The Conquest of Ai 1And Jehovah will say to Joshua, Thou shalt not fear, and thou shalt not be terrified: take with thee all the people of war, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I gave into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people and his city and his land: 2And do to Ai and to her king as thou didst to Jericho and to her king: only its plunder and her cattle ye shall plunder to yourselves: set to thee an ambush to the city from behind it. 3And Joshua will rise, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai: and Joshua will choose thirty thousand men mighty of strength, and he will send them by night. 4And he will command them, saying. See, ye lie in wait against the city, behind the city: ye shall not be far off from the city greatly, and be ye all of you prepared: 5And I and all the people that are with me will draw near to the city: and it was when they shall come forth to our meeting as at the first, and we fled before them. 6And they will come out after us, and we drew them away from the city, for they will say, They flee before us as at the first: and we fled before their face. 7And ye shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city: and Jehovah your God gave it into your hand. 8And it was when ye seize the city, ye shall set the city on fire: according to the word of Jehovah ye shall do: See, I commanded you. 9And Joshua will send them away; and they will go to the ambush, and they will dwell between the house of God and between Ai, from the sea to Ai: and Joshua will remain in that night in the midst of the people. 10And Joshua will rise early in the morning and will review the people, and he will go up, and the old men of Israel, before the people of Ai. 11And all the people of war that were with him went up, and they will draw near, and come before the city, and will encamp on the north to Ai: and the valley between them and Ai. 12And he will take about five thousand men and set them in ambush between the house of God and between Ai, from the sea, to the city. 13And the people will set all the camp which is from the north to the city, and its lying in wait, from the sea to the city; and Joshua will go in that night into the midst of the valley. 14And it will be when the king of Ai saw, and they will hasten and will rise early, and the men of the city will come forth to the meeting of Israel, to war, he, and all his people, at the appointment before the desert: and he knew not that an ambush to him from behind the city. 15And Joshua and all Israel will be smitten before them, and will flee the way of the desert. 16And all the people which are in the city will be called together to pursue after them, and they will pursue after Joshua, and be drawn away from the city. 17And a man was not left in Ai and the house of God, who will not go forth after Israel: and they will leave the city opened and will pursue after Israel. 18And Jehovah will say to Joshua, Stretch with the javelin which is in thine hand, to Ai; for into thine hand will I give it. And Joshua will stretch forth with the javelin which in his hand, to the city. 19And the ambush rose quickly from its place, and they will run when he stretched out his hand: and they will come into the city and take it, and they will hasten and set the city on fire. 20And the men of Ai will turn back behind them and will see, and behold, the smoke of the city went up to the heavens, and there was not with them hands to flee hither and thither: and the people having fled, turned back to the pursuers. 21And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush took the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, and they will turn back and smite the men of Ai. 22And these will go forth from the city to their meeting; and they will be to Israel in the midst of these from hence, and these from thence: and they will smite them till none were left to them fleeing and escaping. 23And the king of Ai they seized, living, and they will bring him to Joshua.
24And it will be when Israel finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the desert, where they pursued them in it, and all of them will fall before the mouth of the sword till they were finished, and all Israel will turn back to Ai and will smite it by the mouth of the sword.
25And it will be, all falling in that day from men, even to women, twelve thousand; all the men of Ai.
26And Joshua turned not back his hand which he stretched out with the spear till he exterminated all the inhabitants of Ai.
27Only the cattle and spoil of that city Israel plundered to Joshua Renews the Covenant 30Then Joshua will build an altar to Jehovah the God of Israel in mount Ebal.
31As Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded the sons of Israel, as it was written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of stones complete; which iron was not lifted up upon them: and they will bring up upon it burnt-offerings to Jehovah, and will sacrifice peace.
32And he will write there upon the stones the second of the law of Moses which he wrote before the sons of Israel.
33All Israel and his old men and scribes, and his judges stood hence, and thence, to the ark before the priests the Levites, lifting up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, so the stranger as the native; half of them in front of mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded to bless the people of Israel in the beginning.
34And after this he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all the writing in the book of the law.
35There was not a word from all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not before all the gathering of Israel, and the women and the little ones and the stranger going in the midst of them. The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments; Translated Literally From The Original Tongues by Julia E. Smith Section Headings Courtesy Berean Bible |