1
And Jehovah said unto Joshua , Fear not , neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise , go up to Ai ; see , I have given into thy hand the king of Ai , and his people, and his city , and his land ;
2
And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: set thee an ambush for the city behind it.
3
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war , to go up to Ai : and Joshua chose out thirty thousand men , the mighty men of valor , and sent them forth by night .
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And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city , behind the city ; go not very far from the city , but be ye all ready:
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and I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city . And it shall come to pass, when they come out against us , as at the first , that we will flee before them;
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and they will come out after us , till we have drawn them away from the city ; for they will say , They flee before us , as at the first : so we will flee before them;
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and ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city : for Jehovah your God will deliver it into your hand .
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And it shall be, when ye have seized upon the city , that ye shall set the city on fire ; according to the word of Jehovah shall ye do: see , I have commanded you.
9
And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to the ambushment, and abode between Beth-el and Ai , on the west side of Ai : but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10
And Joshua arose up early in the morning , and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel , before the people to Ai .
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And all the people, [even] the [men of] war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh , and came before the city , and encamped on the north side of Ai : now there was a valley between him and Ai .
12
And he took about five thousand men , and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai , on the west side of the city .
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So they set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city , and their liers-in-wait that were on the west of the city ; and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley .
14
And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hasted and rose up early , and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle , he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city .
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And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness .
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And all the people that were in the city were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua , and were drawn away from the city .
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And there was not a man left in Ai or Beth-el , that went not out after Israel : and they left the city open , and pursued after Israel .
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And Jehovah said unto Joshua , Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai ; for I will give it into thy hand . And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city .
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And the ambush arose quickly out of their place , and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand , and entered into the city , and took it; and they hasted and set the city on fire .
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And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw , and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven , and they had no power to flee this way or that way : and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
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And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city , and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and slew the men of Ai .
22
And the others came forth out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel , some on this side , and some on that side : and they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape.
23
And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua .
24
And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field , in the wilderness wherein they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword , until they were consumed, that all Israel returned unto Ai , and smote it with the edge of the sword .
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And all that fell that day , both of men and women , were twelve thousand , even all the men of Ai .
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For Joshua drew not back his hand , wherewith he stretched out the javelin , until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai .
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Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for prey unto themselves, according unto the word of Jehovah which he commanded Joshua .
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So Joshua burnt Ai , and made it a heap for ever , even a desolation, unto this day .
29
And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the eventide: and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded , and they took his body down from the tree , and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city , and raised thereon a great heap of stones , unto this day .
30
Then Joshua built an altar unto Jehovah , the God of Israel , in mount Ebal,
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as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded the children of Israel , as it is written in the book of the law of Moses , an altar of unhewn stones , upon which no man had lifted up any iron : and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto Jehovah , and sacrificed peace -offerings .
32
And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses , which he wrote , in the presence of the children of Israel .
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And all Israel , and their elders and officers, and their judges , stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah , as well the sojourner as the homeborn; half of them in front of mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded at the first , that they should bless the people of Israel .
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And 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.
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There was not a word of all that Moses commanded , which Joshua read not before all the assembly of Israel , and the women , and the little ones, and the sojourners that were among them.