Joshua:8

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* 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 : * 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 . * 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 . * 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 : * 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 ri #shown #, that we will flee before them , * (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 ri #shown #: therefore we will flee before them . * Then ye shall rise up from the ambush , and seize upon the city : for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand . * 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 . * Joshua therefore sent them forth : and they went to lie in ambush ma #arab #, and abode between Bethel Beyth -#El # and Ai , on the west side of Ai : but Joshua lodged that night among the people . * And Joshua rose up early in the morning , and numbered the people , and went up , he and the elders of Israel Yisra #el #, before the people to Ai . * 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 . * And he took about five thousand men , and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel Beyth -#El # and Ai , on the west side of the city #A . * 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 . * 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 mow #ed #, before the plain ; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against him behind the city . * And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them , and fled by the way of the wilderness . * And all the people that were in Ai #A were called together to pursue after them : and they pursued after Joshua , and were drawn away from the city . * And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel Beyth -#El #, that went not out after Israel Yisra #el #: and they left the city open , and pursued after Israel Yisra #el #. * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * And the other #el-leh # issued out of the city against them ; so they were in the midst of Israel Yisra #el #, some on this side , and some on that side : and they smote them , so that they let none of them remain or escape . * And the king of Ai they took alive , and brought him to Joshua . * 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 . * And so it was , that all that fell that day , both of men and women , were twelve sh @nayim # thousand , even all the men of Ai . * For Joshua drew # not his hand back , wherewith he stretched out the spear , until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai . * 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 . * And Joshua burnt Ai , and made it an heap for ever , even a desolation unto this day . * And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide #H6153 : 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 #H1530of stones , that remaineth unto this day . * Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal , * As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel Yisra #el #, 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 . * 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 Yisra #el #. * And all Israel Yisra #el #, 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 ri #shown #, that they should bless the people of Israel Yisra #el #. * 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 . * There was not a word of all that Moses commanded , which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel Yisra #el #, with the women , and the little ones , and the strangers that were conversant among them .

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