Josh 8
1
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
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
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
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
And 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
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 out of the ambuscade, and go into the city.
8
You shall do according to this word, behold! I have commanded you.
9
And Joshua sent them, and they went to lie in ambush; and they lay between Baethel
and Gai, westward of Gai.
10
And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and Gr. reviewed numbered the people; and he went up, he and the elders before the
people to Gai.
11
And all the men of war went up with him, and they went forward and came over against
the city eastward.
12
And the ambuscade was on the west side of the city.
13
14
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
And Joshua and Israel saw, and retreated from before them.
16
And they pursued after the children of Israel, and they themselves went to a distance
from the city.
17
There was no one left in Gai who did not pursue after Israel; and they left the city
open, and pursued after Israel.
18
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
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 Or, set it on fire burnt the city with fire.
20
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
And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambuscade Gr. took had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city went up to heaven;
and they turned
and smote the men of Gai.
22
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 smote them until there was
not left of them one who survived and escaped.
23
And they took the king of Gai alive, and brought him to Joshua.
24
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 smote it with the edge of the sword.
25
And they that fell in that day, men and women, were twelve thousand: they slew all
the inhabitants of Gai.
26
27
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
And Joshua burnt the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap for ever, even
to this day.
29
And he hanged the king of Gai on a Gr. double tree 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 Gr. the pit or trench pit, and they set over him
a heap of stones until this day.
30
Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in mount Gaebal,
31
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 Gr. was not lifted up iron had not been lifted up; and he offered
there whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord,
and a peace-offering.
32
And Joshua wrote upon the stones a Or, a Deuteronomy copy of the law, even the law of Moses, before the children of Israel.
33
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
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 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.