AB - Joshua - 8

8:1  And the Lord said to Joshua, Fear not, nor be dismayed. Take with you all the men of war, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hands the king of Ai, and his land.

8:2  And you shall do to Ai as you did to Jericho and its king; and you shall take to yourself the spoil of its livestock; set now for yourself an ambush for the city behind.

8:3  And Joshua and all the men of war rose to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men, and he sent them away by night.

8:4  And he commanded them, saying, Go, and lie in ambush behind the city: do not go far from the city, and you shall all be ready.

8:5  Then I and all the people who are with me shall draw near to the city. And it shall come to pass when the inhabitants of Ai shall come forth to meet us as before, that we will flee from before them.

8:6  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, just like before.

8:7  And you shall rise up out of the ambush, and go into the city.

8:8  You shall do according to this word. Behold, I have commanded you.

8:9  And Joshua sent them, and they went to lie in ambush; and they lay between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai.

8:10  And Joshua rose up early in the morning and numbered the people. And he went up, he and the elders before the people, to Ai.

8:11  And all the men of war went up with him, and they went forward and came over against the city eastward.

8:12  And the ambush was on the west side of the city.

8:14  And it came to pass when the king of Ai saw it, he hastened 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 ambush formed against him behind the city.

8:15  And Joshua and Israel saw, and retreated from before them.

8:16  And they pursued after the children of Israel, and they themselves went to a distance from the city.

8:17  There was no one left in Ai who did not pursue after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.

8:18  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 those lying in wait shall rise up quickly out of their place.

8:19  And Joshua stretched out his hand and his spear toward the city, and the ambush 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 hastened and burned the city with fire.

8:20  And when the inhabitants of Ai 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.

8:21  And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city went up to heaven; and they turned and struck down the men of Ai.

8:22  And these came forth out of the city to meet them; and they were in the midst of the army, some on this side, and some on that; and they struck them until there was not one of them left who survived and escaped.

8:23  And they took the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.

8:24  And when the children of Israel had ceased slaying all that were in Ai, and in the fields, and in the mountain on the descent, from where they pursued them, even to the end, then Joshua returned to Ai, and attacked it with the edge of the sword.

8:25  And those that fell in that day, men and women, were twelve thousand: they killed all the inhabitants of Ai.

8:27  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.

8:28  And Joshua burned the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap forever, even to this day.

8:29  And he hanged the king of Ai on the 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 pit, and they set over him a heap of stones to this day.

8:30  Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal,

8:31  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 iron had not been lifted up; and he offered there whole burnt offerings to the Lord, and a peace offering.

8:32  And Joshua wrote upon the stones a copy of the law, the law of Moses, before the children of Israel.

8:33  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 Gerizim, and half near Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded at first, to bless the people.

8:34  And afterwards Joshua read accordingly all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, according to all things written in the law of Moses.

8:35  There was not a word of all that Moses charged Joshua which Joshua did not read in the ears of all the assembly of the children of Israel, before the men, the women, the children, and the strangers that joined themselves to Israel.