New Living Translation

New American Standard Bible 1995

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.

1Now the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given 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.”

2"You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for 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 rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night.

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

4He commanded them, saying, "See, you are going to ambush the city from behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you 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.

5"Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as at the first, we will 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,

6"They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, 'They are fleeing before us as at the first.' 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.

7"And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of 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.”

8"Then it will be when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it 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 away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side 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.

10Now Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with 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.

11Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city, and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him 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.

12And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side 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 people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of 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.

14It came about when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. 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.

15Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled by the way 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.

16And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued 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.

17So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they left the city unguarded 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." So 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.

19The men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly 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.

20When the men of Ai turned back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned 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.

21When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and slew 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.

22The others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side; and they slew them until no one was left of those who survived or escaped.

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

23But they took alive the king of Ai 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.

24Now when Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field in the wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them were fallen by the edge of the sword until they were destroyed, then all Israel returned to Ai and struck it 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.

25All 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.

26For Joshua did not withdraw his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of 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 only the cattle and the spoil of that city as plunder for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He 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 heap forever, a desolation until 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 hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua gave command and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over it a great heap of stones that stands to this day.

30Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.

30Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, in 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 sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool; and they offered burnt offerings on it 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.

32He wrote there on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the sons of Israel.

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 with their elders and officers and their judges were standing on both sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as the native. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had given command at 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.

34Then 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 had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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