8 And the LORD said unto
Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with
thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of
Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: 2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king
as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the
cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush
for the city behind it. 3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of
war, to go up against Ai: and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men
of valour, and sent them away by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying, Behold,
ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very
far from the city, but be ye all ready: 5 And I, and all the people that are with
me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come
out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them, 6 (For they will come out after us) till
we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us,
as at the first: therefore we will flee before them. 7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush,
and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your
hand. 8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the
city, that ye shall set the city on fire: according to the commandment of
the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you. 9 Joshua therefore sent them forth: and
they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west
side of Ai: but Joshua lodged that night among the people. 10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning,
and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before
the people to Ai. 11 And all the people, even the people
of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh, and came before the city,
and pitched on the north side of Ai: now there was a valley between them
and Ai. 12 And he took about five thousand men,
and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of
the city. 13 And when they had set the people, even
all the host that was on the north of the city, and their liers in wait
on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. 14 And it came to pass, when the king of
Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early, and the men of the city went
out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed,
before the plain; but he wist not that there were liers in ambush against
him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if
they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 And all the people that were in Ai were
called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and
were drawn away from the city. 17 And there was not a man left in Ai or
Bethel, that went not out after Israel: and they left the city open, and
pursued after Israel.
18 And the LORD
said unto Joshua, Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai; for
I will give it into thine hand. And Joshua stretched out the spear that
he had in his hand toward the city. 19 And the ambush arose quickly out of
their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand: and
they entered into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on
fire. 20 And 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: and the people that
fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that
the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended,
then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai. 22 And the other issued out of the city
against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and
some on that side: and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain
or escape. 23 And the king of Ai they took alive,
and brought him to Joshua. 24 And it came to pass, when Israel had
made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness
wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the
sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai,
and smote it with the edge of the sword. 25 And so it was, that all that fell that
day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. 26 For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith
he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants
of Ai. 27 Only the cattle and the spoil of that
city Israel took for a prey unto themselves, according unto the word of
the LORD which he commanded Joshua. 28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an
heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day. 29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree
until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they
should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering
of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that
remaineth unto this day. 30 Then Joshua built an altar unto the
LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal, 31 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 whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they
offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And he wrote there upon the stones a
copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children
of Israel. 33 And all Israel, and their elders, and
officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side
before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the
LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them
over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as
Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless
the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words
of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written
in the book of the law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses
commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel,
with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant
among them.