Joshua 8

Chapter 8

The Israelites Defeat Ai

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.

2 You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the town.”
3 So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night4 with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action.5 When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them.6 We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then, while we are running from them,7 you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the LORD your God will give it to you.

8 Set the town on fire, as the LORD has commanded. You have your orders.”
9 So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night.10 Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel.11 All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town and camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the town.12 That night Joshua sent 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town.

13 So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley.t But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town.15 Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten.16 Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town.

17 There was not a man left in Ai or Bethelt who did not chase after the Israelites, and the town was left wide open.
18 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.” Joshua did as he was commanded.

19 As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.
20 When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers.21 When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai.22 Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped.

23 Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.
24 When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of Ai in the open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside.25 So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day—12,000 in all.26 For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed.t27 Only the livestock and the treasures of the town were not destroyed, for the Israelites kept these as plunder for themselves, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.

28 So Joshua burned the town of Ai,t and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day.

29 Joshua impaled the king of Ai on a sharpened pole and left him there until evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body, as Joshua commanded, and threw it in front of the town gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still be seen today.

The LORD’s Covenant Renewed

30 Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.31 He followed the commands that Moses the LORD’s servant had written in the Book of Instruction: “Make me an altar from stones that are uncut and have not been shaped with iron tools.”t Then on the altar they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD.

32 And as the Israelites watched, Joshua copied onto the stones of the altart the instructions Moses had given them.

33 Then all the Israelites—foreigners and native-born alike—along with the elders, officers, and judges, were divided into two groups. One group stood in front of Mount Gerizim, the other in front of Mount Ebal. Each group faced the other, and between them stood the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant. This was all done according to the commands that Moses, the servant of the LORD, had previously given for blessing the people of Israel.
34 Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction.

35 Every word of every command that Moses had ever given was read to the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and children and the foreigners who lived among them.

JOSHUA 8

Israel Destroys //the Town of Ai

1-2 The [Lord] told Joshua:
Don't be afraid, and don't be discouraged by what happened at the town of Ai. Take the army and attack again. But first, order part of the army to set up an ambush on the other side of the town. I will help you defeat the king of Ai and his army, and you will capture the town and the land around it. Destroy Ai and kill its king as you did at Jericho. But you may keep the livestock and everything else you want.

3-4 Joshua quickly got the army ready to attack Ai. He chose 30,000 of his best soldiers and gave them these orders:
Tonight, while it is dark, march to Ai and take up a position behind the town. Get as close to the town as you can without being seen, and be ready to attack.
5-6 The rest of the army will come with me and attack near the gate. When the people of Ai come out to fight, we'll run away and let them chase us. They will think we are running from them just like the first time. But when we've let them chase us far enough away, 7 you come out of hiding. The [Lord] our God will help you capture the town. 8 Then set it on fire, as the [Lord] has told us to do. Those are your orders,

9 now go!
The 30,000 soldiers went to a place on the west side of Ai, between Ai and Bethel, where they could hide and wait to attack.
That night, Joshua stayed in camp with the rest of the army. 10 Early the next morning he got his troops ready to move out, and he and the other leaders of Israel led them to Ai. 11 They set up camp in full view of the town, across the valley to the north. 12 Joshua had already sent 5,000 soldiers to the west side of the town to hide and wait to attack.

13 Now all his troops were in place. Part of the army was in the camp to the north of Ai, and the others were hiding to the west, ready to make a surprise attack. That night, Joshua went into the valley.t

14-15 The king of Ai saw Joshua's army, so the king and his troops hurried out early the next morning to fight them. Joshua and his army pretended to be beaten, and they let the men of Ai chase them toward the desert. The king and his army were facing the Jordan valley as Joshua had planned.
The king did not realize that some Israelite soldiers were hiding behind the town.

16-17 So he called out every man in Ai to go after Joshua's troops. They all rushed out to chase the Israelite army, and they left the town gates wide open. Not one man was left in Ai or in Bethel.t
Joshua let the men of Ai chase him and his army farther and farther away from Ai.

18 Finally, the [Lord] told Joshua, “Point your swordt at the town of Ai, because now I am going to help you defeat it!”
As soon as Joshua pointed his sword at the town,

19 the soldiers who had been hiding jumped up and ran into the town. They captured it and set it on fire.

20-21 When Joshua and his troops saw smoke rising from the town, they knew that the other part of their army had captured it. So they turned and attacked.
The men of Ai looked back and saw smoke rising from their town. But they could not escape, because the soldiers they had been chasing had suddenly turned and started fighting.

22-24 Meanwhile, the other Israelite soldiers had come from the town and attacked the men of Ai from the rear. The Israelites captured the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua. They also chased the rest of the men of Ai into the desert and killed them.t
The Israelite army went back to Ai and killed everyone there. 25-26 Joshua kept his sword pointed at the town of Ai until every last one of Ai's 12,000 people was dead.

27 But the Israelites took the animals and the other possessions of the people of Ai, because this was what the [Lord] had told Joshua to do.

28-29 Joshua made sure every building in Ai was burned to the ground. He told his men to kill the king of Ai and hang his body on a tree. Then at sunset he told the Israelites to take down the body, t throw it in the gateway of the town, and cover it with a big pile of rocks. Those rocks are still there, and the town itself has never been rebuilt.

Joshua Reads the Blessings //and Curses

(Deuteronomy 27.1-26)

30-32  t One day, Joshua led the people of Israel to Mount Ebal, where he told some of his men, “Build an altar for offering sacrifices to the [Lord]. And use stones that have never been cut with iron tools, t because that is what Moses taught in The Book of the Law.”t
Joshua offered sacrifices to please the [Lord]t and to ask his blessing.t Then with the Israelites still watching, he copied parts of The Book of the Lawt of Moses onto stones.
33-35  t Moses had said that everyone in Israel was to go to the valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, where they were to be blessed. So everyone went there, including the foreigners, the leaders, officials, and judges. Half of the people stood on one side of the valley, and half on the other side, with the priests from the Levi tribe standing in the middle with the sacred chest. Then in a loud voice, Joshua read the blessings and curses from The Book of the Lawt of Moses.t