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 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.
