Joshua 8

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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 Then the Lord said to Joshua: “You should not fear, and you should not dread. Take with you the entire multitude of fighters, and rising up, ascend to the town of Ai. Behold, I have delivered into your hand its king and 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 you shall do to the city of Ai, and to its king, just as you did to Jericho, and to its king. Yet truly, the spoils, and all the living things, you shall plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush against 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 Joshua rose up, and the entire army of warriors with him, so that they might ascend against Ai. And he sent thirty thousand elect strong 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 he instructed them, saying: “Set an ambush behind the city. You shall withdraw not far away, and let everyone be prepared.
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 remainder of the multitude that is with me will approach from the opposite side of the city. And when they come out against us, we will flee and turn our backs, just 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 until, pursuing us, they are drawn away from the city. For they will think that we are fleeing 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 Then, while we are fleeing and they are pursuing, you shall rise up from the ambush, and you shall lay waste to the city. And the Lord your God will deliver it into your 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 have seized it, set it on fire. And you shall do all that I have ordered.”
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 traveled to the place of the ambush, and they settled between Bethel and Ai, toward the western region of the city of Ai. But Joshua remained for 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 at first light, he reviewed his troops, and he went up, with the elders at the front of the army, surrounded by an auxiliary of fighters.
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 had arrived, and had ascended from the opposite side of the city, they stood toward the northern region of the city. And there was a valley in the middle, between them and the city.
12 Joshua took about five thousand men and concealed these between Bethel and Ai, to the west of thetown.	12 Now he had chosen five thousand men, and he had positioned them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, at the western part 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 Yet truly, all the remainder of the army was arranged in a line to the north, so that the very end of that multitude reached to the western region of the city. Then Joshua went out that night, and he stood in the middle 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 Ai had seen this, he hurried in the morning, and he went out with the entire army of the city. And he arranged them in a line opposite the desert, not knowing that an ambush lay hidden 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 Yet truly, Joshua, and all of Israel, withdrew from the place, pretending to be afraid, and fleeing along 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 And they pursued them, shouting together and encouraging one another. And when they had withdrawn 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 indeed not one remained in the city of Ai and of Bethel who did not pursue after Israel, (leaving the towns open after 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 Joshua: “Lift up the shield that is in your hand, toward the city of Ai. For I will deliver it to you.”
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 the shield toward the city, the ambush, which lay hidden, rose up quickly. And advancing to the city, they seized 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 Now the men of the city who were pursuing Joshua, looking back and seeing the smoke of the city rising up even to heaven, were no longer able to flee in one direction or another, especially since those who had pretended to flee, and who were heading toward the wilderness, had turned back very strongly against those who were pursuing them.
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 And Joshua, and all of Israel, seeing that the city had been captured, and that the smoke of the city was ascending, returned and struck down 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 Then too, those who had seized and set the city on fire, departing from the city toward their own men, began to strike the enemies in the middle. Therefore, since the adversaries were cut off from both sides, none of so great a multitude was saved.
23 but the king of Ai was taken alive, and brought to Joshua.	23 Also, they apprehended the king of the city of Ai, alive, and they brought him before 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 And so, after all were slain who had pursued Israel fleeing toward the wilderness, and after they fell by the sword in the same place, the sons of Israel returned and struck the city.
25 The number of those who fel that day, men and women together, was twelve thousand, al people ofAi.	25 Now there were twelve thousand persons who had fallen on the same day, from man even to woman, the entire city 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 Truly Joshua did not draw back his hand, which he had stretched out on high, keeping hold of the shield until all the inhabitants of Ai were put to death.
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 Then the sons of Israel divided among themselves the cattle and the plunder of the city, just as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
28 Joshua then burned Ai, making it a ruin for evermore, a desolate place even today.	28 And he set fire to the city, and he caused it to be a perpetual tomb.
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 Also, he suspended the king on a gallows, until evening and the setting of the sun. And Joshua instructed, and they took down his dead body from the hanging tree. And they cast it at the very entrance of the city, gathering a great pile of stones upon it, which remains even to the present day.
30 Joshua then built an altar to Yahweh, God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,	30 Then 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 just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had instructed to the sons of Israel, and this was written in the book of the law of Moses: truly, an altar of uncut stones, which iron has not touched. And he offered holocausts upon it to the Lord, and he immolated victims as 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 on the stones, the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had set in order before the sons 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 Then all the people, and those greater by birth, and the commanders and judges were standing on both sides of the ark, in the sight of the priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, with both the new arrival and the native born, one half part of them beside Mount Gerizim, and one half beside Mount Ebal, just as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had instructed. And first, certainly, 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 the things that were 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 He left nothing untouched out of those things that Moses had ordered, and he repeated everything before the entire multitude of Israel, with the women and the little ones, and the new arrivals who were staying among them.