1
And the LORD said to 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 to Jericho and her king: only its spoil , and its cattle, shall ye take for a prey to yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
3
So Joshua arose, and all the people of war , to go up against Ai : and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valor , and sent them away by night .
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And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city , even 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 to 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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(For they will come out after us ) till we have drawn them from the city ; for they will say , They flee before us , as at the first : therefore we will flee before them.
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Then ye shall rise from the ambush and seize upon the city : for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand ,
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And it shall be when ye have taken the city , that ye shall set the city on fire : according to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See , I have commanded you.
9
Joshua therefore sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Beth-el and Ai , on the west side of Ai : but Joshua lodged that night among the people.
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And Joshua rose early in the morning , and numbered 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 people of war that were with him, went up, and drew nigh , and came before the city , and pitched on the north side of Ai : now there was a valley between them and Ai .
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And he took about five thousand men ; and set them to lie in ambush between Beth-el and Ai , on the west side of the city .
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And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city , and their liers in wait on the west of the city , 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 early , and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle , he and all his people, at a time appointed, before the plain : but he knew not that there were liers in 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 Ai were called together to pursue them: and they pursued 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 Israel .
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And the LORD said to Joshua , Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand towards Ai ; for I will give it into thy hand . And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand towards 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 they entered into the city , and took it, and 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 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 other issued 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 in which they chased them, and when they had all fallen on the edge of the sword , until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai , and smote it with the edge of the sword .
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And so it was, that 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 his hand back with which he stretched out the spear , 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 a prey to themselves, according to the word of the LORD which he commanded Joshua .
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And Joshua burnt Ai , and made it a heap for ever , even a desolation to this day .
29
And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening : and as soon as the sun was down , Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree , and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city , and raise upon it a great heap of stones , that remaineth to this day .
30
Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
31
As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel , as it is written in the book of the law of Moses , an altar of whole stones , over which no man hath lifted up any iron : and they offered upon it burnt-offerings to the LORD , 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, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD , as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel .
34
And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings , 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 congregation of Israel , with the women , and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them.