| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Then 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. | 1Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. |
| 2You 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.” | 2And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.” |
| 3So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night | 3So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night |
| 4with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action. | 4with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready. |
| 5When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them. | 5Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them. |
| 6We 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, | 6They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them, |
| 7you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the LORD your God will give it to you. | 7you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. |
| 8Set the town on fire, as the LORD has commanded. You have your orders.” | 8And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.” |
| 9So 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. | 9So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people. |
| 10Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel. | 10Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai. |
| 11All 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. | 11Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city. |
| 12That night Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town. | 12Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. |
| 13So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley. | 13So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley. |
| 14When 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. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town. | 14When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city. |
| 15Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten. | 15Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. |
| 16Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town. | 16Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city. |
| 17There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the town was left wide open. | 17Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel. |
| 18Then 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. | 18Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai, |
| 19As 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. | 19and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire. |
| 20When 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. | 20When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers. |
| 21When 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. | 21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai. |
| 22Meanwhile, 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. | 22Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained. |
| 23Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua. | 23But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua. |
| 24When the Israelite army finished chasing and killing all the men of Ai in the open fields, they went back and finished off everyone inside. | 24When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well. |
| 25So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day—12,000 in all. | 25A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. |
| 26For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed. | 26Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai. |
| 27Only 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. | 27Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua. |
| 28So Joshua burned the town of Ai, and it became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this very day. | 28So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day. |
| 29Joshua 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 | 29He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. |
| 30Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal. | 30At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel, |
| 31He 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.” Then on the altar they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings to the LORD. | 31just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings. |
| 32And as the Israelites watched, Joshua copied onto the stones of the altar the instructions Moses had given them. | 32And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. |
| 33Then 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. | 33All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel. |
| 34Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction. | 34Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. |
| 35Every 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. | 35There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them. |
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