Joshua 8

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Yahweh 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.	1 And the Lord said to Josue: Fear not, nor be thou dismayed: take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, arise and go up to the town of Hai. Behold I have delivered into thy hand the king thereof, and the people, and the city, and the land.
2 You 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.'	2 And thou shalt do to the city of Hai, and to the king thereof, as thou hast done to Jericho, and to the king thereof: but the spoils and all the cattle you shall take for a prey to yourselves: lay an ambush for the city behind it.
3 Joshua 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,	3 And Josue arose, and all the army of the fighting men with him, to go up against Hai: and he sent thirty thousand chosen valiant men in the night,
4 having 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!	4 And commanded them, saying: Lay an ambush behind the city: and go not very far from it: and be ye all ready.
5 I, 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.	5 But I and the rest of the multitude which is with me; will approach on the contrary side against the city. And when they shall come out against us, we will flee, and turn our backs, as we did before:
6 They 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."	6 Till they pursuing us be drawn farther from the city: for they will think that we flee as before.
7 You wil then burst out of your concealed position and seize the town; Yahweh your God wil put it atyour mercy.	7 And whilst we are fleeing, and they pursuing, you shall arise out of the ambush, and shall destroy the city: and the Lord your God will deliver it into our hands.
8 When you have captured the town, set fire to it, in obedience to Yahweh's command. Wel then, theseare my orders.'	8 And when you shall have taken it, set it on fire, and you shall do all things so as I have commanded.
9 Joshua 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,	9 And he sent them away, and they went on to the place of the ambush, and abode between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the city of Hai. But Josue stayed that night in the midst of the people,
10 then, getting up early next morning, reviewed the people and, with the elders of Israel, marched on Aiat their head.	10 And rising early in the morning, he mustered his soldiers, and went up with the ancients in the front of the army environed with the aid of the fighting men.
11 All 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.	11 And when they were come, and were gone up over against the city, they stood on the north side of the city, between which and them there was a valley in the midst.
12 Joshua took about five thousand men and concealed these between Bethel and Ai, to the west of thetown.	12 And he had chosen five thousand men, and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Hai, on the west side of the same city:
13 The 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.	13 But all the rest of the army went in battle array on the north side, so that the last of that multitude reached to the west side of the city. So Josue went that night, and stood in the midst of the valley.
14 The 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.	14 And when the king of Hai saw this, he made haste in the morning, and went out with all the army of the city, and set it in battle array toward the desert, not knowing that there lay an ambush behind his back.
15 Joshua and al Israel pretended to be beaten by them and took to their heels along the road to thedesert.	15 But Josue, and all Israel gave back, making as if they were afraid, and fleeing by the way of the wilderness.
16 All the people in the town joined in the pursuit and, in pursuing Joshua, were drawn away from thetown.	16 But they shouting together, and encouraging one another, pursued them. And when they were come from the city,
17 Not 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.	17 And not one remained in the city of Hai and of Bethel, that did not pursue after Israel, leaving the towns open as they had rushed out,
18 Yahweh 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.	18 The Lord said to Josue: Lift up the shield that is in thy hand, towards the city of Hai, for I will deliver it to thee.
19 No 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.	19 And when he had lifted up his shield towards the city, the ambush that lay hid, rose up immediately: and going to the city, took it and set it on fire.
20 When 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.	20 And the men of the city, that pursued after Josue, looking back and seeing the smoke of the city rise up to heaven, had no more power to flee this way or that way: especially as they that had counterfeited flight, end were going toward the wilderness, turned back most valiantly against them that pursued.
21 For, 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.	21 So Josue and all Israel seeing that the city was taken, and that the smoke of the city rose up, returned and slew the men of Hai.
22 The 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;	22 And they also that had taken and set the city on fire, issuing out of the city to meet their own men, began to cut off the enemies who were surrounded by them. So that the enemies being cut off on both sides, not one of so great a multitude was saved.
23 but the king of Ai was taken alive, and brought to Joshua.	23 And they took the king of the city of Hai alive, and brought him to Josue.
24 When 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.	24 So all being slain that had pursued after Israel in his flight to the wilderness, and tailing by the sword in the same place, the children of Israel returned and laid waste the city.
25 The number of those who fel that day, men and women together, was twelve thousand, al people ofAi.	25 And the number of them that fell that day, both of men and women, was twelve thousand persons all of the city of Hai.
26 Joshua 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.	26 But Josue drew not back his hand, which he had stretched out on high, holding the shield, till all the inhabitants of Hai were slain.
27 For booty, Israel took only the cattle and the spoils of this town, in accordance with the order thatYahweh had given to Joshua.	27 And the children of Israel divided among them the cattle and the prey of the city, as the Lord had commanded Josue.
28 Joshua then burned Ai, making it a ruin for evermore, a desolate place even today.	28 And he burned the city, and made it a heap for ever:
29 He 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.	29 And he hung the king thereof on a gibbet until the evening and the going down of the sun. Then Josue commanded, and they took down his carcass from the gibbet: and threw it in the very entrance of the city, heaping upon it a great heap of stones, which remaineth until this present day.
30 Joshua then built an altar to Yahweh, God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,	30 Then Josue built an altar to the Lord the God of Israel in mount Hebal,
31 as 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 .	31 As Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, and it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of unhewn stones which iron had not touched: and he offered upon it holocausts to the Lord, and immolated victims of peace offerings.
32 There, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which Moses had written in thepresence of the Israelites.	32 And he wrote upon stones the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had ordered before the children of Israel.
33 All 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.	33 And all the people, and the ancients, and the princes and judges stood on both sides of the ark, before the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, both the stranger and he that was born among them, half of them by mount Garizim, and half by mount Hebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. And first he blessed the people of Israel.
34 After this, Joshua read al the words of the Law -- the blessing and the cursing -- exactly as it standswritten in the Book of the Law.	34 After this he read all the words of the blessing and the cursing and all things that were written in the hook of the law.
35 Of 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.	35 He left out nothing of those things which Moses had commanded, but he repeated all before all the people of Israel, with the women and children and strangers that dwelt among them.