8:1 And the LORD said to 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:
8:2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king, as thou didst to
Jericho and her king: only its spoil, and its cattle, shall ye
take for a prey to yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city
behind it.
8:3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against
Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valor,
and sent them away by night.
8:4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait
against the city, [even] behind the city: go not very far from
the city, but be ye all ready:
8:5 And I, and all the people that [are] with me, will approach
to the city: and it shall come to pass when they come out
against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them,
8:6 (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them
from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at
the first: therefore we will flee before them.
8:7 Then ye shall rise from the ambush and seize upon the city:
for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand,
8:8 And it shall be when ye have taken the city, [that] ye shall
set the city on fire: according to the commandment of the LORD
shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
8:9 Joshua therefore sent them forth; and they went to lie in
ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of
Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
8:10 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and numbered the
people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the
people to Ai.
8:11 And all the people, [even the people] 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 them and Ai.
8:12 And he took about five thousand men; and set them to lie in
ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of the city.
8:13 And when they had set the people, [even] all the host that
[was] on the north of the city, and their liers in wait on the
west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the
valley.
8:14 And it came to pass when the king of Ai saw [it], that they
hasted and rose early, and the men of the city went out against
Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed,
before the plain: but he knew not that [there were] liers in
ambush against him behind the city.
8:15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten
before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
8:16 And all the people that [were] in Ai were called together
to pursue them: and they pursued Joshua, and were drawn away
from the city.
8:17 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
Israel.
8:18 And the LORD said to Joshua, Stretch out the spear that
[is] in thy hand towards Ai; for I will give it into thy hand.
And Joshua stretched out the spear that [he had] in his hand
towards the city.
8:19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they
ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and they entered
into the city, and took it, and hasted, and set the city on
fire.
8:20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and
behold, the smoke of the city ascended 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.
8:21 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 again and slew the men of Ai.
8:22 And the other issued 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.
8:23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to
Joshua.
8:24 And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying
all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in
which they chased them, and when they had all fallen on the
edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the
Israelites returned to Ai, and smote it with the edge of the
sword.
8:25 And [so] it was, [that] all that fell that day, both of men
and women, [were] twelve thousand, [even] all the men of Ai.
8:26 For Joshua drew not his hand back with which he stretched
out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the
inhabitants of Ai.
8:27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for
a prey to themselves, according to the word of the LORD which
he commanded Joshua.
8:28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, [even] a
desolation to this day.
8:29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening: and
as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should
take his carcass down from the tree, and cast it at the
entering of the gate of the city, and raise upon it a great
heap of stones, [that remaineth] to this day.
8:30 Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel in
mount Ebal,
8:31 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 whole stones, over which no man hath lifted up [any]
iron: and they offered upon it burnt-offerings to the LORD, and
sacrificed peace-offerings.
8:32 And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of
Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of
Israel.
8:33 And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their
judges, stood on this side of the ark, and on that side, before
the priests the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of
the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them;
half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over
against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had
commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.
8:34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the
blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the
book of the law.
8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which
Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the
women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were
conversant among them.
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