Joshua 8 NLT ISV Parallel

◄ Joshua 8 ►

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1Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.

1The LORD then told Joshua, "Don't be afraid or lose heart! Take all the fighting men with you, and go up right now to Ai. Take note that I have handed over the king of Ai into your control, along with his people, his city, and his land.

2You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the town.”

2Do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, but take its spoil and its livestock as war booty for yourselves. Set an ambush around the city."

3So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night

3So Joshua and all of the fighting men prepared to go out against Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 valiant warriors and sent them out by night,

4with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action.

4telling them, "Pay attention now! You are to set up an ambush around the city. Don't go very far from the city, and all of you remain on alert.

5When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them.

5I and all of the army with me will advance upon the city. When they come out after us like they did before, we'll run away from them.

6We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then, while we are running from them,

6They'll come after us until we've drawn them away from the city, because they'll say, 'They're running away from us just like they did before.' While we're running away from them,

7you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the LORD your God will give it to you.

7you get up from the ambush and seize the city, because the LORD your God will give it into your control.

8Set the town on fire, as the LORD has commanded. You have your orders.”

8When you've taken the city, set it on fire, just as the LORD ordered. Look! These are your orders!"

9So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.

9So Joshua sent them out, and they set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent that night in the camp among the army.

10Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.

10In the morning, Joshua got up early, mustered his army, and set off for Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel in full view of the army.

11All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town and camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the town.

11The entire fighting force with him attacked, approaching the city, and camped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.

12That night Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town.

12Taking about 5,000 men, he set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai to the west of the city,

13So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley.

13stationing their forces with its main encampment north of the city and its rear guard to the west. Joshua spent that night in the valley.

14When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town.

14When the king of Ai saw what had happened, he and his army quickly got up early and went out to meet Israel in battle. He and all his people met at the place adjacent to the desert plain. But he didn't know about the ambush that had been set for him on the other side of the city.

15Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten.

15Because Joshua and the entire fighting force of Israel pretended to lose the battle by running away in front of them toward the wilderness,

16Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town.

16everyone in the city followed after them. As they pursued Joshua, they were drawn away from the town.

17There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the town was left wide open.

17There wasn't a single man left in Ai or Bethel who didn't run out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.

18Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.” Joshua did as he was commanded.

18Then the LORD told Joshua, "Stretch out the battle lance that's in your hand toward Ai, because I will give it into your control." So Joshua stretched out the battle lance that was in his hand toward the city.

19As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.

19As soon as he stretched out his hand, the troops in ambush quickly got up from their place of hiding and attacked. They entered the city, seized it, and immediately set it on fire.

20When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers.

20Then the men of Ai looked back behind them—and all of a sudden!—smoke from the city was rising into the sky. They were unable to run in any direction, because the Israelis who had fled toward the wilderness had turned around to attack their pursuers.

21When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai.

21When Joshua and the entire fighting force of Israel observed that the men who had been in ambush had seized the city and that the smoke from the city was rising, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai.

22Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped.

22Then the others came out from the city against them, so the men of Ai were surrounded by the Israelis, some on one side and some on the other. Israel attacked them until no one was left to survive or escape.

23Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

23But the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

24When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of Ai in the open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside.

24When Israel had completed executing all of the residents of Ai in the open wilderness where they had chased them, and after all of them—to the very last of them—had been killed by swords, the entire fighting force of Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with swords.

25So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day—12,000 in all.

25The total of all who fell that day, including men and women, was 12,000—the entire population of Ai.

26For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed.

26Joshua did not cease his attack until he had completely destroyed every inhabitant of Ai.

27Only the livestock and the treasures of the town were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these as plunder for themselves, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

27Israel took only the livestock and the spoil of that city as their war booty, in accordance with what the LORD had commanded to Joshua.

28So Joshua burned the town of Ai, and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day.

28Joshua burned Ai, turning it into a permanent mound of ruins, and it remains so to this day.

29Joshua impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today. The LORD’s Covenant Renewed

29He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until dusk, and at sunset Joshua ordered his body brought down from the tree and laid at the entrance to the gate of the town. There he raised over it a large mound of stones, which stands there to this day.

30Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.

30Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

31He followed the commands that Moses the LORD’s servant had written in the Book of Instruction: “Make me an altar from stones that are uncut and have not been shaped with iron tools.” Then on the altar they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.

31just the way Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelis in the Book of the Law of Moses: "…an altar of uncut stones that hasn't been worked with iron tools…" and they offered burnt offerings to the LORD on it, along with peace offerings.

32And as the Israelites watched, Joshua copied onto the stones of the altar the instructions Moses had given them.

32There Joshua inscribed on stones a copy of the Law of Moses that Moses had presented to the Israelis.

33Then all the Israelites—foreigners and native-born alike—along with the elders, officers, and judges, were divided into two groups. One group stood in front of Mount Gerizim, the other in front of Mount Ebal. Each group faced the other, and between them stood the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant. This was all done according to the commands that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had previously given for blessing the people of Israel.

33All Israel, both foreigners and citizens, together with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on opposite sides of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD. Half stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half stood in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the LORD's servant had commanded at the first, so that they could bless the people of Israel.

34Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction.

34Afterwards, Joshua read all the words of the Law—both the blessings and the curses—according to everything written in the Book of the Law.

35Every word of every command that Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them.

35There wasn't one word of everything Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read in front of the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, their little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.

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