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.
And the Lord said to Josue: Fear not, nor be thou dismayed: take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, arise and go up to the town of Hai. Behold I have delivered into thy hand the king thereof, and the 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 thou shalt do to the city of Hai, and to the king thereof, as thou hast done to Jericho, and to the king thereof: but the spoils and all the cattle you shall take for a prey to yourselves: lay an ambush for 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 Josue arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him, to go up against Hai: and he sent thirty thousand chosen valiant 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 commanded them, saying: Lay an ambush behind the city: and go not very far from it: and be ye all ready.
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 rest of the multitude which is with me; will approach on the contrary side against the city. And when they shall come out against us, we will flee, and turn our backs, 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.
Till they pursuing us be drawn farther from the city: for they will think that we flee as before.
7 And you shall rise up out of the ambuscade, and go into the city.
And whilst we are fleeing, and they pursuing, you shall arise out of the ambush, and shall destroy the city: and the Lord your God will deliver it into our hands.
8 You shall do according to this word, behold! I have commanded you.
And when you shall have taken it, set it on fire, and you shall do all things so as I have commanded.
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 went on to the place of the ambush, and abode between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city of Hai. But Josue stayed 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 early in the morning, he mustered his soldiers, and went up with the ancients in the front of the army environed with the aid of the fighting men.
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 were come, and were gone up over against the city, they stood on the north side of the city, between which and them there was a valley in the midst.
12 And the ambuscade [was] on the west side of the city.
And he had chosen five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the same city:
But all the rest of the army went in battle array on the north side, so that the last of that multitude reached to the west side of the city. So Josue went that night, and stood in the midst 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 Hai saw this, he made haste in the morning, and went out with all the army of the city, and set it in battle array toward the desert, not knowing that there lay an ambush behind his back.
15 And Joshua and Israel saw, and retreated from before them.
But Josue, and all Israel gave back, making as if they were afraid, and fleeing by the way of the wilderness.
16 And they pursued after the children of Israel, and they themselves went to a distance from the city.
But they shouting together, and encouraging one another, pursued them. And when they were come 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 not one remained in the city of Hai and of Bethel, that did not pursue after Israel, leaving the towns open as 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 Josue: Lift up the shield that is in thy hand, towards the city of Hai, for I will deliver it to thee.
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 his shield towards the city, the ambush that lay hid, rose up immediately: and going to the city, took 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.
And the men of the city, that pursued after Josue, looking back and seeing the smoke of the city rise up to heaven, had no more power to flee this way or that way: especially as they that had counterfeited flight, and were going toward the wilderness, turned back most valiantly against them that pursued.
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.
So Josue and all Israel seeing that the city was taken, and that the smoke of the city rose up, returned and slew the men of Hai.
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.
And they also that had taken and set the city on fire, issuing out of the city to meet their own men, began to cut off the enemies who were surrounded by them. So that the enemies being cut off on both sides, not one of so great a multitude was saved.
23 And they took the king of Gai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
And they took the king of the city of Hai alive, and brought him to Josue.
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.
So all being slain that had pursued after Israel in his flight to the wilderness, and tailing by the sword in the same place, the children of Israel returned and laid waste the city.
25 And they that fell in that day, men and women, were twelve thousand: [they killed] all the inhabitants of Gai.
And the number of them that fell that day, both of men and women, was twelve thousand persons all of the city of Hai.
But Josue drew not back his hand, which he had stretched out on high, holding the shield, till all the inhabitants of Hai were slain.
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.
And the children of Israel divided among them the cattle and the prey of the city, as the Lord had commanded Josue.
28 And Joshua burnt the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap for ever, [even] to this day.
And he burned the city, and made it a heap for ever:
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.
And he hung the king thereof on a gibbet until the evening and the going down of the sun. Then Josue commanded, and they took down his carcass from the gibbet: and threw it in the very entrance of the city, heaping upon it a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this present day.
30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in mount Gaebal,
Then Josue built an altar to the Lord the God of Israel in mount Hebal,
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.
As Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, and it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of unhewn stones which iron had not touched: and he offered upon it holocausts to the Lord, and immolated victims of 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 upon stones the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had ordered before the children 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.
And all the people, and the ancients, and the princes and judges stood on both sides of the ark, before the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, both the stranger and he that was born among them, half of them by mount Garizim, and half by mount Hebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. And first 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 things that were written in the hook 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 out nothing of those things which Moses had commanded, but he repeated all before all the people of Israel, with the women and children and strangers that dwelt among them.
