arise, go up to Gai; behold, I have given into your hands the king of Gai, and his land.
And Jehovah saith unto Joshua, 'Fear not, nor be affrighted, take with thee all the people of war, and rise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land,
2 And you shall do to Gai, as you did to Jericho and its king; and you shall take to yourself the spoil of its cattle; set now for yourself an ambush for the city behind.
and thou hast done to Ai and to her king as thou hast done to Jericho and to her king; only, its spoil and its cattle ye spoil for yourselves; set for thee an ambush for the city at its rear.'
3 And Joshua and all the men of war rose to go up to Gai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men, and he sent them away by night.
And Joshua riseth, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai, and Joshua chooseth thirty thousand men, mighty ones of valour, and sendeth them away by night,
4 And he charged them, saying, Do you lie in ambush behind the city: do not go far from the city, and you shall all be ready.
and commandeth them, saying, 'See, ye are liers in wait against the city, at the rear of the city, ye go not very far off from the city, and all of you have been prepared,
5 Land I and all with me will draw near to the city: and it shall come to pass when the inhabitants of Gai shall come forth to meet us, as before, that we will flee from before them.
and I and all the people who [are] with me draw near unto the city, and it hath come to pass when they come out to meet us as at the first, and we have fled before them,
6 And when they shall come out after us, we will draw them away from the city; and they will say, These men flee from before us, as also before.
and they have come out after us till we have drawn them out of the city, for they say, They are fleeing before us as at the first, and we have fled before them,
7 And you shall rise up out of the ambuscade, and go into the city.
and ye rise from the ambush, and have occupied the city, and Jehovah your God hath given it into your hand;
8 You shall do according to this word, behold! I have commanded you.
and it hath been, when ye capture the city, ye burn the city with fire, according to the word of Jehovah ye do, see, I have commanded you.'
9 And Joshua sent them, and they went to lie in ambush; and they lay between Baethel and Gai, westward of Gai.
And Joshua sendeth them away, and they go unto the ambush, and abide between Bethel and Ai, on the west of Ai; and Joshua lodgeth on that night in the midst of the people.
10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people; and he went up, he and the elders before the people to Gai.
And Joshua riseth early in the morning, and inspecteth the people, and goeth up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai;
11 And all the men of war went up with him, and they went forward and came over against the city eastward.
and all the people of war who [are] with him have gone up, and draw nigh and come in over-against the city, and encamp on the north of Ai; and the valley [is] between him and Ai.
12 And the ambuscade [was] on the west side of the city.
And he taketh about five thousand men, and setteth them an ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west of the city;
and they set the people, all the camp which [is] on the north of the city, and its rear on the west of the city, and Joshua goeth on that night into the midst of the valley.
14 And it came to pass when the king of Gai saw [it], he hasted and went out to meet them direct to the battle, he and all the people [that were] with him: and he knew not that there was an ambuscade [formed] against him behind the city.
And it cometh to pass, when the king of Ai seeth [it], that hasten, and rise early, and go out do the men of the city to meet Israel for battle, he and all his people, at the appointed season, at the front of the plain, and he hath not known that an ambush [is] against him, on the rear of the city.
15 And Joshua and Israel saw, and retreated from before them.
And Joshua and all Israel [seem] stricken before them, and flee the way of the wilderness,
16 And they pursued after the children of Israel, and they themselves went to a distance from the city.
and all the people who [are] in the city are called to pursue after them, and they pursue after Joshua, and are drawn away out of the city,
17 There was no one left in Gai who did not pursue after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
and there hath not been left a man in Ai and Bethel who hath not gone out after Israel, and they leave the city open, and pursue after Israel.
18 And the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch forth your hand with the spear that is in your hand towards the city, for I have delivered it into your hands; and the liers in wait shall rise up quickly out of their place.
And Jehovah saith unto Joshua, 'Stretch out with the javelin which [is] in thy hand towards Ai, for into thy hand I give it;' and Joshua stretcheth out with the javelin which [is] in his hand toward the city,
19 And Joshua stretched out his hand [and] his spear towards the city, and the ambuscade rose up quickly out of their place; and they came forth when he stretched out his hand; and they entered into the city, and took it; and they hasted and burnt the city with fire.
and the ambush hath risen [with] haste, out of its place, and they run at the stretching out of his hand, and go into the city, and capture it, and hasten, and burn the city with fire.
