Joshua 8
Names of God Bible
Israel’s Victory at Ai
8 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t be terrified or afraid. Take all the troops with you, and march against Ai. I am about to hand the king of Ai, his people, city, and land over to you. 2 You will do the same thing to Ai and its king that you did to Jericho and its king. However, you may take its loot and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
3 So Joshua and all the soldiers started to march against Ai. Joshua picked 30,000 of his best soldiers and sent them out at night 4 with these orders: “Set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far away from the city. Everyone must be ready. 5 I’ll approach the city with the rest of the troops. When they come out to attack us as they did the first time, we will run away from them. 6 They’ll come out after us, and we will lure them away from the city. They’ll say, ‘They’re running away from us just like the first time.’ As we run away from them, 7 you come out of hiding and capture the city. Yahweh your Elohim will hand it over to you. 8 When you have captured the city, set it on fire. Do what Yahweh says. These are your orders.”
9 So Joshua sent them out, and they hid. They took their position west of Ai, between Bethel and Ai. Joshua spent the night with the troops.
10 Joshua got up early in the morning and assembled the troops. Then he and the leaders of Israel led the army to Ai. 11 All the troops with him marched until they were near the city. They camped north of Ai with the ravine between them and Ai.
12 Joshua had taken about five thousand men and had them hide between Bethel and Ai, west of the city. 13 All the troops were positioned. The main camp was north of the city, and the other troops were hiding west of the city. That night Joshua went down into the middle of the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw the main camp, he and all his troops got up early in the morning. They rushed out toward the plains to meet Israel for battle, just where Joshua expected. However, the king didn’t know there were troops behind the city waiting to attack him.
15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be defeated. They ran away toward the desert. 16 All the troops in the city were called out to chase them. As they chased Joshua, they were lured away from the city. 17 Not one man was left in Ai or Bethel; they all went after Israel. So the city was left unprotected as they chased Israel.
18 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, “Hold out the spear in your hand toward the city, because I am handing Ai over to you.” So Joshua held out his spear. 19 The men who were hiding got up as soon as he stretched out his hand. They entered the city, captured it, and quickly set it on fire. 20 When the men of Ai looked back, they could see the city going up in smoke. They had no place to go, since the Israelites, who had been running toward the desert, had now turned back on them. 21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men who had been hiding had captured the city and that it was going up in smoke, they turned and attacked the men of Ai. 22 The men who had captured the city also came out and attacked them. The men of Ai were caught between the battle lines of Israel. So Israel attacked them on both sides. None of them survived or escaped. 23 But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the fields and in the desert where they had been pursued. They put them all to death; not one person survived. Then the Israelites went back to Ai and killed everyone left there. 25 Twelve thousand men and women from Ai died that day. 26 Joshua did not lower his hand holding the spear until he had completely destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27 Israel took the loot and the livestock of that city for themselves, as Yahweh had commanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a deserted mound of ruins.[a] It is still in ruins today.
29 Joshua hung the king of Ai’s dead body on a pole and left him there until evening. When the sun went down, Joshua gave the order to take his body down. They threw it in the entrance of the city and made a large pile of stones over it. That pile is still there today.
The Lord Renews His Promise with Israel
30 At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to Yahweh Elohim of Israel. 31 He built an altar with uncut stones on which no iron chisels had been used. This was as Yahweh’s servant Moses had commanded the people of Israel in the Book of Moses’ Teachings. They made burnt offerings to Yahweh and sacrificed fellowship offerings on the altar. 32 There in front of the people of Israel he wrote on stone slabs a copy of the Teachings which Moses had written down.
33 All the people of Israel, whether foreigners or native Israelites, the leaders, officers, and judges were standing on opposite sides of the ark. They faced the Levitical priests who carried the ark of Yahweh’s promise. Half of the people were in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal. Right from the beginning, Yahweh’s servant Moses had commanded the priests to bless the people of Israel this way. 34 Afterwards, Joshua read all the Teachings—the blessings and curses—as they had all been written down by Moses. 35 Joshua read Moses’ Teachings in front of the whole assembly of Israel, including women, children, and foreigners living among them. He did not leave out one word from everything Moses had commanded.
Footnotes
- Joshua 8:28 Ai means “ruins.”
Joshua 8
King James Version
8 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 valour, 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 carcase 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.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.