Joshua 8:35 - Prayer Tents

Conquest of Ai

8The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole military force with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land.H3068H559H3091H3372H2865H3947H5971H4421H6965H5927H5857H7200H5414H3027H4428H5857H5971H5892H776

2Treat Ai and its king as you did Jericho and its king; you may plunder its spoil and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city."H6213H5857H4428H6213H3405H4428H7998H929H962H7760H693H5892H310

3So Joshua and the whole military force set out to attack Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 fighting men and sent them out at night.H3091H6965H5971H4421H5927H5857H3091H977H7970H505H1368H376H2428H7971H3915

4He commanded them: "Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready.H6680H559H7200H693H5892H310H5892H7368H3966H7368H5892H3559

5Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.H5971H7126H5892H3318H7125H7223H5127H6440

6They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, 'They are fleeing from us as before.' While we are fleeing from them,H3318H310H5423H5892H559H5127H6440H7223H5127H6440

7you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God has handed it over to you.H6965H693H3423H5892H3068H430H5414H3027

8After taking the city, set it on fire. Follow the LORD's command— see [that you do] as I have ordered you."H8610H5892H3341H5892H784H1697H3068H6213H7200H6680

9So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.H3091H7971H3212H3993H3427H1008H5857H3220H5857H3091H3885H3915H8432H5971

10Joshua started early the next morning and mobilized them. Then he and the elders of Israel led the troops up to Ai.H3091H7925H1242H6485H5971H5927H2205H3478H6440H5971H5857

11All those who were with him went up and approached the city, arriving opposite Ai, and camped to the north of it, with a valley between them and the city.H5971H4421H5927H5066H935H5892H2583H6828H5857H1516H5857

12Now Joshua had taken about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.H3947H2568H505H376H7760H693H1008H5857H3220H5857H5892

13The military force was stationed in this way: the main camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.H7760H5971H4264H6828H5892H6119H3220H5892H3091H3212H3915H8432H6010

14When the king of Ai saw [the Israelites], the men of the city hurried and went out early in the morning, so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle at a suitable place facing the plain [of the Jordan]. But he did not know there was an ambush [waiting] for him behind the city.H4428H5857H7200H4116H7925H582H5892H3318H7125H3478H4421H5971H4150H6440H6160H3045H693H310H5892

15Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten back by them and fled toward the wilderness.H3091H3478H5060H6440H5127H1870H4057

16Then all the troops of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.H5971H5857H5892H2199H7291H310H7291H310H3091H5423H5892

17Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city exposed while they pursued Israel.H376H7604H5857H1008H3318H310H3478H5800H5892H6605H7291H3478

18Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Hold out the sword in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the city over to you." So Joshua held out his sword toward it.H3068H559H3091H5186H3591H3027H5857H5414H3027H3091H5186H3591H3027H5892

19When he held out his hand, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They ran, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.H693H6965H4120H4725H7323H5186H3027H935H5892H3920H4116H3341H5892H784

20The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers.H582H5857H6437H310H7200H6227H5892H5927H8064H3027H5127H2008H5971H5127H4057H2015H7291

21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the [men in] ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.H3091H3478H7200H693H3920H5892H6227H5892H5927H7725H5221H582H5857

22The men in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were [trapped] between the Israelite forces, some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained,H428H3318H5892H7125H8432H3478H5221H5704H7604H8300H6412

23but they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.H4428H5857H8610H2416H7126H3091

24When Israel had finished killing everyone living in Ai who had pursued them into the open country, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the sword.H3478H3615H2026H3427H5857H7704H4057H7291H5307H6310H2719H8552H3478H7725H5857H5221H6310H2719

25The total of those who fell that day, both men and women, was 12,000— all the people of Ai.H5307H3117H376H802H8147H6240H505H582H5857

26Joshua did not draw back his hand that was holding the sword until all the inhabitants of Ai were completely destroyed.H3091H7725H3027H7725H5186H3591H2763H3427H5857

27Israel plundered only the cattle and spoil of that city for themselves, according to the LORD's command that He had given Joshua.H929H7998H5892H3478H962H1697H3068H6680H3091

28Joshua burned Ai and left it a permanent ruin, desolate to this day.H3091H8313H5857H7760H8510H5769H8077H3117

29He hung [the body of] the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take his body down from the tree. They threw it down at the entrance of the city gate and put a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.H4428H5857H8518H6086H6256H6153H8121H935H3091H6680H3381H5038H3381H6086H7993H6607H8179H5892H6965H1419H1530H68H3117

Renewed Commitment to the Law

30At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,H3091H1129H4196H3068H430H3478H2022H5858

31just as Moses the LORD's servant had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used. Then they offered burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed fellowship offerings on it.H4872H5650H3068H6680H1121H3478H3789H5612H8451H4872H4196H8003H68H5130H1270H5927H5930H3068H2076H8002

32There on the stones, Joshua copied the law of Moses, which he had written in the presence of the Israelites.H3789H68H4932H8451H4872H3789H6440H1121H3478

33All Israel, foreigner and citizen alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark of the LORD's covenant facing the Levitical priests who carried it. As Moses the LORD's servant had commanded earlier, half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, to bless the people of Israel.H3478H2205H7860H8199H5975H727H3548H3881H5375H727H1285H3068H1616H249H2677H413H4136H2022H1630H2677H4136H2022H5858H4872H5650H3068H6680H7223H1288H5971H3478

34Afterwards, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law— the blessings as well as the curses— according to all that is written in the book of the law.H310H7121H1697H8451H1293H7045H3789H5612H8451

35There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, little children, and foreigners who were with them.H1697H4872H6680H3091H7121H6951H3478H802H2945H1616H1980H7130