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.
And he said Yahweh to Joshua may not you fear and may not you be dismayed take with you all [the] people of war and arise go up Ai see - I have given in hand your [the] king of Ai and people his and city his and land his.
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 will do to Ai and to king its just as you did to Jericho and to king its only booty its and livestock its you will plunder for yourselves set for yourself 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.
And he arose Joshua and all [the] people of war to go up Ai and he chose Joshua thirty thousand man [the] mighty [men] of strength and he sent out them 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 you [are] lying in wait for the city behind the city may not you go far away from the city very and you will be all of you prepared.
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.
And I and all the people which [is] with me we will draw near to the city and it will be that they will come out to meet us just as at the first [time] and we will 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,
And they will come out after us until have drawn out we them from the city for they will say [they are] fleeing before us just as at the first [time] and we will 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.
And you you will arise from the ambush and you will take possession of the city and he will give it Yahweh God your in hand your.
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 will be when have captured you the city you will set on fire the city with fire according to [the] word of Yahweh you will 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.
And he sent out them Joshua and they went to the ambush and they remained between Beth-el and between Ai from [the] west of Ai and he stayed Joshua in the night that in 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.
And he rose early Joshua in the morning and he mustered the people and he went up he and [the] elders of Israel before the people 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 which [was] with him they went up and they approached and they came before the city and they encamped from [the] north of Ai and the valley ([was] between it *Q(k)*) and between 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 man and he set them an ambush between Beth-el and between Ai from [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 they set the people all the camp which [was] from [the] north of the city and rearguard its from [the] west of the city and he went Joshua in the night that in [the] middle 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 was when saw [the] king of Ai and they hurried and they rose early and they went out [the] men of the city to meet Israel for battle he and all people his to the appointed place before the Arabah and he not he knew that an ambush for him [was] 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.
And they were struck Joshua and all Israel before them and they fled [the] direction 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 they were called together all the people which ([was] in Ai *Q(K)*) to pursue after them and they pursued after Joshua and they were drawn out 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 not he remained anyone in Ai and Beth-el who not they went out after Israel and they left the city open and they pursued after 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.
And he said Yahweh to Joshua stretch out with the javelin which [is] in hand your to Ai for in hand your I will give it and he stretched out Joshua with the javelin which [was] in hand his to 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 it arose quickly from place its and they ran when stretched out hand his and they went the city and they captured it and they hurried and they set on fire the city with 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 they turned [the] men of Ai behind them and they saw and there! it went up [the] smoke of the city the heavens towards and not it was in them hands to flee hither and hither and the people which was fleeing the wilderness it turned back against the pursuer.
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.
And Joshua and all Israel they saw that it had captured the ambush the city and that it went up [the] smoke of the city and they turned back and they attacked [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 these [men] they came out from the city to meet them and they were to Israel in the middle these from this and these from this and they struck down them until not he had left to him a survivor and a fugitive.
23 Then they seized the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
And [the] king of Ai they captured alive and they brought near 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.
And it was when had finished Israel to kill all [the] inhabitants of Ai in the open country in the wilderness which they had pursued them in it and they had fallen all of them to [the] mouth of [the] sword until were finished they and they returned all Israel Ai and they attacked it to [the] mouth of [the] sword.
25 They killed 12,000 men and women.
And it was all those [who] fell on the day that from man and unto woman two [plus] ten thousand all [the] people of Ai.
26 Joshua continued to point his spear [LIT] toward Ai, until all the people in Ai had been killed.
And Joshua not he drew back hand his which he had stretched out with the javelin until that he had totally 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.
Only the livestock and [the] booty of the city that they plundered for themselves Israel according to [the] word of Yahweh which he 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.
And he burned Joshua Ai and he made it a mound of perpetuity a desolation until the day this.
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 he hanged on the tree until [the] time of the evening and just as went the sun he commanded Joshua and they took down corpse his from the tree and they threw it to [the] entrance of [the] gate of the city and they set up over him a heap of stones great until the day this.
30 Joshua [told his men to] build on Ebal Mountain an altar for Yahweh, the God [who is worshiped by] the Israeli people.
Then he built Joshua an altar to Yahweh [the] God of Israel on [the] mountain of 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.
Just as he had commanded Moses [the] servant of Yahweh [the] people of Israel according to [what] is written in [the] book of [the] law of Moses an altar of stones complete which not anyone has wielded on them iron and they offered up on it burnt offerings to Yahweh and they sacrificed peace offerings.
32 As the Israelis watched, Joshua wrote on stones the laws that [Yahweh had given] to Moses previously.
And he wrote there on the stones copy of [the] law of Moses which he had written before [the] people 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 elders its and officials - and judges its [were] standing from this - and from this - of the ark before the priests the Levites [the] bearers of - [the] ark of [the] covenant of Yahweh as the sojourner as the native half of it to [the] front of [the] mountain of Gerizim and half of it to [the] front of [the] mountain of Ebal just as he had commanded Moses [the] servant of Yahweh to bless the people Israel at the former [time].
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 thus he read aloud all [the] words of the law the blessing and the curse according to every [thing] 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.
Not it was anything from all that he had commanded Moses which not he read aloud Joshua before all [the] assembly of Israel and the women and the little one[s] and the sojourner[s] who went in midst their.
