Joshua 8 NLT ESV Parallel

◄ Joshua 8 ►

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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.

1And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and 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. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

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 all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night.

4with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action.

4And he commanded them, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain 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.

5And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, we shall flee before 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,

6And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them.

7you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the LORD your God will give it to you.

7Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will give it into your hand.

8Set the town on fire, as the LORD has commanded. You have your orders.”

8And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the LORD. See, I have commanded you.”

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 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 arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people 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.

11And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai.

12That night Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town.

12He took about 5,000 men and set them in 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 they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in 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.

14And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city.

15Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten.

15And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of 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.

16So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they 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. They left the city open and 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, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.

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 the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city 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.

20So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against 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.

21And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back 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.

22And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped.

23Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

23But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near 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 inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword.

25So the entire population of Ai, including men and women, was wiped out that day—12,000 in all.

25And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai.

26For Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely destroyed.

26But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.

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.

27Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the LORD that he 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 forever a heap of ruins, as it is 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

29And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there 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 to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,

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 people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD and 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 people of Israel, he wrote 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.

33And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel.

34Joshua then read to them all the blessings and curses Moses had written in the Book of Instruction.

34And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, 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 commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

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