The Book of Joshua

⭑ Catholic Public Domain :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 8 -

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.

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.”

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.

And he instructed them, saying: “Set an ambush behind the city. You shall withdraw not far away, and let everyone be prepared.

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,

until, pursuing us, they are drawn away from the city. For they will think that we are fleeing as before.

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.

And when you have seized it, set it on fire. And you shall do all that I have ordered.”

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.

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.(a)

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.

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.(b)

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.

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.

Yet truly, Joshua, and all of Israel, withdrew from the place, pretending to be afraid, and fleeing along the way of the wilderness.

And they pursued them, shouting together and encouraging one another. And when they had withdrawn from the city,

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,)

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Also, they apprehended the king of the city of Ai, alive, and they brought him before Joshua.

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.

Now there were twelve thousand persons who had fallen on the same day, from man even to woman, the entire city of Ai.

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.

Then the sons of Israel divided among themselves the cattle and the plunder of the city, just as the Lord had instructed Joshua.

And he set fire to the city, and he caused it to be a perpetual tomb.

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.

Joshua Renews the Covenant

(Deuteronomy 27:1–10)

Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

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.

And he wrote on the stones, the Deuteronomy of the law of Moses, which he had set in order before the sons of Israel.

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.

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.

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.

Footnotes

(a)8:10 The troops with Joshua are here called ‘socios’ to distinguish them from Joshua’s other troops, still waiting in the ambush.(Conte)

(b)8:12 Five thousand:These were part of the thirty thousand mentioned above, ver. 3.(Challoner)

The LORD said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land.

You shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king, except you shall take its goods and its livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.”

So Joshua arose, with all the warriors, to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them out by night.

He commanded them, saying, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Don’t go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.

I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. It shall happen, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.

They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city; for they will say, ‘They flee before us, like the first time.’ So we will flee before them,

and you shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city; for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.

It shall be, when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do this according to the LORD’s word. Behold, I have commanded you.”

Joshua sent them out; and they went to set up the ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai on the west side of Ai; but Joshua stayed among the people that night.

Joshua rose up early in the morning, mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

All the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up and came near, and came before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai.

He took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.

So they set the people, even all the army who was on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city; and Joshua went that night into the middle of the valley.

When the king of Ai saw it, they hurried and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he didn’t know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.

All the people who were in the city were called together to pursue after them. They pursued Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.

There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who didn’t go out after Israel. They left the city open, and pursued Israel.

The LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.

The ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand and entered into the city and took it. They hurried and set the city on fire.

When the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. The people who fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.

When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned back and killed the men of Ai.

The others came out of the city against them, so they were in the middle of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. They struck them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.

They captured the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua.

When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.

All that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the people of Ai.

For Joshua didn’t draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

Israel took for themselves only the livestock and the goods of that city, according to the LORD’s word which he commanded Joshua.

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day.

He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. At sundown, Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it that remains to this day.

Joshua Renews the Covenant

(Deuteronomy 27:1–10)

Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

as Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones, on which no one had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.

He wrote there on the stones a copy of Moses’ law, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

All Israel, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the LORD’s covenant, the foreigner as well as the native; half of them in front of Mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.

Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua didn’t read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who were among them.