Joshua 8
1 And YHWH says to Joshua, “Do not fear, nor be frightened, take with you all the people of war, and rise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land,
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.
2 and you have done to Ai and to her king as you have done to Jericho and to her king; only spoil its spoil and its livestock for yourselves; for you set an ambush for the city at its rear.”
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.
3 And Joshua rises, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai, and Joshua chooses thirty thousand men, mighty men of valor, and sends them away by night,
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.
4 and commands them, saying, “See, you are ones lying in wait against the city, at the rear of the city, you do not go very far off from the city, and all of you have been prepared,
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.
5 and I and all the people who [are] with me draw near to the city, and it has come to pass, when they come out to meet us as at the first, and we have fled before them,
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.
6 and they have come out after us until we have drawn them out of the city, for they say, They are fleeing before us as at the first, and we have fled before them,
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.
7 and you rise from the ambush, and have occupied the city, and your God YHWH has given it into your hand;
And you shall rise up out of the ambuscade, and go into the city.
8 and it has been, when you capture the city, you burn the city with fire, you do according to the word of YHWH, see, I have commanded you.”
You shall do according to this word, behold! I have commanded you.
9 And Joshua sends them away, and they go to the ambush, and abide between Bethel and Ai, on the west of Ai; and Joshua lodges on that night in the midst of the people.
And Joshua sent them, and they went to lie in ambush; and they lay between Baethel and Gai, westward of Gai.
10 And Joshua rises early in the morning, and inspects the people, and goes up, he and [the] elderly of Israel, before the people to Ai;
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.
11 and all the people of war who [are] with him have gone up, and draw near and come in before the city, and encamp on the north of Ai; and the valley [is] between him and Ai.
And all the men of war went up with him, and they went forward and came over against the city eastward.
12 And he takes about five thousand men, and sets them [for] an ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west of the city;
And the ambuscade [was] on the west side of the city.
13 and they set the people, all the camp which [is] on the north of the city, and its rear on the west of the city, and that night Joshua goes on into the midst of the valley.
14 And it comes to pass, when the king of Ai sees [it], that he hurries, and rises early, and the men of the city go out to meet Israel for battle, he and all his people, at the appointed time, at the front of the plain, and he has not known that an ambush [is] against him, on the rear of the city.
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.
15 And Joshua and all Israel [seem] struck before them, and flee the way of the wilderness,
And Joshua and Israel saw, and retreated from before them.
16 and all the people who [are] in the city are called to pursue after them, and they pursue after Joshua, and are drawn away out of the city,
And they pursued after the children of Israel, and they themselves went to a distance from the city.
17 and there has not been a man left in Ai and Bethel who has not gone out after Israel, and they leave the city open, and pursue after Israel.
There was no one left in Gai who did not pursue after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18 And YHWH says to Joshua, “Stretch out with the javelin which [is] in your hand toward Ai, for I give it into your hand”; and Joshua stretches out with the javelin which [is] in his hand toward the city,
And the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch forth your hand with the spear that is in your hand towards the city, for I have delivered it into your hands; and the liers in wait shall rise up quickly out of their place.
19 and the ambush has risen [with] haste, out of its place, and they run at the stretching out of his hand, and go into the city, and capture it, and hurry, and burn the city with fire.
And Joshua stretched out his hand [and] his spear towards 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.
20 And the men of Ai look behind them, and see, and behold, the smoke of the city has gone up to the heavens, and there has not been power in them to flee here and there—and the people who are fleeing to the wilderness have turned against the pursuer—
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.
21 and Joshua and all Israel have seen that the ambush has captured the city, and that the smoke of the city has gone up, and they turn back and strike the men of Ai;
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.
22 and these have come out from the city to meet them, and they are in the midst of Israel, some on this [side], and some on that [side], and they strike them until he has not left a remnant and escaped one to them;
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.
23 and they have caught the king of Ai alive, and bring him near to Joshua.
And they took the king of Gai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24 And it comes to pass, at Israel’s finishing to slay all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them (and all of them fall by the mouth of the sword until their consumption), that all of Israel turns back to Ai, and strikes it by the mouth of the sword;
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.
25 and all who fall during the day, of men and of women, are twelve thousand—all men of Ai.
And they that fell in that day, men and women, were twelve thousand: [they killed] all the inhabitants of Gai.
26 And Joshua has not brought back his hand which he stretched out with the javelin until he has devoted all the inhabitants of Ai;
27 only the livestock and the spoil of that city has Israel spoiled for themselves, according to the word of YHWH which He commanded Joshua.
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.
28 And Joshua burns Ai, and makes it a continuous heap—a desolation to this day;
And Joshua burnt the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap for ever, [even] to this day.
29 and he has hanged the king of Ai on the tree until evening, and at the going in of the sun Joshua has commanded, and they take down his carcass from the tree, and cast it to the opening of the gate of the city, and raise a great heap of stones over it until this day.
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.
30 Then Joshua builds an altar to YHWH, God of Israel, in Mount Ebal,
Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in mount Gaebal,
31 as Moses, servant of YHWH, commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the Scroll of the Law of Moses—an altar of whole stones, over which he has not waved iron—and they cause burnt-offerings to go up on it to YHWH, and sacrifice peace-offerings;
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.
32 and he writes there on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which he has written in the presence of the sons of Israel.
And Joshua wrote upon the stones a copy of the law, even the law of Moses, before the children of Israel.
33 And all Israel, and its elderly, and authorities, and his judges, are standing on this [side] and on that [side] of the Ark, before the priests, the Levites, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, the sojourner as well as the native, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and the half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses servant of YHWH had commanded to bless the people of Israel at the first.
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.
34 And afterward he has proclaimed all the words of the Law, the blessing and the reviling, according to all that is written in the Scroll of the Law;
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.
35 there has not been a thing of all that Moses commanded which Joshua has not proclaimed before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the infants, and the sojourner who is going in their midst.
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.
