JOS 8:28 Parallel Verse View

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Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal Speaker(s)=Narrator (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

BrLXX Καὶ ἐνεπύρισεν Ἰησοῦς τὴν πόλιν ἐν πυρί· χῶμα ἀοίκητον εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἔθηκεν αὐτὴν ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης.
(Kai enepurisen Yaʸsous taʸn polin en puri; ⱪōma aoikaʸton eis ton aiōna ethaʸken autaʸn heōs taʸs haʸmeras tautaʸs.)

BrTr And Joshua burnt the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap for ever, even to this day.

ULT And Joshua burned Ai, and he made it a mound forever, a desolation to this day.

UST Joshua and his soldiers burned Ai and caused it to become a pile of ruins that no one ever rebuilt. It is still an abandoned place now.

BSB & MSB So Joshua burned Ai[fn] and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

8:28 Ai means ruin.

OEB Ai itself Joshua burned, and made it a heap of ruins. To this day it lies desolate.

WEBBE & WMBB So Joshua burnt Ai and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.

NET Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanently uninhabited mound (it remains that way to this very day).

LSV And Joshua burns Ai, and makes it a continuous heap—a desolation to this day;

FBV So Joshua burned the town of Ai, making it permanently into a heap of ruins where no one lives to this very day.

T4T Joshua and his soldiers burned Ai city and caused it to become a pile of ruins. It is still like that today.

LEB So Joshua burned Ai and made it an everlasting heap of rubbish, a desolate place until this day.

BBE So Joshua gave Ai to the flames, and made it a waste mass of stones for ever, as it is to this day.

Moff No Moff JOS 8:28 verse available

JPS So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.

ASV So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.

DRA And he burned the city, and made it a heap for ever:

YLT And Joshua burneth Ai, and maketh it a heap age-during — a desolation unto this day;

Drby And Joshua burned Ai, and made it an everlasting heap of desolation to this day.

RV So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.
(So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap forever, even a desolation, unto this day.)

SLT And Joshua will burn Ai and set it a heap forever, a waste even to this day.

Wbstr And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap for ever, even a desolation to this day.

KJB-1769 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.
(And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap forever, even a desolation unto this day.)

KJB-1611 And Ioshua burnt Ai, and made it an heape for euer, euen a desolation vnto this day.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps And Iosuah set Ai on fire, and made it an heape for euer, & a wildernesse, euen vnto this day.
(And Yoshua set Ai on fire, and made it an heap forever, and a wilderness, even unto this day.)

Gnva And Ioshua burnt Ai, and made it an heape for euer, and a wildernes vnto this day.
(And Yoshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap forever, and a wilderness unto this day.)

Cvdl And Iosua burned vp Hai and made an heape therof for euer, which is there yet vnto this daye.
(And Yoshua burnt up Hai and made an heap thereof forever, which is there yet unto this day.)

Wycl which brente the citee, and made it an euerlastynge biriel.
(which burnt the city, and made it an everlasting burial.)

Luth Und Josua brannte Ai aus und machte einen Haufen daraus ewiglich, der noch heute da liegt.
(And Yosua burnt Ai out_of and made/did a heap/pile(n) from_it forever, the/of_the still today there lies(v).)

ClVg Qui succendit urbem, et fecit eam tumulum sempiternum:
(Who it_burns city, and he_did her then/secondlyulum eternal:)

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 8:1–29 Israel defeated Ai.

In chapter 7, Israel attacked Ai and the soldiers of Ai defeated them. They were discouraged but they repented of their sin. In chapter 8, God told Joshua to attack Ai again. This time, the Israelites were victorious and defeated Ai.

Verses 8:1–9 describe Joshua’s preparations to attack Ai, with details about the ambush. The soldiers in the ambush left by night ahead of the other soldiers. Verses 8:10–27 describe the movement of the soldiers, and the defeat of Ai. Verses 8:28–29 is a summary of the story.

Here are some other possible section headings:

The fall and destruction of Ai

Israel conquered Ai

8:28a

So Joshua burned Ai

So Joshua’s army burned the city of Ai.
Then Joshua and his army burned Ai

So Joshua burned Ai: This indicates that Joshua gave orders to his soldiers to burn the town of Ai. He did not burn the town himself.

8:28b

and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

It has remained a pile of ruins, up to today.
and made it a heap of ruins. It is still like that now.

and made it a permanent heap of ruins: The Israelites burned the buildings and everything in Ai so that it was a pile of rubble. The name “Ai” in Hebrew means ruins. It is recommended that you add a footnote to explain that this is a word play. For example:

FOOTNOTE: The name Ai means “ruins”

a desolation to this day: The phrase this day refers to the time that the author wrote the book of Joshua. At that time it was still a heap of ruins

General Comment on 8:28

Verse 8:28 is a summary statement about the battle of Ai. The burning of Ai is mentioned three times in this chapter. The first mention, in 8:8, is part of God’s command to Israel. The next mention, in 8:19, reports that the soldiers burned the town. The final mention in this verse is the summary of what Israel did to Ai. The Israelites burned Ai only once. Make sure that is clear in your translation.

BMM BibleMapper.com Maps:

Map

The Israelites Conquer Ai

Joshua 8

[Author’s note: This map and article assume that Ai was located at Khirbet al-Maqatir and Bethel was located at al-Bira. It is beyond the scope of this article to present all the convincing reasons for these assumptions, but they are well summarized in the following articles: “Traditional Site of Bethel Questioned,” “Location of Biblical Bethel and Ai Reconsidered,” and “The Khirbet el-Maqatir Excavations.” The expected locations for Roman mile markers are also included on this map, which confirm that al-Bira is located precisely at the twelfth mile marker from Jerusalem, as Eusebius and Jerome both asserted. All other maps in this Atlas have been recently updated to use these same locations for Ai and Bethel.

Soon after the Israelites entered the Promised Land and captured the city of Jericho, they sent a force of only three thousand men to capture the much smaller fortified town of Ai (Joshua 7). They suffered defeat, however, and the Lord revealed to them that this happened because a man named Achan had taken some of the devoted items from Jericho. So Joshua took Achan and his family to the Valley of Achor and executed them there (see Israel Enters the Promised Land map). Later the Lord told Joshua to attack Ai again, because this time he was going to give them the town. It appears that Ai, which had a direct line of sight to the more powerful city of Jerusalem to the south, must have served as a sort of early warning outpost for the larger city. Thus, capturing Ai was critical to staging an effective battle campaign throughout southern Canaan. So Joshua advanced with thirty thousand troops during the night and camped north of the city, and he positioned a force of five thousand men in ambush between Bethel and Ai, just to the west of Ai. The men in ambush were also just east of the mountain where Abraham had pitched his tent centuries earlier (Genesis 12:8). Joshua himself spent the night in the valley between Ai and the main Israelite camp. Early the next morning, the king of Ai led all the inhabitants of the town in an attack on the main camp of the Israelites, who feigned retreat into the wilderness. After the Israelite army had drawn the people of Ai away from the town, the Israelites hiding in ambush rose up and captured Ai. They set the town on fire, sending a signal to the the main army of Israelites to turn back upon the forces of Ai. The Israelites completely destroyed the people of Ai and reduced the town to a burning heap of ruins.

Parallel JOS 8:28

Section 8:1–29 Israel defeated Ai.

8:28a

8:28b

General Comment on 8:28

The Israelites Conquer Ai