Joshua 8
1 After, the Lord saide vnto Ioshua, Feare not, neither bee thou faint hearted: take all the men of warre with thee and arise, go vp to Ai: beholde, I haue giuen into thine hand the King of Ai, and his people, and his citie, and his land.
Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
2 And thou shalt doe to Ai and to the King thereof, as thou didst vnto Iericho and to the King thereof: neuerthelesse the spoyle thereof and the cattell thereof shall ye take vnto you for a praye: thou shalt lye in wait against the citie on the backside thereof.
And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”
3 Then Ioshua arose, and all the men of warre to goe vp against Ai: and Ioshua chose out thirtie thousand strong men, and valiant, and sent them away by night.
So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night
4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, yee shall lye in waite against the citie on the backeside of the citie: goe not very farre from the citie, but be ye all in a readinesse.
with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.
5 And I and all the people that are with me, will approche vnto the citie: and when they shall come out against vs, as they did at the first time, then will we flee before them.
Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.
6 For they wil come out after vs, till we haue brought them out of the citie: for they will say, They flee before vs as at the first time: so we will flee before them.
They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them,
7 Then you shall rise vp from lying in waite and destroy the citie: for the Lord your God wil deliuer it into your hand.
you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And when ye haue taken the citie, ye shall set it on fire: according to the commandement of the Lord shall ye do: behold, I haue charged you.
And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”
9 Ioshua then sent them foorth, and they went to lye in waite, and abode betweene Beth-el and Ai, on the Westside of Ai: but Ioshua lodged that night among the people.
So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 And Ioshua rose vp early in the morning, and nombred the people: and he and the Elders of Israel went vp before the people against Ai.
Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.
11 Also all the men of warre that were with him went vp and drewe neere, and came against the citie, and pitched on the Northside of Ai: and there was a valley betweene them and Ai.
Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.
12 And hee tooke about fiue thousande men, and set them to lye in waite betweene Beth-el and Ai, on the Westside of the citie.
Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
13 And the people set all the hoste that was on the Northside against the citie, and the liers in waite on the West, against the citie: and Ioshua went the same night into the mids of the valley.
So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.
14 And when the King of Ai sawe it, then the men of the citie hasted and rose vp earely, and went out against Israel to battell, hee and all his people at the time appointed, before the plaine: for he knew not that any lay in waite against him on the backeside of the citie.
When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city.
15 Then Ioshua and all Israel as beaten before them, fled by the way of the wildernes.
Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.
16 And all the people of the citie were called together, to pursue after them: and they pursued after Ioshua, and were drawen away out of the city,
Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
17 So that there was not a man left in Ai, nor in Beth-el, that went not out after Israel: and they left the citie open, and pursued after Israel.
Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.
18 Then the Lord said vnto Ioshua, Stretch out the speare that is in thine hande, towarde Ai: for I wil giue it into thine hand: and Ioshua stretched out the speare that hee had in his hand, toward the citie.
Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,
19 And they that lay in wait, arose quickly out of their place, and ranne as soone as he had stretched out his hand, and they entred into the citie, and tooke it, and hasted, and set the citie on fire.
and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
20 And the men of Ai looked behinde them, and sawe it: for loe, the smoke of the citie ascended vp to heauen, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: for the people that fled to the wildernesse, turned backe vpon the pursuers.
When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.
21 When Ioshua and all Israel sawe that they that lay in waite, had taken the citie, and that the smoke of the citie mounted vp, then they turned againe and slewe the men of Ai.
When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.
22 Also the other issued out of the citie against them: so were they in the middes of Israel, these being on the one side, and the rest on the other side: and they slewe them, so that they let none of them remaine nor escape.
Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.
23 And the King of Ai they tooke aliue, and brought him to Ioshua.
But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 And when Israel had made an ende of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the fielde, that is, in the wildernesse, where they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sworde, vntill they were consumed, all the Israelites returned vnto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sworde.
When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.
25 And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelue thousande, euen all the men of Ai.
A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.
26 For Ioshua drewe not his hande backe againe which he had stretched out with the speare, vntill hee had vtterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.
27 Onely the cattell and the spoyle of this citie, Israel tooke for a praye vnto themselues, according vnto the worde of the Lord, which hee commanded Ioshua.
Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.
28 And Ioshua burnt Ai, and made it an heape for euer, and a wildernes vnto this day.
So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
29 And the King of Ai hee hanged on a tree, vnto the euening. And as soone as the sunne was down, Ioshua commanded that they should take his carkeis downe from the tree, and cast it at the entring of ye gate of the city, and lay thereon a great heape of stones, that remaineth vnto this day.
He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
30 Then Ioshua built an altar vnto the Lord God of Israel, in mount Ebal,
At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,
31 As Moses the seruant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the booke of the Lawe of Moses, an altar of whole stone, ouer which no man had lift an yron: and they offered thereon burnt offrings vnto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings.
just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.
32 Also he wrote there vpon the stones, a rehearsall of the Lawe of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
33 And all Israel (and their Elders, and officers and their iudges stoode on this side of the Arke, and on that side, before the Priestes of the Leuites, which bare the Arke of the couenant of the Lord) as well the stranger, as he that is borne in the countrey: halfe of them were ouer against mount Gerizim, and halfe of them ouer against mount Ebal, as Moses the seruant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should blesse the people of Israel.
All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.
34 Then afterwarde hee read all the wordes of the Lawe, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the booke of the Lawe.
Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.
35 There was not a worde of all that Moses had commanded, which Ioshua read not before all the Congregation of Israel, as well before the women and the children, as the stranger that was conuersant among them.
There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.
