Joshua 8

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
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 The LORD then said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid or dismayed. Take all the army with you and prepare to attack Ai. I have delivered the king of Ai into your power, with his people, city, and 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 Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king; except that you may take its spoil and livestock as booty. Set an ambush behind the city."
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 So Joshua and all the soldiers prepared to attack Ai. Picking out thirty thousand warriors, Joshua sent them off by 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 with these orders: "See that you ambush the city from the rear, at no great distance; then all of you be on the watch.
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 The rest of the people and I will come up to the city, and when they make a sortie against us as they did the last time, we will flee from them.
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 They will keep coming out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will think we are fleeing from them as we did the last time. When this occurs,
7 You wil then burst out of your concealed position and seize the town; Yahweh your God wil put it atyour mercy.	7 rise from ambush and take possession of the city, which the LORD, your God, will deliver into your power.
8 When you have captured the town, set fire to it, in obedience to Yahweh's command. Wel then, theseare my orders.'	8 When you have taken the city, set it afire in obedience to the LORD'S command. These are my orders to you."
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 Then Joshua sent them away. They went to the place of ambush, taking up their position to the west of Ai, toward Bethel. Joshua, however, spent that night in the plain.
10 then, getting up early next morning, reviewed the people and, with the elders of Israel, marched on Aiat their head.	10 Early the next morning Joshua mustered the army and went up to Ai at its head, with the elders of Israel.
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 When all the troops he led were drawn up in position before the city, they pitched camp north of Ai, on the other side of the ravine.
12 Joshua took about five thousand men and concealed these between Bethel and Ai, to the west of thetown.	12 (He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the 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 Thus the people took up their stations, with the main body north of the city and the ambush west of it, and Joshua waited overnight among his troops.
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 The king of Ai saw this, and he and all his army came out very early in the morning to engage Israel in battle at the descent toward the Arabah, not knowing that there was an ambush behind the city.
15 Joshua and al Israel pretended to be beaten by them and took to their heels along the road to thedesert.	15 Joshua and the main body of the Israelites fled in seeming defeat toward the desert,
16 All the people in the town joined in the pursuit and, in pursuing Joshua, were drawn away from thetown.	16 till the last of the soldiers in the city had been called out to pursue them.
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 Since they were drawn away from the city, with every man engaged in this pursuit of Joshua and the Israelites, not a soldier remained in Ai (or Bethel), and the city was open and unprotected.
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 Then the LORD directed Joshua, "Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will deliver it into your power." Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city,
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 as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose from their post, rushed in, captured the city, and immediately 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 By the time the men of Ai looked back, the smoke from the city was already sky-high. Escape in any direction was impossible, because the Israelites retreating toward the desert now turned on their pursuers;
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 for when Joshua and the main body of Israelites saw that the city had been taken from ambush and was going up in smoke, they struck back at the men of Ai.
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 Since those in the city came out to intercept them, the men of Ai were hemmed in by Israelites on either side, who cut them down without any fugitives or survivors
23 but the king of Ai was taken alive, and brought to Joshua.	23 except the king, whom they took alive and brought to Joshua.
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 All the inhabitants of Ai who had pursued the Israelites into the desert were slain by the sword there in the open, down to the last man. Then all Israel returned and put to the sword those inside the city.
25 The number of those who fel that day, men and women together, was twelve thousand, al people ofAi.	25 There fell that day a total of twelve thousand men and women, the entire population of Ai.
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 Joshua kept the javelin in his hand stretched out until he had fulfilled the doom on all the inhabitants of Ai.
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 However, the Israelites took for themselves as booty the livestock and the spoil of that city, according to the command of the LORD issued to Joshua.
28 Joshua then burned Ai, making it a ruin for evermore, a desolate place even today.	28 Then Joshua destroyed the place by fire, reducing it to an everlasting mound of ruins, as it remains today.
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 He had the king of Ai hanged on a tree until evening; then at sunset Joshua ordered the body removed from the tree and cast at the entrance of the city gate, where a great heap of stones was piled up over it, which remains to the present day.
30 Joshua then built an altar to Yahweh, God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,	30 Later Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
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 of unhewn stones on which no iron tool had been used, in keeping with the command to the Israelites of Moses, the servant of the LORD, as recorded in the book of the law. On this altar they offered holocausts and peace offerings to the LORD.
32 There, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which Moses had written in thepresence of the Israelites.	32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed upon the stones a copy of the law written by Moses.
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 Israel, stranger and native alike, with their elders, officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark facing the levitical priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. Half of them were facing Mount Gerizim and half Mount Ebal, thus carrying out the instructions of Moses, the servant of the LORD, for the blessing of the people of Israel on this first occasion.
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 Then were read aloud all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, exactly as written in the book 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 Every single word that Moses had commanded, Joshua read aloud to the entire community, including the women and children, and the strangers who had accompanied Israel.