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.

⁴ 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:

⁵ 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,

⁶ (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.

⁷ Then ye shall rise from the ambush and seize upon the city: for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand,

⁸ 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.

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ 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.

¹² 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.

¹³ 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.

¹⁵ And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ 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.

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ 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.

²⁰ 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.

²¹ 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.

²⁵ And so it was, that all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.

²⁶ For Joshua drew not his hand back with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

²⁷ 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.

²⁸ 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.

³³ 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.

³⁵ 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.

¹ And Joshua the son of Nun sent from Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go, view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into the house of a harlot, named Rahab, and lodged there.

² And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to-night of the children of Israel, to search out the country.

³ And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that have come to thee, who have entered into thy house: for they have come to search out all the country.

⁴ And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men to me, but I knew not whence they were:

⁵ And it came to pass about the time of shutting the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went, I know not: pursue after them quickly; for ye will overtake them.

⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

⁷ And the men pursued them the way to Jordan to the fords: and as soon as they who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

⁸ And before they had lain down, she came up to them upon the roof;

⁹ And she said to the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror hath fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

¹⁰ For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.

¹¹ And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

¹² Now therefore, I pray you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have showed you kindness, that ye will also show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token:

¹³ And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.

¹⁴ And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

¹⁵ Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town-wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.

¹⁶ And she said to them, Depart to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned: and afterward ye may go your way.

¹⁷ And the men said to her, We will be blameless of this thy oath which thou hast made us swear.

¹⁸ Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window by which thou didst let us down: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household home to thee.

¹⁹ And it shall be, that whoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

²⁰ And if thou shalt utter this our business, then we will be quit of thy oath which thou hast made us to swear.

²¹ And she said, According to your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.

²² And they went, and came to the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers had returned: and the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but found them not.

²³ So the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell them:

²⁴ And they said to Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us.