Joshua 8:1-21 ▼

1 And the Lorde sayde vnto Iosuah: Feare not, neither be thou faint hearted: Take all the men of warre with thee, and vp, & get thee to Ai. Beholde, I haue geuen into thy hande the kyng of Ai, and his people, his citie, and his lande:

2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her kyng, as thou dyddest vnto Iericho and her king. Neuerthelesse, the spoyle & cattell thereof, shall ye take vnto your selues: Thou shalt lye in wayte agaynst the citie, on the backside thereof.

3 And so Iosuah arose, and all the men of warre, to go vp agaynst Ai: And Iosuah chose out thirtie thousande strong men and valiaunt, and sent them away by nyght:

4 And he commaunded them, saying: Beholde, ye shall lye in wayte agaynst the towne on the backside thereof: Go not verie farre from the citie, but be all redie:

5 And I, and al the people that are with me, wyll approche vnto the citie: And when they come out against vs, as they dyd at the first tyme, then wyll we flee before them:

6 For they wyll come out after vs tyll we haue brought them out of the citie. For they wyll say, They flee before vs, as at the first tyme: and we will flee before them.

7 In the meane tyme shall ye ryse vp from lying in wayte, and destroy the citie: for the Lorde your God wyll delyuer it into your hande.

8 And when ye haue taken the citie, ye shall set it on fire: Accordyng to the commaundement of the Lorde shall ye do. Behold, I haue charged you.

9 Iosuah therfore sent them foorth, and they went to lye in wayte, and abode betweene Bethel & Ai, on the westsyde of the citie of Ai: But Iosuah lodged that nyght among the people.

10 And Iosuah rose vp early in the mornyng, and numbred the people, & went vp, he and the elders of Israel before the people, against Ai.

11 And all the men of warre that were with him, went vp, & drue nye, and came agaynst the citie, and pitched on the northsyde of Ai: and there was a valley betweene them and Ai.

12 And he toke vpon a fiue thousande men, and set them to lye in wayte betweene Bethel and Ai, on the westsyde of the citie.

13 And the people set all the hoast that was on the northsyde agaynst the citie, & the lyers in wayte on the west, against the citie: And Iosuah walked the same nyght in the myddes of the valley.

14 And when the kyng of Ai sawe it, they hasted and rose vp early, and the men of the citie went out agaynst Israel to battayle, he and all his people at a tyme appoynted, euen before the playne: and wyst not that there were lyers in wayte agaynst him on the backsyde of the citie.

15 And Iosuah & all Israel as beaten before them, fledde by the way of the wildernesse.

16 And all the people of the towne were called together, to folowe after them: And they folowed after Iosuah, and were drawen away from the citie.

17 And there was not a man left in Ai and in Bethel, that went not out after Israel: And they left the citie open, and folowed after Israel.

18 And the Lorde sayde vnto Iosuah: Stretch out ye speare that is in thine hand towarde Ai, for I will geue it into thy hand. And Iosuah stretched out the speare that he had in his hand, towarde the citie.

19 And the lyers in waite arose quickly out of their place, and ran assoone as Iosuah had stretched out his hande: and they entred into the citie, and toke it, and hasted, and set the citie on fyre.

20 And when the men of Ai loked backe after them, they sawe the smoke of the citie ascend vp to heauen, and they had no place to flee either this way or that: and the people that fled to the wildernes, turned backe againe vpon the folowers.

21 And when Iosuah & all Israel sawe that the lyers in waite had taken the citie, and that the smoke of it ascended, they turned againe and slue the men of Ai.