Joshua 8
1 Forsothe the Lord seide to Josue, Nether drede thou `withoutforth, `nether drede thou withynne; take with thee al the multitude of fiyteris, and rise thou, and stie in to the citee of Hay; lo, Y haue bitake in thin hond the king therof, and the puple, and the citee, and the lond.
And Jehovah said to Joshua, Fear not, neither be dismayed. Take with thee all the people of war, 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 And thou schalt do to the citee of Hay, and to the king therof, as thou didist to Gerico, and to the king therof; sotheli ye schulen take to you the prey, and alle lyuynge beestis; sette thou `aspies, ethir buyschementis, to the citee bihynde it.
And thou shalt do to Ai and to its king as thou didst to Jericho and to its king; only, the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall ye take as prey for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city behind it.
3 And Josue roos, and al the oost of fiyteris with hym, to stie in to Hay; and bi nyyte he sente thretti chosen thousynde of stronge men;
And Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose thirty thousand valiant men, and sent them away by night.
4 and comaundide to hem, and seide, Sette ye buyschementis bihynde the citee, and go ye not ferthere; and alle ye schulen be redi;
And he commanded them, saying, See, ye shall be in ambush against the city, behind the city: go not very far from the city, and be all of you ready.
5 forsothe Y, and the tothir multitude which is with me, schulen come on the contrarie side ayens the citee; and whanne thei schulen go out ayens vs, as we diden bifore, we schulen fle, and turne the backis,
And I and all the people that are with me will approach to the city; and it shall come to pass when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.
6 til thei pursuen, and ben drawun away ferthir fro the citee; for thei schulen gesse, that we schulen fle as bifore.
And they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first; and we will flee before them.
7 Therfor while we schulen fle, and thei pursue, ye schulen ryse fro the buyschementis, and schulen waste the citee; and youre Lord God schal bitake it in to youre hondis.
And ye shall rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city; and Jehovah your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And whanne ye han take it, `brenne ye it; `so ye schulen do alle thingis, as Y comaundide.
And it shall be when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire; according to the word of Jehovah shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9 And Josue lefte hem, and thei yeden to the place of buyschementis, and saten bitwixe Bethel and Hay, at the west coost of the citee of Hay. Forsothe Josue dwellide `in that nyyt in the myddis of the puple.
And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west of Ai. And Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10 And he roos eerli, and noumbride felowis, and stiede with the eldere in the frount of the oost, and was cumpassid with the helpe of fiyteris.
And Joshua rose early in the morning, and inspected the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11 And whanne thei hadden come, and hadden stied ayens the citee, thei stoden at the north coost of the citee, bitwixe which citee and hem the valei was in the myddis.
And all the people of war that were with him went up, and drew near, and came before the city; and they encamped on the north of Ai; and the valley was between them and Ai.
12 `Sotheli he hadde chose fyue thousynde men, and hadde sette in buyschementis bitwixe Bethauen and Hay, in the west part of the same citee.
Now he had taken about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west of the city.
13 Sotheli al the tothir oost dresside scheltroun to the north, so that the laste men of the multitude touchiden the west coost of the citee. Therfor Josue yede in that nyyt, and stood in the myddis of the valei;
And when they had set the people, the whole camp on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
14 and whanne the kyng of Hai had seyn that, he hastide eerli, and yede out with al the oost of the citee, and he dresside scheltrun ayens the deseert; and wiste not that buyschementis weren hid bihinde the bak.
And it came to pass when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hasted and rose early, and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the appointed place before the plain. But he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
15 Forsothe Josue and al the multitude `of Israel yauen place, feynynge drede, and fleynge bi the weie of wildirnesse; and thei crieden togidere,
And Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten before them; and they fled by the way of the wilderness.
16 and excitiden hem silf togidere, and pursueden hem. And whanne thei hadden go awey fro the citee,
And all the people that were in the city were called together to pursue after them; and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17 and sothely not oon hadde left in the citee of Hai and Bethauen, that `pursuede not Israel, and thei leften the citees opyn, as thei hadden broke out,
And not a man remained in Ai and Bethel that went not out after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18 the Lord seide to Josue, `Reise thou the scheeld which is in thin hond, ayens the citee of Hay; for Y schal yyue it to thee.
And Jehovah said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thy hand. And Joshua stretched out the javelin that he had in his hand toward the city.
19 And whanne he hadde reisid the scheld ayens the citee, buyschementis, that weren hid, riseden anoon; and thei yeden to the citee, and token, and brenten it.
