| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1Now the LORD said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid, nor 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, his people, his city, and his land. | 1The LORD told Joshua, "Don't be afraid and don't panic! Take the whole army with you and march against Ai! See, I am handing over to you the king of Ai, along with his people, city, and land. |
| 2And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.” | 2Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!" |
| 3So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. | 3Joshua and the whole army marched against Ai. Joshua selected thirty thousand brave warriors and sent them out at night. |
| 4And he commanded them, saying: “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. | 4He told them, "Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don't go very far from the city; all of you be ready! |
| 5Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them. | 5I and all the troops who are with me will approach the city. When they come out to fight us like before, we will retreat from them. |
| 6For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them. | 6They will attack us until we have lured them from the city, for they will say, 'They are retreating from us like before.' We will retreat from them. |
| 7Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. | 7Then you rise up from your hiding place and seize the city. The LORD your God will hand it over to you. |
| 8And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the LORD you shall do. See, I have commanded you.” | 8When you capture the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD says! See, I have given you orders." |
| 9Joshua therefore sent them out; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people. | 9Joshua sent them away and they went to their hiding place west of Ai, between Bethel and Ai. Joshua spent that night with the army. |
| 10Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. | 10Bright and early the next morning Joshua gathered the army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched at the head of it to Ai. |
| 11And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near; and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a valley lay between them and Ai. | 11All the troops that were with him marched up and drew near the city. They camped north of Ai on the other side of the valley. |
| 12So he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. | 12He took five thousand men and set an ambush west of the city between Bethel and Ai. |
| 13And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. | 13The army was in position--the main army north of the city and the rear guard west of the city. That night Joshua went into the middle of the valley. |
| 14Now it happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. | 14When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah. But he did not realize men were hiding behind the city. |
| 15And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. | 15Joshua and all Israel pretended to be defeated by them and they retreated along the way to the desert. |
| 16So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. | 16All the reinforcements in Ai were ordered to chase them; they chased Joshua and were lured away from the city. |
| 17There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel. | 17No men were left in Ai or Bethel; they all went out after Israel. They left the city wide open and chased Israel. |
| 18Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. | 18The LORD told Joshua, "Hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city over to you." So Joshua held out toward Ai the curved sword in his hand. |
| 19So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire. | 19When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire. |
| 20And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. | 20When the men of Ai turned around, they saw the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers. |
| 21Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. | 21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the city was going up in smoke, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai. |
| 22Then the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down, so that they let none of them remain or escape. | 22At the same time the men who had taken the city came out to fight, and the men of Ai were trapped in the middle. The Israelites struck them down, leaving no survivors or refugees. |
| 23But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. | 23But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. |
| 24And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when they all had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. | 24When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had chased them toward the desert (they all fell by the sword), all Israel returned to Ai and put the sword to it. |
| 25So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the people of Ai. | 25Twelve thousand men and women died that day, including all the men of Ai. |
| 26For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. | 26Joshua kept holding out his curved sword until Israel had annihilated all who lived in Ai. |
| 27Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua. | 27But Israel did plunder the cattle and the goods of the city, in accordance with the LORD's orders to Joshua. |
| 28So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. | 28Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanently uninhabited mound (it remains that way to this very day). |
| 29And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day. | 29He hung the king of Ai on a tree, leaving him exposed until evening. At sunset Joshua ordered that his corpse be taken down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and erected over it a large pile of stones (it remains to this very day). |
| 30Now Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel in Mount Ebal, | 30Then Joshua built an altar for the LORD God of Israel on Mount Ebal, |
| 31as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. | 31just as Moses the LORD's servant had commanded the Israelites. As described in the law scroll of Moses, it was made with uncut stones untouched by an iron tool. They offered burnt sacrifices on it and sacrificed tokens of peace. |
| 32And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. | 32There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a duplicate of the law written by Moses. |
| 33Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. | 33All the people, rulers, leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there. Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the LORD's servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony. |
| 34And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. | 34Then Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the law scroll. |
| 35There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them. | 35Joshua read aloud every commandment Moses had given before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, children, and resident foreigners who lived among them. |
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