< Joshua 8 >
1 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged [because of what happened at] Ai. Lead all of your soldiers and go there again. I will help you to defeat the king of Ai, his people, and his city, and [enable you to take] his land.
以後上主對若蘇厄說:「你不要害怕! 不要膽怯,只管率領所有的軍民,前去進攻哈依城。看,我已將哈依王,百姓、城池和土地,都交在你手中。
2 Your army will do to the people of Ai and their king like what you did to the people of Jericho and their king. But this time [I will permit you to] take all their possessions and keep them for yourselves. But first, tell some of your soldiers to [hide behind] the city [and] prepare to suddenly attack it.”
你要對待哈依城和哈依王,如同對待耶利哥和耶利哥王一樣;只有城中的戰利品和牲畜,你們可據為己有。你應在城後面,設下攻城的伏兵。」
3 So Joshua led all his army toward Ai. He chose 30,000 of his best fighters/warriors and prepared to send them out during the night.
若蘇厄於是與所有的軍兵前去進攻哈依城。若蘇厄選了三萬精兵,派他們黑夜出發,
4 He said to them, “Listen carefully. Some of you must hide on the other side of the city. Do not go far from the city. Just be ready [to attack].
吩咐他們說:「你們要注意,在城那邊,即在城後面埋伏下,不可離城太遠,個個都要戒備。
5 I and the men who are with me will march toward the city [in the morning]. The men in the city will come out to fight us, like they did before. Then we will turn around and start to run away from them.
我和我率領的人,向城推進;當他們像前次一樣出來迎擊我們時,我們就由他們前面逃走。
6 They will think that we are running away from them like we did before. So they will chase us away from the city. While we are running away,
他們一定出來追趕我們。我們將他們誘出城來,他們必說:這些像前次一樣,又由我們面前逃走了。我們就由他們前面逃走。
7 [those of you who are hiding come out and] rush into the city and capture it. Yahweh your God will enable you to conquer it.
那時你們應從埋伏的地方出來,佔領城市,上主你們的天主必將這城交在你們手中。
8 After you capture the city, burn it. Do what Yahweh has commanded us to do. Those are the orders I am giving to you.”
你們一佔領了城,就放火焚燒,全照上主的話執行。你們應注意我吩咐你們的事。」
9 Then Joshua [prepared to] send some of them to [hide and] wait between Ai and Bethel, which was west of Ai. But Joshua stayed with his other soldiers that night.
若蘇厄就打發他們去了。他們便開到埋伏的地方,停在貝特耳和哈依之間,在哈依西面。那中夜若蘇厄便在百姓中過了夜。
10 Early the next morning, Joshua gathered his soldiers together. Then he and the other Israeli leaders led them up to Ai.
若蘇厄清早起來,點齊軍民;然後與與以色列的長老,在軍人前頭向哈依城進發。
11 They all set up their tents close to Ai, just to the north of the city, where all the people of the city could see them. There was a valley between them and the city.
跟隨他的所有軍人也都一齊進發,迫近城下,在哈依北面紮了營。原來在他和哈依中間隔著一個山谷。
12 Then Joshua chose about 5,000 men and told them to go and hide just west of the city, between Ai and Bethel.
若蘇厄調了約五千人,令他們埋伏在貝特耳和哈依之間,即在哈依西面。
13 So those men did that. The main group of soldiers was north of the city, and the others were hiding west of the city. That night Joshua went down into the valley.
這樣城北的軍民和城西的伏兵,都嚴陣以待。當夜若蘇厄就在谷中過了夜。
14 When the king of Ai saw the Israeli army, he and his soldiers got up early the next morning and quickly went out of the city to fight them. They went to a place east of the city, but they did not know that some Israeli soldiers were hiding behind the city.
哈依王一見這情形,便和全城的人急忙起來,到了面對阿拉巴的山坡,要和以色列人交戰,但他沒有料到城後面還有伏兵。
15 Joshua and the Israeli soldiers [who were with him] allowed the army of Ai to push them back. They ran toward the desert.
若蘇厄和以色列人在他們面前詐敗,沿著往曠野的路奔逃,
16 The men in Ai were ordered to chase after Joshua and his men. So they left the city and started to pursue the Israelis.
城中的人盡被徵調,在後追趕。當他們若蘇厄時,都被誘出城來;
17 All the men of Ai and the men of Bethel pursued the Israeli army. They did not leave even one man in Ai to defend it. The [gates of the] city were left wide open.
在哈依和貝特耳沒有留下一個人不出來追趕以色列人的。他們拋下敞開的城門,都去追趕以色列人。
18 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “[Lift up] your spear [and] point it toward Ai, because I am going to enable your soldiers to capture it!” So Joshua pointed [his spear] toward Ai.
這時上主對若蘇厄說:「將你手中的短劍指向哈依城,因為我即將這城交於你手中。」若蘇厄便將手中的短指向哈依城。
19 When the Israeli men who were hiding saw that, they rushed out from the places where they were hiding and ran into the city. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.
