Scrutatio

Venerdi, 29 marzo 2024 - Santi Simplicio e Costantino ( Letture di oggi)

Joshua 8


font

1Yahweh then said to Joshua, 'Be fearless and undaunted. Take all your fighting men with you. Up!March against Ai. Look, I have put the king of Ai, his people, his town and his territory at your mercy.2You must treat Ai and its king as you treated Jericho and its king. The only booty you wil take are thespoils and the cattle. Take up a concealed position by the town, to the rear of it.'3Joshua set out to march against Ai with all the fighting men. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the bravestand sent them out under cover of dark,4having given them these orders, 'Pay attention! You must take up a concealed position by the town, atthe rear, not very far from the town, and be sure you all keep alert!5I, and the whole people with me, shal advance on the town, and when the people of Ai come out toengage us as they did the first time, we shal run away from them.6They wil then give chase, and we shal draw them away from the town, since they wil think, "They arerunning away from us as they did the first time."7You wil then burst out of your concealed position and seize the town; Yahweh your God wil put it atyour mercy.8When you have captured the town, set fire to it, in obedience to Yahweh's command. Wel then, theseare my orders.'9Joshua sent them off, and they made their way to the place of ambush and took up position betweenBethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent the night with the people,10then, getting up early next morning, reviewed the people and, with the elders of Israel, marched on Aiat their head.11All the warriors marching with him advanced on the front of the town and pitched camp north of Ai, withthe val ey between them and the town.12Joshua took about five thousand men and concealed these between Bethel and Ai, to the west of thetown.13The people pitched the main camp to the north of the town and set up its ambush to the west of thetown. Joshua went that night into the middle of the plain.14The king of Ai had seen this; the people of the town got up early and hurried out, so that he and al hispeople could engage Israel in battle on the slope facing the Arabah; but he did not know that an ambush hadbeen laid for him to the rear of the town.15Joshua and al Israel pretended to be beaten by them and took to their heels along the road to thedesert.16All the people in the town joined in the pursuit and, in pursuing Joshua, were drawn away from thetown.17Not a man was left in Ai (nor in Bethel), who had not gone in pursuit of Israel; and in pursuing Israelthey left the town undefended.18Yahweh then said to Joshua, 'Point the sabre in your hand at Ai; for I am about to put the town at yourmercy.' Joshua pointed the sabre in his hand towards the town.19No sooner had he stretched out his hand than the men in ambush burst from their position, ranforward, entered the town, captured it and quickly set it on fire.20When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from the town into the sky. None of them hadthe courage to run in any direction, for the people fleeing towards the desert turned back on their pursuers.21For, once Joshua and al Israel saw that the town had been seized by the men in ambush, and thatsmoke was rising from the town, they turned about and attacked the men of Ai.22The others came out from the town to engage them too, and the men of Ai were thus surrounded byIsraelites, some on this side and some on that. The Israelites struck them down until not one was left alive andnone to flee;23but the king of Ai was taken alive, and brought to Joshua.24When Israel had finished kil ing al the inhabitants of Ai in the open ground, and in the desert wherethey had pursued them, and when every single one had fal en to the sword, al Israel returned to Ai andslaughtered its remaining population.25The number of those who fel that day, men and women together, was twelve thousand, al people ofAi.26Joshua did not draw back the hand with which he had pointed the sabre until he had subjected al theinhabitants of Ai to the curse of destruction.27For booty, Israel took only the cattle and the spoils of this town, in accordance with the order thatYahweh had given to Joshua.28Joshua then burned Ai, making it a ruin for evermore, a desolate place even today.29He hanged the king of Ai from a tree til evening; but at sunset Joshua ordered his body to be takendown from the tree. It was then thrown down at the entrance to the town gate and on top of it was raised a greatmound of stones, which is stil there today.30Joshua then built an altar to Yahweh, God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,31as Moses, servant of Yahweh, had ordered the Israelites, as is written in the law of Moses: an altar ofundressed stones, on which no iron has been used. On this they presented burnt offerings to Yahweh andcommunion sacrifices as wel .32There, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which Moses had written in thepresence of the Israelites.33All Israel, with their elders, their officials and their judges, stood on either side of the ark, facing thelevitical priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, foreigners with the native-born, half ofthem on the upper slopes of Mount Gerizim, and half of them on the upper slopes of Mount Ebal, as Moses,servant of Yahweh, had originally ordered for the blessing of the people of Israel.34After this, Joshua read al the words of the Law -- the blessing and the cursing -- exactly as it standswritten in the Book of the Law.35Of every word laid down by Moses, not one was left unread by Joshua in the presence of the wholeassembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners living with them.