The Conquest of Ai 1 Brenton And the Lord said to Joshua, Fear not, nor be timorous: take with thee all the men of war, and arise, go up to Gai; behold, I have given into thy hands the king of Gai, and his land. BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. See, I have delivered into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
2 Brenton And thou shalt do to Gai, as thou didst to Jericho and its king; and thou shalt take to thyself the spoil of its cattle; set now for thyself an ambush for the city behind. BSB BSB: And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”
3 Brenton And Joshua and all the men of war rose to go up to Gai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men, and he sent them away by night. BSB BSB: So Joshua and the whole army set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out at night
4 Brenton And he charged them, saying, Do ye lie in ambush behind the city: do not go far from the city, and ye shall all be ready. BSB BSB: with these orders: “Pay attention. You are to lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it. All of you must be ready.
5 Brenton And I and all with me will draw near to the city: and it shall come to pass when the inhabitants of Gai shall come forth to meet us, as before, that we will flee from before them. BSB BSB: Then I and all the troops with me will advance on the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.
6 Brenton And when they shall come out after us, we will draw them away from the city; and they will say, These men flee from before us, as also before. BSB BSB: They will pursue us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ So as we flee from them,
7 Brenton And ye shall rise up out of the ambuscade, and go into the city. BSB BSB: you are to rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 Brenton Ye shall do according to this word, lo! I have commanded you. BSB BSB: And when you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do as the LORD has commanded! See, I have given you orders.”
9 Brenton And Joshua sent them, and they went to lie in ambush; and they lay between Bæthel and Gai, westward of Gai. BSB BSB: So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Brenton And Joshua rose up early in the morning, and numbered the people; and he went up, he and the elders before the people to Gai. BSB BSB: Joshua got up early the next morning and mobilized his men, and he and the elders of Israel marched before them up to Ai.
11 Brenton And all the men of war went up with him, and they went forward and came over against the city eastward. BSB BSB: Then all the troops who were with him marched up and approached the city. They arrived in front of Ai and camped to the north of it, with the valley between them and the city.
12 Brenton And the ambuscade was on the west side of the city. BSB BSB: Now Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set up an ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.
14 Brenton And it came to pass when the king of Gai saw it , he hasted and went out to meet them direct to the battle, he and all the people that were with him: and he knew not that there was an ambuscade formed against him behind the city. BSB BSB: When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, he hurried out early in the morning with the men of the city to engage them in battle at an appointed place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set up against him behind the city.
15 Brenton And Joshua and Israel saw, and retreated from before them. BSB BSB: Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.
16 Brenton And they pursued after the children of Israel, and they themselves went to a distance from the city. BSB BSB: Then all the men of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they followed Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
17 Brenton There was no one left in Gai who did not pursue after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel. BSB BSB: Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city wide open while they pursued Israel.
18 Brenton And the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch forth thy hand with the spear that is in thy hand toward the city, for I have delivered it into thy hands; and the liers in wait shall rise up quickly out of their place. BSB BSB: Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Hold out your battle lance toward Ai, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out his battle lance toward Ai,
19 Brenton And Joshua stretched out his hand and his spear toward the city, and the ambuscade rose up quickly out of their place; and they came forth when he stretched out his hand; and they entered into the city, and took it; and they hasted and burnt the city with fire. BSB BSB: and as soon as he did so, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They rushed forward, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
20 Brenton And when the inhabitants of Gai looked round behind them, then they saw the smoke going up out of the city to heaven, and they were no longer able to flee this way or that way. BSB BSB: When the men of Ai turned and looked back, the smoke of the city was rising into the sky. They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now turned against their pursuers.
21 Brenton And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambuscade had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city went up to heaven; and they turned and smote the men of Gai. BSB BSB: When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned around and struck down the men of Ai.
22 Brenton And these came forth out of the city to meet them; and they were in the midst of the army, some being on this side, and some on that; and they smote them until there was not left of them one who survived and escaped. BSB BSB: Meanwhile, those in the ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces on both sides. So Israel struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained.
23 Brenton And they took the king of Gai alive, and brought him to Joshua. BSB BSB: But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 Brenton And when the children of Israel had ceased slaying all that were in Gai, and in the fields, and in the mountain on the descent, from whence they pursued them even to the end, then Joshua returned to Gai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. BSB BSB: When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai who had pursued them into the field and wilderness, and when every last one of them had fallen by the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and put it to the sword as well.
25 Brenton And they that fell in that day, men and women, were twelve thousand: they slew all the inhabitants of Gai. BSB BSB: A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.
27 Brenton Beside the spoils that were in the city, all things which the children of Israel took as spoil for themselves according to the command of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Joshua. BSB BSB: Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.
28 Brenton And Joshua burnt the city with fire: he made it an uninhabited heap for ever, even to this day. BSB BSB: So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
29 Brenton And he hanged the king of Gai on a gallows; and he remained on the tree till evening: and when the sun went down, Joshua gave charge, and they took down his body from the tree, and cast it into a pit, and they set over him a heap of stones until this day. BSB BSB: He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.
Joshua Renews the Covenant (Deuteronomy 27:1–10)
32 Brenton And Joshua wrote upon the stones a copy of the law, even the law of Moses, before the children of Israel. BSB BSB: And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
33 Brenton And all Israel, and their elders, and their judges, and their scribes, passed on one side and on the other before the ark; and the priests and the Levites took up the ark of the covenant of the Lord; and the stranger and the native were there , who were half of them near mount Garizin, and half near mount Gæbal, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded at first, to bless the people. BSB BSB: All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.
34 Brenton And afterwards Joshua read accordingly all the words of this law, the blessings and the curses, according to all things written in the law of Moses. BSB BSB: Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.
35 Brenton There was not a word of all that Moses charged Joshua, which Joshua read not in the ears of all the assembly of the children of Israel, the men, and the women, and the children, and the strangers that joined themselves to Israel. BSB BSB: There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua failed to read before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the foreigners who lived among them.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.