The Conquest of Ai

1After, the Lord saide vnto Ioshua, Feare not, neither bee thou faint hearted: take all the men of warre with thee and arise, go vp to Ai: beholde, I haue giuen into thine hand the King of Ai, and his people, and his citie, and his land. 2And thou shalt doe to Ai and to the King thereof, as thou didst vnto Iericho and to the King thereof: neuerthelesse the spoyle thereof and the cattell thereof shall ye take vnto you for a praye: thou shalt lye in wait against the citie on the backside thereof.

3Then Ioshua arose, and all the men of warre to goe vp against Ai: and Ioshua chose out thirtie thousand strong men, and valiant, and sent them away by night. 4And he commanded them, saying, Behold, yee shall lye in waite against the citie on the backeside of the citie: goe not very farre from the citie, but be ye all in a readinesse. 5And I and all the people that are with me, will approche vnto the citie: and when they shall come out against vs, as they did at the first time, then will we flee before them. 6For they wil come out after vs, till we haue brought them out of the citie: for they will say, They flee before vs as at the first time: so we will flee before them. 7Then you shall rise vp from lying in waite and destroy the citie: for the Lord your God wil deliuer it into your hand. 8And when ye haue taken the citie, ye shall set it on fire: according to the commandement of the Lord shall ye do: behold, I haue charged you. 9Ioshua then sent them foorth, and they went to lye in waite, and abode betweene Beth-el and Ai, on the Westside of Ai: but Ioshua lodged that night among the people.

10And Ioshua rose vp early in the morning, and nombred the people: and he and the Elders of Israel went vp before the people against Ai. 11Also all the men of warre that were with him went vp and drewe neere, and came against the citie, and pitched on the Northside of Ai: and there was a valley betweene them and Ai. 12And hee tooke about fiue thousande men, and set them to lye in waite betweene Beth-el and Ai, on the Westside of the citie. 13And the people set all the hoste that was on the Northside against the citie, and the liers in waite on the West, against the citie: and Ioshua went the same night into the mids of the valley. 14And when the King of Ai sawe it, then the men of the citie hasted and rose vp earely, and went out against Israel to battell, hee and all his people at the time appointed, before the plaine: for he knew not that any lay in waite against him on the backeside of the citie. 15Then Ioshua and all Israel as beaten before them, fled by the way of the wildernes. 16And all the people of the citie were called together, to pursue after them: and they pursued after Ioshua, & were drawen away out of the city, 17So that there was not a man left in Ai, nor in Beth-el, that went not out after Israel: and they left the citie open, and pursued after Israel.

18Then the Lord said vnto Ioshua, Stretch out the speare that is in thine hande, towarde Ai: for I wil giue it into thine hand: and Ioshua stretched out the speare that hee had in his hand, toward the citie. 19And they that lay in wait, arose quickly out of their place, and ranne as soone as he had stretched out his hand, and they entred into the citie, and tooke it, and hasted, and set the citie on fire. 20And the men of Ai looked behinde them, and sawe it: for loe, the smoke of the citie ascended vp to heauen, and they had no power to flee this way or that way: for the people that fled to the wildernesse, turned backe vpon the pursuers. 21When Ioshua and all Israel sawe that they that lay in waite, had taken the citie, and that the smoke of the citie mounted vp, then they turned againe and slewe the men of Ai. 22Also the other issued out of the citie against them: so were they in the middes of Israel, these being on the one side, and the rest on the other side: and they slewe them, so that they let none of them remaine nor escape. 23And the King of Ai they tooke aliue, and brought him to Ioshua.

24And when Israel had made an ende of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the fielde, that is, in the wildernesse, where they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sworde, vntill they were consumed, all the Israelites returned vnto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sworde. 25And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelue thousande, euen all the men of Ai. 26For Ioshua drewe not his hande backe againe which he had stretched out with the speare, vntill hee had vtterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. 27Onely the cattell and the spoyle of this citie, Israel tooke for a praye vnto themselues, according vnto the worde of the Lorde, which hee commaunded Ioshua. 28And Ioshua burnt Ai, and made it an heape for euer, and a wildernes vnto this day. 29And the King of Ai hee hanged on a tree, vnto the euening; as soone as the sunne was down, Ioshua commanded that they should take his carkeis downe from the tree, and cast it at the entring of ye gate of the city, & lay thereon a great heape of stones, that remaineth vnto this day.

Joshua Renews the Covenant
(Deuteronomy 27:1–10)

30Then Ioshua built an altar vnto the Lord God of Israel, in mount Ebal, 31As Moses the seruant of the Lord had commaunded the children of Israel, as it is written in the booke of the Lawe of Moses, an altar of whole stone, ouer which no man had lift an yron: and they offered thereon burnt offrings vnto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. 32Also he wrote there vpon the stones, a rehearsall of the Lawe of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. 33And all Israel (and their Elders, and officers and their iudges stoode on this side of the Arke, and on that side, before the Priestes of the Leuites, which bare the Arke of the couenant of the Lorde) as well the stranger, as he that is borne in the countrey: halfe of them were ouer against mount Gerizim, and halfe of them ouer against mount Ebal, as Moses the seruant of the Lorde had commaunded before, that they should blesse the people of Israel. 34Then afterwarde hee read all the wordes of the Lawe, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the booke of the Lawe. 35There was not a worde of all that Moses had commaunded, which Ioshua read not before all the Congregation of Israel, as well before the women & the children, as the stranger that was conuersant among them.