Joshua 8
1 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, 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 You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
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 So Joshua arose, with all the warriors, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out 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 He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.
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 I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee 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 They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, like the first time.’ So we will flee 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 shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for Yahweh your God will deliver it into your hand.
And you shall rise up out of the ambuscade, and go into the city.
8 It shall be, when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to Yahweh’s word. Behold, I have commanded you.”
You shall do according to this word, behold! I have commanded you.
9 Joshua sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed among the people that night.
And Joshua sent them, and they went to lie in ambush; and they lay between Baethel and Gai, westward of Gai.
10 Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders 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 All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up and came near, and came before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley 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 He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.
And the ambuscade [was] on the west side of the city.
13 So they set the people, even all the army who was on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the middle of the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw it, they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn’t know that there was an ambush against him behind 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 Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
And Joshua and Israel saw, and retreated from before them.
16 All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
And they pursued after the children of Israel, and they themselves went to a distance from the city.
17 There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued 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 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
And the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch forth your hand with the spear that is in your hand toward the city, for I have delivered it into your hands; and the liers in wait shall rise up quickly out of their place.
19 The ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand and entered into the city and took it. They hurried and set the city on fire.
And Joshua stretched out his hand [and] his spear toward 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 When the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. The people who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.
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 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned back and killed 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 The others came out of the city against them, so they were in the middle of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. They struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
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 They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
And they took the king of Gai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge 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 All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the people of Ai.
And they that fell in that day, men and women, were twelve thousand: [they killed] all the inhabitants of Gai.
26 For Joshua didn’t draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Israel took for themselves only the livestock and the goods of that city, according to Yahweh’s word 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 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, even 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 He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sundown, Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to 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 built an altar to Yahweh, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in mount Gaebal,
31 as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones, on which no one had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh and sacrificed 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 He wrote there on the stones a copy of Moses’ law, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
And Joshua wrote upon the stones a copy of the law, even the law of Moses, before the children of Israel.
33 All Israel, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.
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 Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book 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 was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua didn’t read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who were among them.
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.
