8:1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.
8:2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
8:3 So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night
8:4 with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert.
8:5 I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them.
8:6 They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them,
8:7 you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The LORD your God will give it into your hand.
8:8 When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the LORD has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”
8:9 Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai–but Joshua spent that night with the people.
8:10 Early the next morning Joshua mustered his men, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai.
8:11 The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city.
8:12 Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
8:13 They had the soldiers take up their positions–all those in the camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.
8:14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city.
8:15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the desert.
8:16 All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city.
8:17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.
8:18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his javelin toward Ai.
8:19 As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.
8:20 The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising against the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction, for the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the desert had turned back against their pursuers.
8:21 For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from the city, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai.
8:22 The men of the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives.
8:23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
8:24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the desert where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it.
8:25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day–all the people of Ai.
8:26 For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai.
8:27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the LORD had instructed Joshua.
8:28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day.
8:29 He hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take his body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.
8:30 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel,
8:31 as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses–an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the LORD burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.
8:32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua copied on stones the law of Moses, which he had written.
8:33 All Israel, aliens and citizens alike, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, facing those who carried it–the priests, who were Levites. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.
8:34 Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law–the blessings and the curses–just as it is written in the Book of the Law.
8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the aliens who lived among them.
8:1 Then Jehovah said to Joshua, Do not be afraid or dismayed. Take all the people of war with you, and rise and go up to Ai. See, I have given the king of Ai and his people and his city and his land into your hand.
8:2 And you shall do to Ai and to its king as you did to Jericho and to its king; except its spoil and its cattle you shall take for your plunder. Set an ambush for the city behind it.
8:3 So Joshua rose up with all the people of war to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose thirty thousand men, mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night.
8:4 And he commanded them, saying, See, you shall lie in ambush for the city behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, and all of you be ready.
8:5 And I and all the people who are with me will draw near to the city. Then when they come forth to meet us, as it was the first time, we will flee before them.
8:6 And they will come out after us until we have drawn them out from the city, for they will say, They are fleeing before us as they did the first time. Thus we will flee before them.
8:7 Then you shall rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city, for Jehovah your God will give it into your hand.
8:8 And when you capture the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of Jehovah. See, I have commanded you.
8:9 Then Joshua sent them forth; and they went to the place of ambush, and they stayed between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. And Joshua spent that night among the people.
8:10 And Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people; and he and the elders of Israel went up before the people to Ai.
8:11 And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and came before the city. And they camped to the north of Ai, so that the valley was between them and Ai.
8:12 Now he had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
8:13 So they set the people, the whole camp, which was north of the city, and the rearguard to the west of the city. And Joshua went into the valley that night.
8:14 Now when the king of Ai saw this, the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people, at the assigned place, facing the Arabah; for he did not know that there was an ambush set for him behind the city.
8:15 And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and they fled by the way of the wilderness.
8:16 Then all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them; and they pursued after Joshua and thus were drawn out of the city.
8:17 And not a man was left in Ai or in Bethel who did not go forth after Israel, but they abandoned the city, leaving it open, and pursued after Israel.
8:18 Then Jehovah said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand. And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.
8:19 And the ambush rose up quickly from their place and ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and captured it; and they hurried and set the city on fire.
8:20 And when the men of Ai turned to see behind them, they looked, and there it was ? the smoke of the city going up to heaven; and they had no way to flee this way or that way when the people who had fled into the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
8:21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city was rising, they turned and slew the men of Ai.
8:22 And the others came out from the city to meet them, so that they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them, so that no one was left to survive or escape.
8:23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
8:24 And when Israel had finished slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they had pursued them, and all of them had 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.
8:25 And all those who fell that day, both of men and of women, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai.
8:26 And Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
8:27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for themselves as plunder, according to the word of Jehovah, which He commanded Joshua.
8:28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever; it is a desolation to this day.
8:29 And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening time. And when the sun set, Joshua commanded, and they took his corpse down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and they erected over him a great heap of stones, which is there to this day.
8:30 Then Joshua built an altar to Jehovah the God of Israel on Mount Ebal,
8:31 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 unhewn stones upon which no one had lifted up an iron tool. And they offered upon it burnt offerings to Jehovah, and they sacrificed peace offerings.
8:32 And there he wrote upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the children of Israel.
8:33 And all Israel and their elders and their officers and their judges stood on either side of the Ark in front of the Levitical priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah, both sojourner and native alike: half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Jehovah had first commanded, to bless the people of Israel.
8:34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that was written in the book of the law.
8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read before all the congregation of Israel and the women and the little ones and the sojourners who went among them.