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.
Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
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.”
And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”
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.
So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night
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].
with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.
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.
Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.
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,
They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them,
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.
you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
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.”
And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”
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.
So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Early the next morning, Joshua gathered his soldiers together. Then he and the other Israeli leaders led them up to Ai.
Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.
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.
Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.
12 Then Joshua chose about 5,000 men and told them to go and hide just west of the city, between Ai and Bethel.
Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
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.
So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.
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.
When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city.
15 Joshua and the Israeli soldiers [who were with him] allowed the army of Ai to push them back. They ran toward the desert.
Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.
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.
Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
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.
Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.
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.
Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,
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.
and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
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.
When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.
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.
When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.
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.
Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.
23 Then they seized the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
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.
When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.
25 They killed 12,000 men and women.
A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.
26 Joshua continued to point his spear [LIT] toward Ai, until all the people in Ai had been killed.
Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.
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.
Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.
28 Joshua and his soldiers burned Ai city and caused it to become a pile of ruins. It is still like that today.
So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
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.
He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
30 Joshua [told his men to] build on Ebal Mountain an altar for Yahweh, the God [who is worshiped by] the Israeli people.
At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,
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.
just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.
32 As the Israelis watched, Joshua wrote on stones the laws that [Yahweh had given] to Moses previously.
And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
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.
All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.
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].
Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.
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.
There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.
