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.
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 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.”
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 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 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 instructed them, saying: “Set an ambush behind the city. You shall withdraw not far away, and let everyone be prepared.
He ordered them, “You lie in ambush behind the town, not far away. All of you need to 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,
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 until, pursuing us, they are drawn away from the city. For they will think that we are fleeing as before.
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, 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.
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 seized it, set it on fire. And you shall do all that I have ordered.”
Once you've captured the town, set it on fire, as the Lord has instructed. Now follow 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
He took about five thousand men and had them lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the town.
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 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 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.
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 Yet truly, Joshua, and all of Israel, withdrew from the place, pretending to be afraid, and fleeing along the way of the wilderness.
Joshua and the Israelites allowed themselves to be driven back, and ran away in the direction of the wilderness.
16 And they pursued them, shouting together and encouraging one another. And when they had withdrawn from the city,
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 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 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 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.”
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 Also, they apprehended the king of the city of Ai, alive, and they brought him before Joshua.
Only the king of Ai was captured alive, and he was brought before 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.
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 Now there were twelve thousand persons who had fallen on the same day, from man even to woman, the entire city of Ai.
Those who were killed that day numbered twelve thousand, men and women—all the inhabitants 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 had continued to hold up his spear until all the people of Ai had been destroyed.
27 Then the sons of Israel divided among themselves the cattle and the plunder of the city, just as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
Only the livestock and plunder were taken from the town by the Israelites, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
28 And he set fire to the city, and he caused it to be a perpetual tomb.
So Joshua burned the town of Ai, making it permanently into a heap of ruins where no one lives to this very 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.
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 built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for the Lord, the God of Israel.
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.
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 wrote on the stones, the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had set in order before the sons of Israel.
There in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses.
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.
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 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.
Then Joshua read out the whole Law—all the blessings and curses 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.
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.
