Joshua 8:35 - Prayer Tents

Ai

8GOD said to Joshua, "Don't be timid and don't so much as hesitate. Take all your soldiers with you and go back to Ai. I have turned the king of Ai over to you—his people, his city, and his land.H3068H559H3091H3372H2865H3947H5971H4421H6965H5927H5857H7200H5414H3027H4428H5857H5971H5892H776 2"Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may plunder its stuff and cattle to your heart's content. Set an ambush behind the city."H6213H5857H4428H6213H3405H4428H7998H929H962H7760H693H5892H310 3Joshua and all his soldiers got ready to march on Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand men, tough, seasoned fighters, and sent them off at nightH3091H6965H5971H4421H5927H5857H3091H977H7970H505H1368H376H2428H7971H3915 4with these orders: "Look sharp now. Lie in ambush behind the city. Get as close as you can. Stay alert.H6680H559H7200H693H5892H310H5892H7368H3966H7368H5892H3559 5I and the troops with me will approach the city head-on. When they come out to meet us just as before, we'll turn and run.H5971H7126H5892H3318H7125H7223H5127H6440 6They'll come after us, leaving the city. As we are off and running, they'll say, 'They're running away just like the first time.'H3318H310H5423H5892H559H5127H6440H7223H5127H6440 7That's your signal to spring from your ambush and take the city. GOD, your God, will hand it to you on a platter.H6965H693H3423H5892H3068H430H5414H3027 8Once you have the city, burn it down. GOD says it, you do it. Go to it. I've given you your orders."H8610H5892H3341H5892H784H1697H3068H6213H7200H6680 9Joshua sent them off. They set their ambush and waited between Bethel and Ai, just west of Ai. Joshua spent the night with the people.H3091H7971H3212H3993H3427H1008H5857H3220H5857H3091H3885H3915H8432H5971 10Joshua was up early in the morning and mustered his army. He and the leaders of Israel led the troops to Ai.H3091H7925H1242H6485H5971H5927H2205H3478H6440H5971H5857 11The whole army, fighting men all, marched right up within sight of the city and set camp on the north side of Ai. There was a valley between them and Ai.H5971H4421H5927H5066H935H5892H2583H6828H5857H1516H5857 12He had taken about five thousand men and put them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.H3947H2568H505H376H7760H693H1008H5857H3220H5857H5892 13They were all deployed, the main army to the north of the city and the ambush to the west. Joshua spent the night in the valley.H7760H5971H4264H6828H5892H6119H3220H5892H3091H3212H3915H8432H6010 14So it happened that when the king of Ai saw all this, the men of the city lost no time; they were out of there at the crack of dawn to join Israel in battle, the king and his troops, at a field en route to the Arabah. The king didn't know of the ambush set against him behind the city.H4428H5857H7200H4116H7925H582H5892H3318H7125H3478H4421H5971H4150H6440H6160H3045H693H310H5892 15Joshua and all Israel let themselves be chased; they ran toward the wilderness.H3091H3478H5060H6440H5127H1870H4057 16Everybody in the city was called to the chase. They pursued Joshua and were led away from the city.H5971H5857H5892H2199H7291H310H7291H310H3091H5423H5892 17There wasn't a soul left in Ai or Bethel who wasn't out there chasing after Israel. The city was left empty and undefended as they were chasing Israel down.H376H7604H5857H1008H3318H310H3478H5800H5892H6605H7291H3478 18Then GOD spoke to Joshua: "Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai—I'm giving it to you." Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward Ai.H3068H559H3091H5186H3591H3027H5857H5414H3027H3091H5186H3591H3027H5892 19At the signal the men in ambush sprang to their feet, ran to the city, took it, and quickly had it up in flames.H693H6965H4120H4725H7323H5186H3027H935H5892H3920H4116H3341H5892H784 20The men of Ai looked back and, oh! saw the city going up in smoke. They found themselves trapped with nowhere to run.H582H5857H6437H310H7200H6227H5892H5927H8064H3027H5127H2008H5971H5127H4057H2015H7291 21The army on the run toward the wilderness did an about-face—Joshua and all Israel, seeing that the ambush had taken the city, saw it going up in smoke, turned and attacked the men of Ai.H3091H3478H7200H693H3920H5892H6227H5892H5927H7725H5221H582H5857 22Then the men in the ambush poured out of the city. The men of Ai were caught in the middle with Israelites on both sides—a real massacre. And not a single survivor.H428H3318H5892H7125H8432H3478H5221H5704H7604H8300H6412 23Except for the king of Ai; they took him alive and brought him to Joshua.H4428H5857H8610H2416H7126H3091 24When it was all over, Israel had killed everyone in Ai, whether in the fields or in the wilderness where they had chased them. When the killing was complete, the Israelites returned to Ai and completed the devastation.H3478H3615H2026H3427H5857H7704H4057H7291H5307H6310H2719H8552H3478H7725H5857H5221H6310H2719 25The death toll that day came to 12,000 men and women—everyone in Ai.H5307H3117H376H802H8147H6240H505H582H5857 26Joshua didn't lower his outstretched javelin until the sacred destruction of Ai and all its people was completed.H3091H7725H3027H7725H5186H3591H2763H3427H5857 27Israel did get to take the livestock and loot left in the city; GOD's instructions to Joshua allowed for that.H929H7998H5892H3478H962H1697H3068H6680H3091 28Joshua burned Ai to the ground. A "heap" of nothing forever, a "no-place"—go see for yourself.H3091H8313H5857H7760H8510H5769H8077H3117 29He hanged the king of Ai from a tree. At evening, with the sun going down, Joshua ordered the corpse cut down. They dumped it at the entrance to the city and piled it high with stones—you can go see that also.H4428H5857H8518H6086H6256H6153H8121H935H3091H6680H3381H5038H3381H6086H7993H6607H8179H5892H6965H1419H1530H68H3117 30Then Joshua built an altar to the GOD of Israel on Mount Ebal.H3091H1129H4196H3068H430H3478H2022H5858 31He built it following the instructions of Moses the servant of GOD to the People of Israel and written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses, an altar of whole stones that hadn't been chiseled or shaped by an iron tool. On it they offered to GOD Whole-Burnt-Offerings and sacrificed Peace-Offerings.H4872H5650H3068H6680H1121H3478H3789H5612H8451H4872H4196H8003H68H5130H1270H5927H5930H3068H2076H8002 32He also wrote out a copy of The Revelation of Moses on the stones. He wrote it with the People of Israel looking on.H3789H68H4932H8451H4872H3789H6440H1121H3478 33All Israel was there, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, standing on opposite sides of the Chest, facing the Levitical priests who carry GOD's Covenant Chest. Half of the people stood with their backs to Mount Gerizim and half with their backs to Mount Ebal to bless the People of Israel, just as Moses the servant of GOD had instructed earlier.H3478H2205H7860H8199H5975H727H3548H3881H5375H727H1285H3068H1616H249H2677H413H4136H2022H1630H2677H4136H2022H5858H4872H5650H3068H6680H7223H1288H5971H3478 34After that, he read out everything written in The Revelation, the Blessing and the Curse, everything in the Book of The Revelation.H310H7121H1697H8451H1293H7045H3789H5612H8451 35There wasn't a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua didn't read to the entire congregation—men, women, children, and foreigners who had been with them on the journey.H1697H4872H6680H3091H7121H6951H3478H802H2945H1616H1980H7130