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.
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.
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 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.”
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 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.
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 he instructed them, saying: “Set an ambush behind the city. You shall withdraw not far away, and let everyone be 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.
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,
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.
until, pursuing us, they are drawn away from the city. For they will think that we are fleeing as before.
7 And you shall rise up out of the ambuscade, and go into the city.
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.
8 You shall do according to this word, behold! I have commanded you.
And when you have seized it, set it on fire. And you shall do all that I have ordered.”
9 And Joshua sent them, and they went to lie in ambush; and they lay between Baethel and Gai, westward of Gai.
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.
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 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.
11 And all the men of war went up with him, and they went forward and came over against the city eastward.
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.
12 And the ambuscade [was] on the west side of the city.
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.
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.
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 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.
15 And Joshua and Israel saw, and retreated from before them.
Yet truly, Joshua, and all of Israel, withdrew from the place, pretending to be afraid, and fleeing along 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 they pursued them, shouting together and encouraging one another. And when they had withdrawn from 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 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, )
18 And the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch forth your hand with the spear that is in your hand toward the city, for I have delivered it into your hands; and the liers in wait shall rise up quickly out of their place.
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.”
19 And Joshua stretched out his hand [and] his spear toward 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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
23 And they took the king of Gai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
Also, they apprehended the king of the city of Ai, alive, and they brought him before 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 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.
25 And they that fell in that day, men and women, were twelve thousand: [they killed] all the inhabitants of Gai.
Now there were twelve thousand persons who had fallen on the same day, from man even to woman, the entire city of Ai.
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.
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.
Then the sons of Israel divided among themselves the cattle and the plunder of the city, just as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
28 And Joshua burnt the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap for ever, [even] to this day.
And he set fire to the city, and he caused it to be a perpetual tomb.
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.
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.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in mount Gaebal,
Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on 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.
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.
32 And Joshua wrote upon the stones a copy of the law, even the law of Moses, before the children of Israel.
And he wrote on the stones, the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had set in order before 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
