Josh 8
1
And the LORD said unto Joshua: 'Fear not, neither be thou dismayed; take all the people
of war with thee, 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 shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king; only
the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves;
set thee an ambush for the city behind it.'
3
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose out thirty
thousand men, the mighty men of valour, and sent them forth by night.
4
And he commanded them, saying: 'Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind
the city; go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready.
5
And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto 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
And they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city; for they
will say: They flee before us, as at the first; so we will flee before them.
7
And ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the LORD
your God will deliver it into your hand.
8
And it shall be, when ye have seized upon the city, that ye shall set the city on
fire; according to the word of the LORD shall ye do; see, I have commanded you.'
9
And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to the ambushment, and abode between Beth-el
and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10
And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people, and went up, he
and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11
And all the people, even the men of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh,
and came before the city, and pitched on the north side of Ai--now there was a valley
between him and Ai.
12
And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai,
on the west side of Ai.
13
So the people set themselves in array, even all the host that was on the north of
the city, their rear lying in wait on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night
into the midst of the vale.
14
And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hastened
and rose up early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at
the time appointed, in front of the Arabah; but he knew not that there was an ambush
against him behind the city.
15
And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the
way of the wilderness.
16
And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them; and
they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17
And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el, that went not out after Israel; and
they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18
And the LORD said unto 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 was
in his hand toward the city.
19
And 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; and they hastened and set the
city on fire.
20
And 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; and
the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
21
And 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 slew the men of Ai.
22
And the other came forth 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, so that they
let none of them remain or escape.
23
And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24
And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of
Ai in the field, even in the wilderness wherein they pursued them, and they were all
fallen by the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all Israel returned
unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.
25
And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all
the men of Ai.
26
For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin, until he
had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
27
Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for a prey unto themselves,
according unto the word of the LORD which He commanded Joshua.
28
So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.
29
And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the eventide; and at the going down of
the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his carcass down from the tree, and cast it
at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised thereon a great heap of stones,
unto this day.
30
Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal,
31
as Moses the servant of the LORD 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 man had
lifted up any iron; and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed
peace-offerings.
32
And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote before
the children of Israel.
33
And all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side
the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, that bore the ark of the
covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger as the home-born; half of them in front
of mount Gerizim and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of
the LORD had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.
34
And 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.
35
There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all
the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that
walked among them.