Joshua 8
Conquest of Ai
1The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. a Take the whole military force with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land. b 2 Treat Ai and its king as you did Jericho and its king; c you may plunder its spoil and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.” 3So Joshua and the whole military force set out to attack Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 fighting men and sent them out at night. 4He commanded them: “Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready. d 5Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them. 6They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us as before.’ While we are fleeing from them, 7 you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God has handed it over to you. 8After taking the city, set it on fire. Follow the Lord’s command – see that you do as I have ordered you.” 9So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops. 10 Joshua started early the next morning and mobilized them. Then he and the elders of Israel led the troops up to Ai. 11 All those ▼▼Lit the people of war
who were with him went up and approached the city, arriving opposite Ai, and camped to the north of it, with a valley between them and the city. 12Now Joshua had taken about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13The military force was stationed in this way: the main ▼▼Lit way: all the
camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley. 14When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, the men of the city hurried and went out early in the morning so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle at a suitable place facing the ▼▼Arabah: The section of the Great Rift in Palestine, extending from the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqabah. The Hebrew word can also be translated as "plain," referring to any plain or to any part of the Arabah.
Arabah. But he did not know there was an ambush waiting for him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten back by them and fled toward the wilderness. 16Then all the troops of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city exposed while they pursued Israel. 18Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold out the sword in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the city over to you.” So Joshua held out his sword toward it. 19When he held out his hand, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They ran, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire. 20The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers. 21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22Then men in ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces, some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained, 23but they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. 24When Israel had finished killing everyone living in Ai who had pursued them into the open country, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the sword. 25The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was 12,000 – all the people of Ai. 26 Joshua did not draw back his hand that was holding the sword until all the inhabitants of Ai were ▼▼set apart for destruction/ completely destroy: In Canaan or its neighboring countries, this was the destruction during war of a city, its inhabitants, and their possessions, including livestock.
completely destroyed. i 27 Israel plundered only the cattle and spoil of that city for themselves, according to the Lord’s command that He had given Joshua. 28 Joshua burned Ai and left it a permanent ruin, desolate to this day. j 29He hung ▼▼Or impaled
the body of the king of Ai on a tree ▼▼Or wooden stake
until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take his body down from the tree. m They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and put a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day. Renewed Commitment to the Law
30 At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal n to the Lord, the God of Israel, 31just as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. o Then they offered ▼▼burnt offering(s): Or holocaust, an offering completely burned to ashes; it was used in connection with worship, seeking God's favor, expiating sin, or averting judgment.
burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed ▼▼fellowship sacrifice(s) or offering(s): An animal offering was given to maintain and strengthen a person's relationship with God. It was not required as a remedy for impurity or sin but was an expression of thanksgiving for various blessings. An important function of this sacrifice was to provide meat for the priests and the participants in the sacrifice; it was also called the peace offering or the sacrifice of well-being.
fellowship offerings on it. 32 There on the stones, Joshua copied the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the Israelites. r 33 All Israel, foreigner and citizen alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark of the Lord’s covenant facing the Levitical priests who carried it. As Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded earlier, half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, s to bless the people of Israel. t 34 Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law – the blessings as well as the curses – according to all that is written in the book of the law. 35There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, the little children, and the foreigners who were with them. u
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