Joshua, Chapter 8:
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Joshua Verses, Chapter 8 of the Book of Joshua of the Bible.
The destruction of Ai
- 1. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid! Don't be discouraged! Take the entire army and advance against Ai. I have given into your hands the king of Ai, the people, the city and the land.
- 2. Do the same with Ai and its king as you did with Jericho and its king. This time, you will be able to loot the city and keep the animals. Prepare an ambush behind the city.”
- 3. So Joshua and the entire army prepared to attack the city of Ai. He selected thirty thousand of his best soldiers and sent them out overnight.
- 4. Joshua gave the following order: “Be careful! Prepare an ambush behind the city, but don't stray too far. Stay alert.
- 5. I and everyone with me will approach the city. When Ai's men attack us as they did before, we will flee.
- 6. They will pursue us until we are drawn away from the city, for they will think, 'They are running away from us just as before.' As long as we're running away,
- 7. you will come out of the ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will deliver you into your hands.
- 8. After you take the city, you will set it on fire. Do everything according to my instructions.”
- 9. So Joshua sent them, and they went into ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai. Joshua, however, spent the night with the people.
- 10. The next morning, Joshua reviewed the men and led the march ahead of them to attack the city.
- 11. All the soldiers who were with him advanced and approached the city from the north side. They set up camp north of Ai, with a valley separating them from the city.
- 12. Joshua placed about five thousand men in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.
- 13. Those in the camp north of the city and those in ambush to the west took up their positions. That night Joshua went to the valley.
- 14. When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried, got up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, in the field where the Arabah could be seen. However, he was unaware of the ambush set against him behind the city.
- 15. Joshua and all Israel allowed the men of Ai to pursue them and fled into the wilderness.
- 16. All the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them. They pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city.
- 17. There was no one left in Ai and Bethel; everyone went in pursuit of Israel. They left the city unprotected and went in search of Israel.
- 18. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that you have in your hand toward Ai, for I will give the city into your hands.” Joshua stretched out his spear towards Ai,
- 19. and as soon as he did so, the men from the ambush ran out of their hiding place, entered the city, took it and quickly set it on fire.
- 20. When the men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke from the city rising into the sky, they had nowhere to flee. The Israelites who were fleeing towards the desert turned against their pursuers.
- 21. When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men from the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned against the men of Ai and attacked them.
- 22. The Israelites who were in the city also went out to fight against them, so that they were surrounded by the Israelites on both sides. And so the Israelites killed them, leaving no survivors or fugitives.
- 23. But the king of Ai was captured alive and taken to Joshua.
- 24. Israel killed all the inhabitants of Ai in the field and in the wilderness, where they pursued them; they all fell by the edge of the sword. Then all the Israelites returned to the city of Ai and killed everyone who was left there.
- 25. That day twelve thousand men and women of Ai were killed, all the inhabitants of the city.
- 26. For Joshua did not withdraw his spear until they had exterminated all the inhabitants of Ai.
- 27. But Israel took possession of the spoils and animals of the city, according to the command that the Lord had given to Joshua.
- 28. Joshua burned Ai and turned it into a heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day.
- 29. He hanged the king of Ai on a tree, and left him there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body out of the tree and throw it at the entrance to the city. So they erected a large pile of stones over it, which still stands today.
The renewed covenant on Mount Ebal
- 30. Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
- 31. as Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: an altar of unhewn stones, on which no iron tools were used. They offered burnt offerings and communion sacrifices to the Lord on the altar.
- 32. There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua copied on stones a copy of the Law written by Moses.
- 33. All the Israelites, foreigners and natives of the land, with their leaders, officials and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, before the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people were standing in front of Mount Gerizim, and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had previously commanded, so that the people of Israel would be blessed.
- 34. Then Joshua read all the words of the Law, the blessings and the curses, as it is written in the Book of the Law.
- 35. There was not a single word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, children and foreigners who lived among them.
