Joshua:8:1-29
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And Yahweh said to Joshua ,
Don '
t be afraid ,
neither be dismayed :
take all the people of war with you ,
and arise ,
go up to Ai ;
see ,
I have given into your hand the king of Ai ,
and his people ,
and his city ,
and his land ;
*
And you will do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king :
only its spoil ,
and its cattle ,
you (
note :){+}(:
note )
will take for a prey to yourselves :
set yourself an ambush for the city behind it .
*
So Joshua arose ,
and all the people of war ,
to go up to Ai :
and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men ,
the mighty men of valor ,
and sent them forth by night .
*
And he commanded them ,
saying ,
Look ,
you (
note :){+}(:
note )
will lie in ambush against the city ,
behind the city ;
don '
t go very far from the city ,
but all of you {+}
be ready :
*
and I ,
and all the people who are with me ,
will approach to the city .
And it will come to pass ,
when they come out against us ,
as at the first ,
that we will flee before them ;
*
and they will come out after us ,
until we have drawn them away from the city ;
for they will say ,
They flee before us ,
as at the first :
so we will flee before them ;
*
and you (
note :){+}(:
note )
will rise up from the ambush ,
and take possession of the city :
for Yahweh your {+}
God will deliver it into your {+}
hand .
*
And it will be ,
when you (
note :){+}(:
note )
have seized on the city ,
that you {+}
will set the city on fire ;
according to the word of Yahweh you {+}
will do :
see ,
I have commanded you {+}.
*
And Joshua sent them forth ;
and they went to the ambush ,
and remained between Beth-el and Ai ,
on the west side of Ai :
but Joshua lodged that night among the people .
*
And Joshua arose up early in the morning ,
and mustered the people ,
and went up ,
he and the elders of Israel ,
before the people to Ai .
*
And all the people , [
even ]
the [
men of ]
war who were with him ,
went up ,
and drew near ,
and came before the city ,
and encamped on the north side of Ai :
now there was a valley between him and Ai .
*
And he took about five thousand men ,
and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai ,
on the west side of the city .
*
So they set the people ,
even all the host that was on the north of the city ,
and their ambushers who were on the west of the city ;
and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley .
*
And it came to pass ,
when the king of Ai saw it ,
that they hurried and rose up early ,
and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle ,
he and all his people ,
for the encounter toward the Arabah ;
but he didn '
t know that there was an 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 who were in the city 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 Beth-el ,
that didn '
t go out after Israel :
and they left the city open ,
and pursued after Israel .
*
And Yahweh said to Joshua ,
Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai ;
for I will give it into your hand .
And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city .
*
And [
those in ]
the ambush arose quickly out of their place ,
and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand ,
and entered into the city ,
and took it ;
and they hurried and set the city on fire .
*
And when the men of Ai looked behind them ,
they saw ,
and ,
look ,
the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven ,
and they had no power to flee this way or that way :
and the people who fled to the wilderness turned back on 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 others came forth 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 struck 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 in which they pursued them ,
and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword ,
until they were consumed ,
that all Israel returned to Ai ,
and struck it with the edge of the sword .
*
And all who fell that day ,
both of men and women ,
were twelve thousand ,
even all the men of Ai .
*
For Joshua did not draw back his hand ,
with which he stretched out the javelin ,
until he had completely destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai .
*
Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for prey to themselves ,
according to the word of Yahweh which he commanded Joshua .
*
So Joshua burnt Ai ,
and made it a heap forever ,
even a desolation ,
to this day .
*
And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening :
and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded ,
and they took his body down from the tree ,
and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city ,
and raised on it a great heap of stones ,
to this day .
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