And the ambush arose quickly from their place, and they ran when he stretched out his hand, and came into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
20 Forsothe the men of the citee, that pursueden Josue, bihelden, and siyen the smoke of the citee stie `til to heuene; and thei myyten no more fle hidur and thidur; most sithen thei that hadden feyned fliyt, and yeden to wildirnesse, withstoden stronglieste `ayens the pursueris.
And the men of Ai turned and saw, and behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way; and the people that fled to the wilderness turned upon the pursuers.
21 And Josue siy, and al Israel, that the citee was takun, and the smoke of the citee stiede; and he turnede ayen, and smoot the men of Hay.
When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
22 Sotheli also thei that hadden take and brent the citee, yeden out of the cytee ayens her men, and bigunnen to smyte the myddil men of enemyes; and whanne aduersaries weren slayn `on euer ethir part, so that no man of so greet multitude was sauyd,
And the others went out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side; and they smote them, until they let none of them escape or flee away.
23 thei tokun also the kyng of Hay lyuynge, and brouyten to Josue.
And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24 Therfor, whanne alle men weren slayn, that pursueden Israel goynge to deseert, and felden bi swerd in the same place, the sones of Israel turneden ayen, and smytiden the citee.
And it came to pass when Israel had ended slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they had chased them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned to Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
25 Forsothe thei that `felden doun in the same dai, fro man `til to womman, weren twelue thousynde of men, alle men of the citee of Hay.
And so it was, that all who fell that day, men as well as women, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai.
26 Sotheli Josue withdrow not the hond, which he hadde dressid an hiy holdynge `the scheld, til alle the dwelleris of Hay weren slayn.
And Joshua did not draw back his hand, which he had stretched out with the javelin, until they had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27 Forsothe the sones of Israel departiden to hem silf the werk beestis, and the preye of the citee, as the Lord comaundide to Josue;
Only, the cattle and the spoil of the city Israel took as prey to themselves, according to the word of Jehovah which he had commanded Joshua.
28 which brente the citee, and made it an euerlastynge biriel.
And Joshua burned Ai, and made it an everlasting heap of desolation to this day.
29 And he hangide the king therof in a iebat, `til to the euentid and the goynge doun of the sunne. And Josue comaundide, and thei puttiden doun his deed bodi fro the cros; and thei `castiden forth him in thilke entryng of the citee, and gaderiden on hym a greet heep of stoonus, which heep dwellith `til in to present dai.
And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the evening; and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his carcase down from the tree, and threw it down at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised upon it a great heap of stones, [which remains] to this day.
30 Thanne Josue bildide an auter to the Lord God of Israel in the hil of Hebal,
Then Joshua built an altar to Jehovah the God of Israel, in mount Ebal,
31 as Moises, the `seruaunt of the Lord, comaundide to the sones of Israel, and it is writun in the book of Moises lawe, an auter of stoonys vnpolischid, whiche yrun touchide not. And he offride theron brent sacrifice to the Lord, and he offride pesible sacrifices;
as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which iron had not been lifted up. And they offered up burnt-offerings on it to Jehovah, and sacrificed peace-offerings.
32 and he wroot on the stoonys the Deutronomye of Moises lawe, `which he hadde declarid bifor the sones of Israel.
And he wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written before the children of Israel.
33 Sotheli al the puple, and the grettere men in birthe, and the duykis, and iugis stoden on `euer either side of the arke, in the siyt of preestis and dekenes, that baren the arke of boond of pees of the Lord; as a comeling, so and a man borun in the lond; the mydil part of hem stood bisidis the hil Garasym, and the myddil part stood bisidis the hil Hebal, as Moises, the `seruaunt of the Lord, comaundide. And first `sotheli he blesside the puple of Israel.
And all Israel, and their elders, and their officers and judges, stood on this side and on that side of the ark before the priests the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, as well the stranger as the home-born [Israelite]; half of them toward mount Gerizim, and the other half of them toward mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded, that they should bless the people of Israel, in the beginning.
34 Aftir these thingis he redde alle the wordis of blessyng and of cursyng, and alle thingis that weren writun in the book of lawe.
And afterwards 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.
35 He lefte no thing vntouchid of these thingis that Moises comaundide; but he declaride alle thingis bifor al the multitude of Israel, to wymmen, and litle children, and to comelyngis that dwelliden among hem.
There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua read not before the whole congregation of Israel, and the women, and the children, and the strangers that lived among them.
