Joshua, 8

1. Yahweh then said to Joshua, 'Be fearless and undaunted. Take all your fighting men with you. Up! March against Ai. Look, I have put the king of Ai, his people, his town and his territory at your mercy.

1. And the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed; take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land;

2. You must treat Ai and its king as you treated Jericho and its king. The only booty you will take are the spoils and the cattle. Take up a concealed position by the town, to the rear of it.'

2. and you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king; only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves; lay an ambush against the city, behind it."

3. Joshua set out to march against Ai with all the fighting men. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the bravest and sent them out under cover of dark,

3. So Joshua arose, and all the fighting men, to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor, and sent them forth by night.

4. having given them these orders, 'Pay attention! You must take up a concealed position by the town, at the rear, not very far from the town, and be sure you all keep alert!

4. And he commanded them, "Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it; do not go very far from the city, but hold yourselves all in readiness;

5. I, and the whole people with me, shall advance on the town, and when the people of Ai come out to engage us as they did the first time, we shall run away from them.

5. and I, and all the people who are with me, will approach the city. And when they come out against us, as before, we shall flee before them;

6. They will then give chase, and we shall draw them away from the town, since they will think, "They are running away from us as they did the first time."

6. and they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, `They are fleeing from us, as before.' So we will flee from them;

7. You will then burst out of your concealed position and seize the town; Yahweh your God will put it at your mercy.

7. then you shall rise up from the ambush, and seize the city; for the LORD your God will give it into your hand.

8. When you have captured the town, set fire to it, in obedience to Yahweh's command. Well then, these are my orders.'

8. And when you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire, doing as the LORD has bidden; see, I have commanded you."

9. Joshua sent them off, and they made their way to the place of ambush and took up position between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent the night with the people,

9. So Joshua sent them forth; and they went to the place of ambush, and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.

10. then, getting up early next morning, reviewed the people and, with the elders of Israel, marched on Ai at their head.

10. And Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, with the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

11. All the warriors marching with him advanced on the front of the town and pitched camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the town.

11. And all the fighting men who were with him went up, and drew near before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.

12. Joshua took about five thousand men and concealed these between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the town.

12. And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

13. The people pitched the main camp to the north of the town and set up its ambush to the west of the town. Joshua went that night into the middle of the plain.

13. So they stationed the forces, the main encampment which was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley.

14. The king of Ai had seen this; the people of the town got up early and hurried out, so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle on the slope facing the Arabah; but he did not know that an ambush had been laid for him to the rear of the town.

14. And when the king of Ai saw this he and all his people, the men of the city, made haste and went out early to the descent toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle; but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

15. Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten by them and took to their heels along the road to the desert.

15. And Joshua and all Israel made a pretense of being beaten before them, and fled in the direction of the wilderness.

16. All the people in the town joined in the pursuit and, in pursuing Joshua, were drawn away from the town.

16. So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city.

17. Not a man was left in Ai (nor in Bethel), who had not gone in pursuit of Israel; and in pursuing Israel they left the town undefended.

17. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel, who did not go out after Israel; they left the city open, and pursued Israel.

18. Yahweh then said to Joshua, 'Point the sabre in your hand at Ai; for I am about to put the town at your mercy.' Joshua pointed the sabre in his hand towards the town.

18. Then the LORD 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.

19. No sooner had he stretched out his hand than the men in ambush burst from their position, ran forward, entered the town, captured it and quickly set it on fire.

19. And the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and took it; and they made haste to set the city on fire.

20. When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from the town into the sky. None of them had the courage to run in any direction, for the people fleeing towards the desert turned back on their pursuers.

20. So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven; and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.

21. For, once Joshua and all Israel saw that the town had been seized by the men in ambush, and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned about and attacked the men of Ai.

21. And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and smote the men of Ai.

22. The others came out from the town to engage them too, and the men of Ai were thus surrounded by Israelites, some on this side and some on that. The Israelites struck them down until not one was left alive and none to flee;

22. And the others came forth from the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side; and Israel smote them, until there was left none that survived or escaped.

23. but the king of Ai was taken alive, and brought to Joshua.

23. But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

24. When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open ground, and in the desert where they had pursued them, and when every single one had fallen to the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and slaughtered its remaining population.

24. When Israel had finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword.

25. The number of those who fell that day, men and women together, was twelve thousand, all people of Ai.

25. And all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai.

26. Joshua did not draw back the hand with which he had pointed the sabre until he had subjected all the inhabitants of Ai to the curse of destruction.

26. For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

27. For booty, Israel took only the cattle and the spoils of this town, in accordance with the order that Yahweh had given to Joshua.

27. Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took as their booty, according to the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua.

28. Joshua then burned Ai, making it a ruin for evermore, a desolate place even today.

28. So Joshua burned Ai, and made it for ever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day.

29. He hanged the king of Ai from a tree till evening; but at sunset Joshua ordered his body to be taken down from the tree. It was then thrown down at the entrance to the town gate and on top of it was raised a great mound of stones, which is still there today.

29. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.

30. Joshua then built an altar to Yahweh, God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

30. Then Joshua built an altar in Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,

31. as Moses, servant of Yahweh, had ordered the Israelites, as is written in the law of Moses: an altar of undressed stones, on which no iron has been used. On this they presented burnt offerings to Yahweh and communion sacrifices as well.

31. as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, "an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man has lifted an iron tool"; and they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings.

32. There, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which Moses had written in the presence of the Israelites.

32. And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.

33. All Israel, with their elders, their officials and their judges, stood on either side of the ark, facing the levitical priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, foreigners with the native-born, half of them on the upper slopes of Mount Ebal, as Moses, servant of Yahweh, had originally ordered for the blessing of the people of Israel.

33. And all Israel, sojourner as well as homeborn, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Ger'izim 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. After this, Joshua read all the words of the Law -- the blessing and the cursing -- exactly as it stands written in the Book of the Law.

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. Of every word laid down by Moses, not one was left unread by Joshua in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners living with them.

35. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.