Joshua 8

₁The Lord said to Joshua: ‘You must not be afraid. Do not worry. Take all the men that can go to war and go to the town of Ai immediately. I will help you win the war_against the king of Ai and his men, against his town and his land. ₂You must do the same to Ai and its king as you did to the city of Jericho and its king, but you may take the plunder and all the animals for yourselves.’

₃Joshua and all the men who could go to war went to Ai immediately. Joshua chose 30 000 men who could go to war and he sent them in the night. ₄He told them: ‘Go and hide behind the town, but you must not be far from the town and you must be ready. ₅Some men and I will go near the town and when they come to attack us like they did before, we will run away from them. ₆They will keep coming to us until they are far from the town, because they will think we are running away from them like we did before. ₇Then you must get up from where you are hiding and you must take the town. The Lord, your God, will help you and you will win. ₈When you have taken the town, you must burn it. The Lord said we must do this and now I am telling you to do it.’

₉Joshua sent the men and they went and hid themselves west of Ai, between the town of Bethel and Ai. That night Joshua slept among his men. ₁₀He got up early in the morning and he told the men to get ready. He and the leaders_of_Israel went to Ai in front of the men. ₁₁All the men who were with Joshua came near the gate of the town. They put their camp north of the town. There was a valley between them and the town of Ai. ₁₂Joshua sent about 5 000 men to hide themselves between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai. ₁₃Joshua and the leaders told the men to be ready to start the war. The big camp was north of the town and the other men were west of the town. That night Joshua went through the valley.

₁₄Immediately when the king of Ai saw the Israelites, the men from the town of Ai got ready and went out to attack the Israelites. The king and his men went to attack the Israelites in the Jordan Valley. He did not know that some of the Israelites were hiding behind the town. ₁₅It looked as if Joshua and all the Israelites had lost the war. They ran away to the desert. ₁₆The king of Ai called all the men who were in the town to come out and to follow_and_chase the Israelites. They went further and further away from the town. ₁₇No man was left in the towns of Bethel and Ai. They all followed_and_chased the Israelites, and they left the gate of the town open. ₁₈Then the Lord said to Joshua: ‘Lift up your spear and point it to Ai, because I am giving the town to you.’

Joshua lifted up his spear and pointed it to the town. ₁₉When he did that, the men who were hiding got up quickly and went into the town. They defeated the town. They took it and immediately set it on fire.

₂₀When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke going up from the town. They tried to run away, but they could not because the Israelites who had run away to the desert turned_around and attacked the men of Ai who had followed_and_chased them. ₂₁Joshua and all the Israelites saw that the men who were hiding had defeated the town and had taken it. They then turned_around and attacked the men of Ai. ₂₂The Israelites who were in the town also came out to attack the men of Ai. There were Israelites in front of the men of Ai and behind them. The Israelites killed all the men of Ai. There was not one who lived or who could run away. ₂₃The Israelites caught the king of Ai and they took him to Joshua. ₂₄The Israelites killed all the people who lived in the town, and also those that they found outside the town and in the desert. None of them stayed alive. Then the Israelites came back to the town of Ai and they defeated the town. ₂₅There were 12 000 men and woman of Ai who died that day. ₂₆Joshua held up his spear in his hand. He did not take it down. He waited until the Israelites had killed all the people in the town. ₂₇The Israelites took all the animals and the plunder of the people of Ai. The Lord had told Joshua that they could take it.

₂₈Joshua burnt the town of Ai. Until today it is a heap of stones and no one lives there. ₂₉Joshua killed the king of Ai by hanging him on a tree. When the sun went down, he told his men to take down the king's body. They did it and they threw the body in front of the town gate and threw a big heap of stones on him. Those stones are still there today.

₃₀Joshua built an altar for the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal. ₃₁The altar was made of stones that had not been cut. Moses had told the Israelites to build altars like this, and it is written in the laws of Moses. The Israelites sacrificed burnt-offerings on the altar and they sacrificed meal-offerings. ₃₂Joshua wrote the laws of Moses onto the stones while the Israelites were looking.

₃₃All the Israelites were there, the leaders, the managers and the judges. They stood on both sides of the covenant box, in front of the Levite priests who had to carry the covenant box of the Lord. There were also strangers with the Israelites. One half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half stood in front of Mount Ebal. Moses, the servant of the Lord, had told them to do this to bless the Israelites. ₃₄Then Joshua read everything that is written in the laws of God about when the Lord will bless or curse people. Joshua read everything that is written about it in the laws of God. ₃₅Joshua read everything that Moses had said to the Israelites. He read every word. He also read it to the women and to the children and the strangers who lived among the Israelites.