20 And when the inhabitants of Gai looked round behind them, then they saw the smoke going up out of the city to heaven, and they were no longer able to flee this way or that way.
And the men of Ai look behind them, and see, and lo, the smoke of the city hath gone up unto the heavens, and there hath not been in them power to flee hither and thither — and the people who are fleeing to the wilderness have turned against the pursuer, —
21 And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambuscade had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city went up to heaven; and they turned and struck the men of Gai.
and Joshua and all Israel have seen that the ambush hath captured the city, and that the smoke of the city hath gone up, and they turn back and smite the men of Ai;
22 And these came forth out of the city to meet them; and they were in the midst of the army, some [being] on this side, and some on that; and they struck them until there was not left of them one who survived and escaped.
and these have come out from the city to meet them, and they are in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that, and they smite them till he hath not left to them a remnant and escaped one;
23 And they took the king of Gai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
and the king of Ai they caught alive, and bring him near unto Joshua.
24 And when the children of Israel had ceased slaying all that were in Gai, and in the fields, and in the mountain on the descent, from whence they pursued them [even] to the end, then Joshua returned to Gai, and struck it with the edge of the sword.
And it cometh to pass, at Israel's finishing to slay all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them (and they fall all of them by the mouth of the sword till their consumption), that all Israel turn back to Ai, and smite it by the mouth of the sword;
25 And they that fell in that day, men and women, were twelve thousand: [they killed] all the inhabitants of Gai.
and all who fall during the day, of men and of women, are twelve thousand — all men of Ai.
And Joshua hath not brought back his hand which he stretched out with the javelin till that he hath devoted all the inhabitants of Ai;
27 Beside the spoils that were in the city, all things which the children of Israel took as spoil for themselves according to the command of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Joshua.
only, the cattle and the spoil of that city have Israel spoiled for themselves, according to the word of Jehovah which He commanded Joshua.
28 And Joshua burnt the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap for ever, [even] to this day.
And Joshua burneth Ai, and maketh it a heap age-during — a desolation unto this day;
29 And he hanged the king of Gai on a gallows; and he remained on the tree till evening: and when the sun went down, Joshua gave charge, and they took down his body from the tree, and cast it into a pit, and they set over him a heap of stones until this day.
and the king of Ai he hath hanged on the tree till even-time, and at the going in of the sun hath Joshua commanded, and they take down his carcase from the tree, and cast it unto the opening of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones till this day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in mount Gaebal,
Then doth Joshua build an altar to Jehovah, God of Israel, in mount Ebal,
31 as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, on which iron had not been lifted up; and he offered there whole burnt offerings to the Lord, and a peace-offering.
as Moses, servant of Jehovah, commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses — an altar of whole stones, over which he hath not waved iron — and they cause to go up upon it burnt-offerings to Jehovah, and sacrifice peace-offerings;
32 And Joshua wrote upon the stones a copy of the law, even the law of Moses, before the children of Israel.
and he writeth there on the stones the copy of the law of Moses, which he hath written in the presence of the sons of Israel.
33 And all Israel, and their elders, and their judges, and their scribes, passed on one side and on the other before the ark; and the priests and the Levites took up the ark of the covenant of the Lord; and the stranger and the native were there, who were half of them near mount Garizin, and half near mount Gaebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded at first, to bless the people.
And all Israel, and its elders, and authorities, and its judges, are standing on this side and on that of the ark, over-against the priests, the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, as well the sojourner as the native, half of them over-against mount Gerizim, and the half of them over-against mount Ebal, as Moses servant of Jehovah commanded to bless the people of Israel at the first.
34 And afterwards Joshua read accordingly all the words of this law, the blessings and the curses, according to all things written in the law of Moses.
And afterwards he hath proclaimed all the words of the law, the blessing and the reviling, according to all that is written in the book of the law;
35 There was not a word of all that Moses charged Joshua, which Joshua read not in the ears of all the assembly of the children of Israel, the men, and the women, and the children, and the strangers that joined themselves to Israel.
there hath not been a thing of all that Moses commanded which Joshua hath not proclaimed before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the infants, and the sojourner who is going in their midst.
