יהושע 8
| ויאמר יהוה אל יהושע אל תירא ואל תחת--קח עמך את כל עם המלחמה וקום עלה העי ראה נתתי בידך את מלך העי ואת עמו ואת עירו ואת ארצו | 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.
| ועשית לעי ולמלכה כאשר עשית ליריחו ולמלכה--רק שללה ובהמתה תבזו לכם שים לך ארב לעיר מאחריה | 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.”
| ויקם יהושע וכל עם המלחמה לעלות העי ויבחר יהושע שלשים אלף איש גבורי החיל וישלחם לילה | 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.
| ויצו אתם לאמר ראו אתם ארבים לעיר מאחרי העיר--אל תרחיקו מן העיר מאד והייתם כלכם נכנים | 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].
| ואני וכל העם אשר אתי נקרב אל העיר והיה כי יצאו לקראתנו כאשר בראשנה ונסנו לפניהם | 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.
| ויצאו אחרינו עד התיקנו אותם מן העיר--כי יאמרו נסים לפנינו כאשר בראשנה ונסנו לפניהם | 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,
| ואתם תקמו מהאורב והורשתם את העיר ונתנה יהוה אלהיכם בידכם | 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.
| והיה כתפשכם את העיר תציתו את העיר באש--כדבר יהוה תעשו ראו צויתי אתכם | 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.”
| וישלחם יהושע וילכו אל המארב וישבו בין בית אל ובין העי מים לעי וילן יהושע בלילה ההוא בתוך העם | 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.
| וישכם יהושע בבקר ויפקד את העם ויעל הוא וזקני ישראל לפני העם--העי | 10 |
Early the next morning, Joshua gathered his soldiers together. Then he and the other Israeli leaders led them up to Ai.
| וכל העם המלחמה אשר אתו עלו ויגשו ויבאו נגד העיר ויחנו מצפון לעי והגי בינו ובין העי | 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.
| ויקח כחמשת אלפים איש וישם אותם ארב בין בית אל ובין העי--מים לעיר | 12 |
Then Joshua chose about 5,000 men and told them to go and hide just west of the city, between Ai and Bethel.
| וישימו העם את כל המחנה אשר מצפון לעיר ואת עקבו מים לעיר וילך יהושע בלילה ההוא בתוך העמק | 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.
| ויהי כראות מלך העי וימהרו וישכימו ויצאו אנשי העיר לקראת ישראל למלחמה הוא וכל עמו למועד--לפני הערבה והוא לא ידע כי ארב לו מאחרי העיר | 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.
| וינגעו יהושע וכל ישראל לפניהם וינסו דרך המדבר | 15 |
Joshua and the Israeli soldiers [who were with him] allowed the army of Ai to push them back. They ran toward the desert.
| ויזעקו כל העם אשר בעיר (בעי) לרדף אחריהם וירדפו אחרי יהושע וינתקו מן העיר | 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.
| ולא נשאר איש בעי ובית אל אשר לא יצאו אחרי ישראל ויעזבו את העיר פתוחה וירדפו אחרי ישראל | 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.
| ויאמר יהוה אל יהושע נטה בכידון אשר בידך אל העי--כי בידך אתננה ויט יהושע בכידון אשר בידו אל העיר | 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.
| והאורב קם מהרה ממקומו וירוצו כנטות ידו ויבאו העיר וילכדוה וימהרו ויציתו את העיר באש | 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.
| ויפנו אנשי העי אחריהם ויראו והנה עלה עשן העיר השמימה ולא היה בהם ידים לנוס הנה והנה והעם הנס המדבר נהפך אל הרודף | 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.
| ויהושע וכל ישראל ראו כי לכד הארב את העיר וכי עלה עשן העיר וישבו ויכו את אנשי העי | 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.
| ואלה יצאו מן העיר לקראתם ויהיו לישראל בתוך אלה מזה ואלה מזה ויכו אותם עד בלתי השאיר לו שריד ופליט | 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.
| ואת מלך העי תפשו חי ויקרבו אתו אל יהושע | 23 |
Then they seized the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
| ויהי ככלות ישראל להרג את כל ישבי העי בשדה במדבר אשר רדפום בו ויפלו כלם לפי חרב עד תמם וישבו כל ישראל העי ויכו אתה לפי חרב | 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.
| ויהי כל הנפלים ביום ההוא מאיש ועד אשה--שנים עשר אלף כל אנשי העי | 25 |
They killed 12,000 men and women.
| ויהושע לא השיב ידו אשר נטה בכידון עד אשר החרים את כל ישבי העי | 26 |
Joshua continued to point his spear [LIT] toward Ai, until all the people in Ai had been killed.
| רק הבהמה ושלל העיר ההיא בזזו להם ישראל--כדבר יהוה אשר צוה את יהושע | 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.
| וישרף יהושע את העי וישימה תל עולם שממה עד היום הזה | 28 |
Joshua and his soldiers burned Ai city and caused it to become a pile of ruins. It is still like that today.
| ואת מלך העי תלה על העץ עד עת הערב וכבוא השמש צוה יהושע וירידו את נבלתו מן העץ וישליכו אותה אל פתח שער העיר ויקימו עליו גל אבנים גדול עד היום הזה | 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.
| אז יבנה יהושע מזבח ליהוה אלהי ישראל בהר עיבל | 30 |
Joshua [told his men to] build on Ebal Mountain an altar for Yahweh, the God [who is worshiped by] the Israeli people.
| כאשר צוה משה עבד יהוה את בני ישראל ככתוב בספר תורת משה--מזבח אבנים שלמות אשר לא הניף עליהן ברזל ויעלו עליו עלות ליהוה ויזבחו שלמים | 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.
| ויכתב שם על האבנים--את משנה תורת משה אשר כתב לפני בני ישראל | 32 |
As the Israelis watched, Joshua wrote on stones the laws that [Yahweh had given] to Moses previously.
| וכל ישראל וזקניו ושטרים ושפטיו עמדים מזה ומזה לארון נגד הכהנים הלוים נשאי ארון ברית יהוה כגר כאזרח--חציו אל מול הר גרזים והחציו אל מול הר עיבל כאשר צוה משה עבד יהוה לברך את העם ישראל--בראשנה | 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.
| ואחרי כן קרא את כל דברי התורה הברכה והקללה--ככל הכתוב בספר התורה | 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].
| לא היה דבר מכל אשר צוה משה--אשר לא קרא יהושע נגד כל קהל ישראל והנשים והטף והגר ההלך בקרבם | 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.
