| Chapter 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: lay thee an ambush for the city
behind it. |
| 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. |
| 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: |
| 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 | (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. |
|
7 | Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city:
for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. |
| 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. |
| 9 | Joshua therefore sent them forth: and they went to lie in
ambush, and abode between Bethel 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 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. |
| 12 | And he
took about five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and
Ai, on the west side of the city. |
|
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. |
| 14 | And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that
they hasted and rose up 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
wist not that there were liers in 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 Bethel, 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 spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I
will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had 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 they entered into the city, and took it, and
hasted 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 again, and slew the men
of Ai. |
| 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. |
| 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, in the
wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge
of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto
Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. |
| 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. |
| 26 | For Joshua drew not his hand back,
wherewith he stretched out the spear, 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 | And Joshua burnt Ai, and
made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. |
| 29 | And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree
until eventide: 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 thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto
this day. |
| 30 | Then Joshua
built an altar unto the LORD 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 whole stones, over which no man hath lift 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 in the
presence of 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, which bare 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
