Joshua 8
1 Then the Lord said to Joshua: “You should not fear, and you should not dread. Take with you the entire multitude of fighters, and rising up, ascend to the town of Ai. Behold, I have delivered into your hand its king and people, and the city and the land.
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:
2 And you shall do to the city of Ai, and to its king, just as you did to Jericho, and to its king. Yet truly, the spoils, and all the living things, you shall plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city behind it.”
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.
3 And Joshua rose up, and the entire army of warriors with him, so that they might ascend against Ai. And he sent thirty thousand elect strong men in the night.
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.
4 And he instructed them, saying: “Set an ambush behind the city. You shall withdraw not far away, and let everyone be prepared.
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:
5 But I and the remainder of the multitude that is with me will approach from the opposite side of the city. And when they come out against us, we will flee and turn our backs, just as we did before,
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;
6 until, pursuing us, they are drawn away from the city. For they will think that we are fleeing as before.
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;
7 Then, while we are fleeing and they are pursuing, you shall rise up from the ambush, and you shall lay waste to the city. And the Lord your God will deliver it into your hands.
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.
8 And when you have seized it, set it on fire. And you shall do all that I have ordered.”
And when you have taken the town, put fire to it, as the Lord has said: see, I have given you your orders.
9 And he sent them away, and they traveled to the place of the ambush, and they settled between Bethel and Ai, toward the western region of the city of Ai. But Joshua remained for that night in the midst of the people.
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.
10 And rising at first light, he reviewed his troops, and he went up, with the elders at the front of the army, surrounded by an auxiliary of fighters.
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.
11 And when they had arrived, and had ascended from the opposite side of the city, they stood toward the northern region of the city. And there was a valley in the middle, between them and the city.
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.
12 Now he had chosen five thousand men, and he had positioned them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, at the western part of the same city.
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.
13 Yet truly, all the remainder of the army was arranged in a line to the north, so that the very end of that multitude reached to the western region of the city. Then Joshua went out that night, and he stood in the middle of the valley.
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.
14 And when the king of Ai had seen this, he hurried in the morning, and he went out with the entire army of the city. And he arranged them in a line opposite the desert, not knowing that an ambush lay hidden behind his back.
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.
15 Yet truly, Joshua, and all of Israel, withdrew from the place, pretending to be afraid, and fleeing along the way of the wilderness.
Then Joshua and all Israel, acting as if they were overcome before them, went in flight by way of the waste land.
16 And they pursued them, shouting together and encouraging one another. And when they had withdrawn from the city,
And all the people in Ai came together to go after them; and they went after Joshua, moving away from the town.
17 and indeed not one remained in the city of Ai and of Bethel who did not pursue after Israel, (leaving the towns open after they had rushed out, )
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.
18 the Lord said to Joshua: “Lift up the shield that is in your hand, toward the city of Ai. For I will deliver it to you.”
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.
19 And when he had lifted up the shield toward the city, the ambush, which lay hidden, rose up quickly. And advancing to the city, they seized it, and set it on fire.
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.
20 Now the men of the city who were pursuing Joshua, looking back and seeing the smoke of the city rising up even to heaven, were no longer able to flee in one direction or another, especially since those who had pretended to flee, and who were heading toward the wilderness, had turned back very strongly against those who were pursuing them.
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.
21 And Joshua, and all of Israel, seeing that the city had been captured, and that the smoke of the city was ascending, returned and struck down the men of Ai.
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.
22 Then too, those who had seized and set the city on fire, departing from the city toward their own men, began to strike the enemies in the middle. Therefore, since the adversaries were cut off from both sides, none of so great a multitude was saved.
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.
23 Also, they apprehended the king of the city of Ai, alive, and they brought him before Joshua.
But the king of Ai they made prisoner, and took him to Joshua.
24 And so, after all were slain who had pursued Israel fleeing toward the wilderness, and after they fell by the sword in the same place, the sons of Israel returned and struck the city.
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.
25 Now there were twelve thousand persons who had fallen on the same day, from man even to woman, the entire city of Ai.
On that day twelve thousand were put to death, men and women, all the people of Ai.
26 Truly Joshua did not draw back his hand, which he had stretched out on high, keeping hold of the shield until all the inhabitants of Ai were put to death.
For Joshua did not take back his hand with the outstretched spear till the destruction of the people of Ai was complete.
27 Then the sons of Israel divided among themselves the cattle and the plunder of the city, just as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
But the cattle and the goods from that town, Israel took for themselves, as the Lord had given orders to Joshua.
28 And he set fire to the city, and he caused it to be a perpetual tomb.
So Joshua gave Ai to the flames, and made it a waste mass of stones for ever, as it is to this day.
29 Also, he suspended the king on a gallows, until evening and the setting of the sun. And Joshua instructed, and they took down his dead body from the hanging tree. And they cast it at the very entrance of the city, gathering a great pile of stones upon it, which remains even to the present day.
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.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
Then Joshua put up an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, in Mount Ebal,
31 just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had instructed to the sons of Israel, and this was written in the book of the law of Moses: truly, an altar of uncut stones, which iron has not touched. And he offered holocausts upon it to the Lord, and he immolated victims as peace-offerings.
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.
32 And he wrote on the stones, the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had set in order before the sons of Israel.
And he made there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, writing it before the eyes of the children of Israel.
33 Then all the people, and those greater by birth, and the commanders and judges were standing on both sides of the ark, in the sight of the priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, with both the new arrival and the native born, one half part of them beside Mount Gerizim, and one half beside Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had instructed. And first, certainly, he blessed the people of Israel.
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.
34 After this, he read all the words of the blessing and the cursing, and all the things that were written in the book of the law.
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;
35 He left nothing untouched out of those things that Moses had ordered, and he repeated everything before the entire multitude of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the new arrivals who were staying among them.
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.
