8AND THE Lord said to Joshua, Fear not nor be dismayed. Take all the men of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.H3068H559H3091H3372H2865H3947H5971H4421H6965H5927H5857H7200H5414H3027H4428H5857H5971H5892H776 2And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that its spoil and its cattle [this time] you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city behind it.H6213H5857H4428H6213H3405H4428H7998H929H962H7760H693H5892H310 3So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; [he] chose thirty thousand mighty men of strength and sent them forth by night.H3091H6965H5971H4421H5927H5857H3091H977H7970H505H1368H376H2428H7971H3915 4And he commanded them, Behold, you shall lie in wait against the city behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready.H6680H559H7200H693H5892H310H5892H7368H3966H7368H5892H3559 5And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us, as the first time, we will flee before themH5971H7126H5892H3318H7125H7223H5127H6440 6Till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, They are fleeing from us as before. So we will flee before them.H3318H310H5423H5892H559H5127H6440H7223H5127H6440 7Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.H6965H693H3423H5892H3068H430H5414H3027 8When you have taken the city, you shall set it afire; as the Lord commanded, you shall do. See, I have commanded you.H8610H5892H3341H5892H784H1697H3068H6213H7200H6680 9So Joshua sent them forth, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.H3091H7971H3212H3993H3427H1008H5857H3220H5857H3091H3885H3915H8432H5971 10Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the men, and went up with the elders of Israel before the warriors to Ai.H3091H7925H1242H6485H5971H5927H2205H3478H6440H5971H5857 11And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of [it], with a ravine between them and Ai.H5971H4421H5927H5066H935H5892H2583H6828H5857H1516H5857 12And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.H3947H2568H505H376H7760H693H1008H5857H3220H5857H5892 13So they stationed all the army--the main encampment that was north of the city and their men in ambush behind {and} on the west of the city--and Joshua went that night into the midst of the ravine.H7760H5971H4264H6828H5892H6119H3220H5892H3091H3212H3915H8432H6010 14When the king [and people] of Ai saw it, they hastily rose early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle [at a time and place appointed] before the Arabah [plain]. But he did not know of the ambush against him behind the city.H4428H5857H7200H4116H7925H582H5892H3318H7125H3478H4421H5971H4150H6440H6160H3045H693H310H5892 15And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten by them, and fled toward the wilderness.H3091H3478H5060H6440H5127H1870H4057 16So all the people in Ai were called together 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 open, they pursued Israel.H376H7604H5857H1008H3318H310H3478H5800H5892H6605H7291H3478 18Then the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand. So Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city.H3068H559H3091H5186H3591H3027H5857H5414H3027H3091H5186H3591H3027H5892 19The men in the ambush arose quickly out of their place and ran when he stretched out his hand; and they entered the city and took it, and then hastened and set it afire.H693H6965H4120H4725H7323H5186H3027H935H5892H3920H4116H3341H5892H784 20When the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to the heavens, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. Then the Israelites who fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.H582H5857H6437H310H7200H6227H5892H5927H8064H3027H5127H2008H5971H5127H4057H2015H7291 21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city went up, they turned again and slew the men of Ai.H3091H3478H7200H693H3920H5892H6227H5892H5927H7725H5221H582H5857 22And the others came forth out of the city against them [of Ai], so that they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And [the Israelites] smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.H428H3318H5892H7125H8432H3478H5221H5704H7604H8300H6412 23But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.H4428H5857H8610H2416H7126H3091 24When Israel had finished slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field and in the wilderness into which they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the sword until they were consumed, then all the Israelites returned to Ai and smote it with the sword.H3478H3615H2026H3427H5857H7704H4057H7291H5307H6310H2719H8552H3478H7725H5857H5221H6310H2719 25And all that fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, including all the men of Ai.H5307H3117H376H802H8147H6240H505H582H5857 26For Joshua drew not back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.H3091H7725H3027H7725H5186H3591H2763H3427H5857 27Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lord which He commanded Joshua.H929H7998H5892H3478H962H1697H3068H6680H3091 28So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap of ruins for ever, even a desolation to this day.H3091H8313H5857H7760H8510H5769H8077H3117 29And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset, Joshua commanded and they took the body down from the tree and cast it at the entrance of the city gate and raised a great heap of stones over it that is there to this day.H4428H5857H8518H6086H6256H6153H8121H935H3091H6680H3381H5038H3381H6086H7993H6607H8179H5892H6965H1419H1530H68H3117 30Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,H3091H1129H4196H3068H430H3478H2022H5858 31As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man has lifted up an iron tool; and they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings.H4872H5650H3068H6680H1121H3478H3789H5612H8451H4872H4196H8003H68H5130H1270H5927H5930H3068H2076H8002 32And there, in the presence of the Israelites, [Joshua] wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses.H3789H68H4932H8451H4872H3789H6440H1121H3478 33And all Israel, sojourner as well as he who was born among them, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, 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 before that they should bless the Israelites.H3478H2205H7860H8199H5975H727H3548H3881H5375H727H1285H3068H1616H249H2677H413H4136H2022H1630H2677H4136H2022H5858H4872H5650H3068H6680H7223H1288H5971H3478 34Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, all that is written in the Book of the Law.H310H7121H1697H8451H1293H7045H3789H5612H8451 35There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and little ones, and the foreigners who were living among them.H1697H4872H6680H3091H7121H6951H3478H802H2945H1616H1980H7130
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