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;
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.
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.
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:
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;
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;
and ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city: for Jehovah your God will deliver it into your hand.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Beth-el and Ai, on the west side of {Another reading is, Ai.}the city.
{Or, So the people set all &c.}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 {Some Massoretic Text read, lodged that night in.}went that night into the midst of the valley.
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, {Or, to the place appointed}at the time appointed, before the Arabah; but he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness.
And all the people that were in {Another reading is, Ai.}the city were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
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.
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.
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.
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 {Hebrew: hands.}power to flee this way or that way: and the people that fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers.
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.
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.
And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
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.
And all that fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai.
For Joshua drew not back his hand, wherewith he stretched out the javelin, until he had {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
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.
So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a {Or, mound Hebrew: tel.}heap for ever, even a desolation, unto this day.
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.
Then Joshua built an altar unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal,
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 {Hebrew: whole.}unhewn stones, upon which no man had lifted up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt-offerings unto Jehovah, and sacrificed peace-offerings.
And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, {Or, which he wrote in &c.}which he wrote, in the presence of the children of Israel.
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 home-born; half of them in front of mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of Jehovah had {Or, commanded that they should bless the people of Israel first of all}commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel.
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.
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 {Hebrew: walked.}were among them.
Querverweise zu Josua 8,24 Jos 8,24
and Jehovah delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining in it; and he did unto the king thereof as he had done unto the king of Jericho.
And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, unto Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it:
and Jehovah delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel; and he took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, according to all that he had done to Libnah.
Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua smote him and his people, until he had left him none remaining.
And Joshua passed from Lachish, and all Israel with him, unto Eglon; and they encamped against it, and fought against it;
and they took it on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword; and all the souls that were therein he {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.
And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, unto Hebron; and they fought against it:
and they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof, and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon; but he {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed it, and all the souls that were therein.
And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir, and fought against it:
and he took it, and the king thereof, and all the cities thereof; and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining: as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof; as he had done also to Libnah, and to the king thereof.
So Joshua smote all the land, the hill-country, and the South, and the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but he {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed all that breathed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, commanded.
And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even unto Gibeon.
And Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms.
And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, {Hebrew: devoting.}utterly destroying them; there was none left that breathed: and he burnt Hazor with fire.
And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and he smote them with the edge of the sword, and {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed them; as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded.
But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua burn.
And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any that breathed.
And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon unto the Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon; for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.