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.
Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not fear; do not be discouraged. Take with you all the people of war. Go up to Ai. See, I have given 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.
You will do to Ai and her king as you have done to Jericho and her king, except that you will take the plunder and the cattle for yourselves. Set 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 got up and took all the men of war up to Ai. Then Joshua chose thirty thousand men—strong, courageous men—and he 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.
He commanded them, “Look, you will lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you 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.
I and all the men with me will approach the city, and when they come out to attack us, we will run away from them just as before.
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 come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city. They will say, 'They are running away from us as they did the last time.' So we will run away 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.
Then you come up out of your place of hiding, and you will capture the city. Yahweh your God will give 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.
When you capture the city, you will set it on fire. You will do this when you obey the command given in the word of Yahweh. See, I have commanded you.”
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.
Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush, and they hid between Bethel and Ai to the west of Ai. But Joshua slept 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 in the morning and got his soldiers ready, Joshua and the elders of Israel, and they attacked the people of 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.
All the fighting men who were with him went up and approached the city. They came near the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between them and Ai.
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.
He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush on the west side of the city between Bethel and Ai.
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.
They positioned all the soldiers, the main army on the north side of the city, and the rear guard on the west side of the city. Joshua spent that night in 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.
It came about when the king of Ai saw it, he and his army got up early and rushed out to attack Israel at a certain place that was overlooking the Jordan River valley. He did not know that an ambush was waiting to attack from 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 defeated 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,
All the people who were in the city were called together to go after them, and they went after Joshua and they 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.
There was not a man left in Ai and Bethel who had not gone out to pursue Israel. They abandoned the city and left it open as 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.
Yahweh said to Joshua, “Point that spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will give Ai into your hand.” Joshua held out the spear that was in his hand toward the city.
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.
The soldiers hiding in ambush quickly rushed out of their place as he reached out with his hand. They ran and entered the city and captured it. They quickly set the city 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.
The men of Ai turned and looked back. They saw the smoke from the city rising into the sky, and they could not escape this way or that. For the Israelite soldiers who had fled into the wilderness now turned back to face those who were pursuing them.
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 the ambush had captured the city with the smoke rising, they turned around and killed 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.
The other soldiers of Israel, those who had gone in the city, came out to attack them. So the men of Ai were caught between the armies of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. Israel attacked the men of Ai; none of them survived or escaped.
23 And the King of Ai they tooke aliue, and brought him to Ioshua.
They kept the king of Ai, whom they captured alive, and they 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.
It came about when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field near the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them, to the very last one, had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai. They attacked it with the edge of the sword.
25 And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelue thousande, euen all the men of Ai.
All those who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, 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 his hand with which he had reached out while holding his spear, until he had completely destroyed all the people of 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 only the livestock and the plunder from the city for themselves, just as Yahweh had commanded Joshua.
28 And Ioshua burnt Ai, and made it an heape for euer, and a wildernes vnto this day.
Joshua burned Ai and turned it into a heap of ruins forever. It is an abandoned place 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 hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. When the sun was going down, Joshua gave the command and they took the king's body down from the tree and threw it in front of the city gates. There they set up a great heap of stones on top of it. That heap remains there to this day.
30 Then Ioshua built an altar vnto the Lord God of Israel, in mount Ebal,
Then Joshua built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
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 Yahweh had commanded the people of Israel, as it was written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “An altar from uncut stones, on which no one has wielded an iron tool.” He offered on the altar burnt offerings to Yahweh, 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.
There, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses.
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, their elders, officers, and their judges stood on both sides of the ark before the priests and Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh—the foreigner as well as the native born—half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half stood in front of Mount Ebal. They blessed the people of Israel, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded them at first.
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 all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, just as they had been 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 one word from all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read in front of the assembly of Israel, including the women, the little children, and the foreigners who lived among them.