他一伸手,伏兵即由他們埋伏的地方奮起,衝向城中,將城佔領,急速放火焚燒。
20 When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from their city. But they could not escape, because the Israeli troops stopped running away.
哈依人回頭,看見城內濃煙沖天,都沒有了往前後逃跑的力量,因為此時向曠野奔逃的以色列人,忽然轉過身來還擊追趕自己的哈依人。
21 Joshua and his men saw that the men who had been hiding had captured the city and were burning it, and they saw the smoke rising. So they turned around and started to attack the men of Ai.
若蘇厄和全以色列見伏兵已奪了城,城內煙氣上騰,便轉身回來擊殺哈依人。
22 Meanwhile, the soldiers who had captured the city came out [and attacked them from the rear]. So the men of Ai were caught between the two groups of Israeli soldiers. None of the men of Ai escaped. The Israelis fought until they killed all of them. Only the king of Ai was still alive.
伏兵也由城內出來夾擊,哈依人便包圍在以色列人中間,前後受敵;以色列人將他們完全殺盡,沒有留下一個,也沒有逃走一個。
23 Then they seized the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
他們生摛了哈依王,把他解到若蘇厄面前。
24 While they were fighting, the Israeli army pursued the men of Ai into the fields and into the desert, and killed all of them. Then they went to Ai and killed everyone who was there.
以色列人在曠野的平原上,殺盡了追趕自己的一切哈依居民,哈依人全都死於刀下;以後,全以色列人又回到哈依,殺盡城中的人。
25 They killed 12,000 men and women.
那天被殺的人,男女共計一萬二千,都是哈依人。
26 Joshua continued to point his spear [LIT] toward Ai, until all the people in Ai had been killed.
若蘇厄在沒有殺盡哈依的一切居民前,一直沒有收回自己手中所持的短劍。
27 The Israeli soldiers took for themselves the animals and the other things that had belonged to the people of Ai, just like Yahweh had told Joshua that they should do.
惟有城中的牲畜和財物,以色列人依照上主吩咐若蘇厄的話,據為己有。
28 Joshua and his soldiers burned Ai city and caused it to become a pile of ruins. It is still like that today.
然後若蘇厄焚毀哈依城,使之永遠成為廢墟,時至今日,仍是一片荒涼;
29 Joshua hanged the king of Ai on a tree and left his corpse hanging there until the evening. At sunset Joshua told his men to take the king’s corpse down from the tree and to throw it on the ground at the city gate. [After they did that], they piled a lot of rocks on top of the corpse, and that pile of rocks is still there.
又將哈依王懸在樹上,直到黃昏;日落時,若蘇厄令人將他的死屍從樹上卸下,丟在城門口,在他身上又 堆石頭,直存到今日。
30 Joshua [told his men to] build on Ebal Mountain an altar for Yahweh, the God [who is worshiped by] the Israeli people.
那時,若蘇厄在厄巴耳山,為上主以色列的天主,築了一座祭壇;
31 They built it just like Moses, the man who served God [well], had written previously in the laws [that God had given to him]. They made it from stones that had not been cut using iron tools. The Israelis then offered sacrifices to Yahweh that were burned completely on the altar. They also offered sacrifices to restore fellowship with Yahweh.
全照上主的僕人梅瑟向以色列子民所吩咐的,全照梅瑟法律書上所記載的,用沒有用過的整塊石頭,築了一座祭壇,在上面向上主獻了全燔祭,祭殺了和平祭犧牲。
32 As the Israelis watched, Joshua wrote on stones the laws that [Yahweh had given] to Moses previously.
若蘇厄又在那裏將梅瑟當著以色列子民的面所寫的法律,刻在石頭上。
33 The Israeli leaders, the officials, the judges, and other Israelis were there, standing nearby. Many people who were not Israelis were also there. Half of the people stood [on one side of the valley] below Ebal Mountain, and the other half of the people stood [on the other side of the valley] below Gerizim Mountain. The sacred chest was [in the valley] between the two groups. That was what Moses had previously commanded that the people should do when [Yahweh was about to] bless them.
以色列全體民眾和他們的長老、領袖、判官,連僑居的人和土生的人,一半向著革黎斤山,一半向著厄巴耳山,正如上主的僕人梅瑟,當初為祝福以色列百姓所命令的。
34 Then Joshua read [to the people] all that [Moses] had written previously. That included what Yahweh had taught them and the ways [that he promised] to bless them [if they obeyed his commands], or to curse them [if they disobeyed them].
以後若蘇厄將法律上祝福和詛咒的一切話,全照法律書上所記載的,宣讀了一遍。
35 All the Israelis gathered together [to listen]—the men, the women, and the children. The (foreigners/people who were not Israelis) who were living among them also listened, while Joshua read all the commands that Moses had written.
凡梅瑟所吩咐的一切話,若蘇厄在以色列全會眾前,連婦孺和寄居在他們中的外僑在內,沒有一句不向他們宣讀。