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Moff JOS Chapter 8

8 Then said the Eternal to Joshua, “Fear not, neither be dismayed; take all the warriors with you and march up to Ai. I put into your hands the king of Ai with his people and his town and his country, 2 and you shall treat Ai and its king as you treated Jericho and its king, except that you may take the spoils and cattle in it for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the town in the rear.” 3 So Joshua and all the warriors started off for Ai. Three thousand veterans Joshua picked out, and despatched them by night 4 with orders to “Lie in ambush to the west of the town in the rear. Do not go too far away, but be all ready; 5 I and all the troops who are with me will move against the town, 6 and when they issue against us, as before, we will run off, till we draw them away from the town,for they will think we are running from them as before. Then, 7 as we run away, you must start out of your ambush and seize the town. The Eternal your God will put it into your hands. 8 As soon as you have seized the town, set it on fire, and carry out the Eternal’s command, These are my orders.” 9 So Joshua despatched them, and they went to the place of ambush, remaining between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent the night in the valley.

10 Joshua rose in the morning and mustered the nation; then he and the sheikhs of Israel led them against Ai. 11 All the nation, that is, the armed men who were with him, marched up close to the town and encamped on the north of Ai. Between him and Ai lay a valley. 12 So Joshua took about five thousand men and put them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the town. 13 The main army were thus stationed to the north of the town, with the ambush laid to the west. Joshua passed that night in the middle of the valley.14-29 14-29In the morning the townsmen rose and marched out to fight Israel. They beat Joshua and all Israel, who fled in the direction of the desert; 16 all the townsmen of Ai were called out to pursue them, and in their pursuit of Joshua they left the town unguarded. Then said the Eternal to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin in your hand towards Ai, for I put Ai in your power.” And as soon as Joshua stretched out the javelin 19 towards the town, the men in ambush rushed into the town and captured it, while the Israelites who were flying towards the desert turned upon their pursuers, seeing that the men in ambush had captured the town. When the Israelites and Joshua had finished slaughtering the townsmen of Ai who had run into the desert and when they had cut them down, giving no quarter, all Israel then returned to Ai and sacked it. All the folk of Ai fell that day, both men and women, twelve thousand in all; Joshua never withdrew the hand that held his javelin until he had massacred all the folk of Ai. Only the Israelites took the spoils and cattle of the town for themselves, as the Eternal had given orders to Joshua. Ai itself Joshua burned, and made it a heap of ruins; to this day it lies desolate. When the king of Ai saw this, he and his men made an early start; not knowing that an ambush had been laid behind the town they allowed themselves to be drawn away from the town, till not a man was left in Ai who did not go out after Israel. The men in ambush then came out quickly and hurried to set the town on fire, so that when the men of Ai turned round to look, there was smoke rising from the town! They had no chance to flee this way or that, for the pursued turned upon the pursuers when they saw the smoke rising from the town, and the men in ambush rushed from the town to join them, so that the men of Ai were caught between Israelites, some on one side and some on the other; they were slaughtered till not a soul escaped or remained alive. The king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua, who hung him on a tree till evening; at sunset Joshua ordered his body to be taken down from the tree and thrown down at the entrance to the town-gate. They raised a cairn of stones over it, which is there to this day. 30 Then Joshua built an altar to the Eternal, the God of Israel, on mount Ebal, 31 as Moses the servant of the Eternal had commanded the Israelites, according to the directions written in the law-book of Moses; it was an altar of undressed stones, to which no man had ever taken an iron tool. They sacrificed burnt-offerings to the Eternal upon it, and recompense offerings. 32 Also he wrote on the stones there a copy of the law of Moses, writing it in presence of the Israelites. 33 All Israel, clansmen and foreigners, with their sheikhs, their officers, and their judges, stood on each side of the ark in presence of the priestly Levites who carried the ark of the compact of the Eternal; half of them stood in front of mount Gerizim and half in front of mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Eternal had formerly commanded the people to be blessed. 34 Then Joshua read aloud all the terms of the law, the blessing and the curse, exactly as it was written in the law-book; 35 there was not a word of the orders of Moses which Joshua did not read aloud before all the assembled Israelites, with the women, the children, and the foreigners who accompanied them.

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