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 said Yahweh unto Joshua—Do not fear nor be dismayed, take with thee all the army, and arise, go up to Ai, —see! I have given into thy hand, the king of Ai and his people, and 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.”
so shalt thou do unto Ai and to her king, as thou didst unto Jericho unto her king, save only, the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof, shall ye take as your own prey, —set thee an ambush for the city, behind it.
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 arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai, —and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valour, and sent them forth by 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].
And he commanded them, saying—See! ye, shall be lying in ambush against the city, behind the city, do not go very far from the city, —so shall ye all 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.
But, I, and all the people who are with me, will draw near unto the city, —and it shall be, when they come out to meet us, as at the first, then will we flee before 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,
so will they come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, Fleeing before us, as at the first! therefore will we flee before 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.
Then, ye, shall rise up out of the ambush, and take possession of the city, —and Yahweh 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 it shall be, when ye have seized the city, then shall ye burn the city with fire, according to the word of Yahweh, shall ye do, —see! I have commanded you.
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 forth, and they went into ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west of Ai, —but Joshua lodged that night in the midst of the people.
10 Early the next morning, Joshua gathered his soldiers together. Then he and the other Israeli leaders led them up to Ai.
And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and mustered the people, —and went up—he and the elders of Israel, before the people, 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.
And, all the people of war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came in, right before the city, —and pitched on the north of Ai, with, a valley, between them and Ai.
12 Then Joshua chose about 5,000 men and told them to go and hide just west of the city, between Ai and Bethel.
And he took about five thousand men, —and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on 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.
And, when the people had set all the host that was on the north of the city, with the rear thereof on the west of the city, then went Joshua, during the night, into the midst of 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.
And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted, and rose up early, and the men of the city came out to meet Israel for battle, he and all his people, at an appointed time, before the waste plain, —he not knowing that there was an ambush lying in wait for 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.
So then Joshua and all Israel suffered themselves to be smitten before them, —and fled, by the way of 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.
and all the people who were in the city were called out to pursue them, —and they pursued Joshua, and so were drawn out 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.
And there remained not a man, in Ai or Bethel, who had not gone out after Israel, —and they left the city, open, and 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 said Yahweh unto Joshua—Stretch out with the javelin which is in thy hand, towards Ai, for, into thy hand, will I deliver it. So Joshua stretched out with the javelin which was in his hand, towards the city.
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, the ambush, rose up quickly, out of their place, and ran, when he stretched out his hand, and entered the city, and captured it, —and hasted, and set the city 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.
And the men of Ai turned behind them, and looked, and lo! the smoke of the city had risen up towards the heavens, and there was in them no strength, to flee this way or that way, —moreover, the people that were fleeing to the wilderness, turned back upon 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.
Yea, when, Joshua and all Israel, saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city had risen up, then returned they, and smote 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.
And, the others, came forth out of the city to meet them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side, —and they smote them, until there was left them none to remain or to escape.
23 Then they seized the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
And, the king of Ai, they caught alive, —and brought him near unto 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.
And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness whither they had pursued them, and all of them had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, then all Israel returned to Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
25 They killed 12,000 men and women.
And so it was, that all who fell that day, both of men and of women, were twelve thousand, —all people of Ai.
26 Joshua continued to point his spear [LIT] toward Ai, until all the people in Ai had been killed.
Now, Joshua, drew not back his hand which he had stretched out with the javelin, —until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of 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.
Nevertheless, the cattle and the spoil of that city, Israel took as their own prey, —according to the word of Yahweh, which he 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 then Joshua burned Ai, —and made of it an age-abiding heap—a desolation, [as it remaineth] until 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.
And, the king of Ai, hanged he on a tree until eventide, —but, at the going in of the sun, Joshua gave command and they took down his dead body from the tree, and cast it in at the opening of the gate of the city, and raised up over it a great heap of stones—[which remaineth] until 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.
Than, built Joshua, an altar, unto Yahweh, God of Israel, —in Mount Ebal:
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.
as Moses, the servant of Yahweh, commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, whereon had not been wielded any tool of iron, —and they caused to go up thereon, ascending-sacrifices unto Yahweh, and sacrificed peace-offerings.
32 As the Israelis watched, Joshua wrote on stones the laws that [Yahweh had given] to Moses previously.
Then wrote he there, upon the stones, a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote, in the presence of the sons of Israel.
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.
And, all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, were standing on this side and on that side of the ark, before the priests the Levites, who were bearing the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, as well the sojourner as the home-born, half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal, —as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded to bless the sons of Israel, first of all.
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].
And, after that, read he all the words of the law, the blessing and the cursing, —according to all that was written in the scroll 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.
Them was not a word of all that Moses commanded, —which Joshua read not before all the convocation of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the sojourner who was going on in their midst.
