The Conquest of Ai 1 UST Then Yahweh said to Joshua,“Do not be afraid or discouraged{ because of what happened last time you fought against the men of Ai}. Take with you all the soldiers you have and go up to Ai{ again}. I will certainly enable you to defeat the king of Ai and his people, and I will give you his city 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 UST Your army must do to the city of Ai and its people and king the same thing that you did to the city of Jericho and its people and king. But{ this time} I will allow you to take all their possessions and keep them for yourselves. Tell some of your soldiers to hide behind the city and prepare to attack it suddenly.” 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 UST So Joshua led all his army toward the city of Ai. He chose 30, 000 of his best soldiers and prepared them to go out during the 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 UST Joshua said to them,“Listen carefully! Some of you must hide on the other side of Ai. Do not go very far from the city. Each one of you must be ready{ to attack it}. 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 UST I and the soldiers who are with me will march toward the city{ in the morning}. Then the soldiers who are in the city will come out to fight us, as they did before. We will turn around and start to run away from 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 UST Because they will think that we are running away from them as we did before, they will leave the city and chase after us. While we are running away from them, 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 UST those of you who are hiding must come out and enter the city and capture it. Yahweh, your God, will enable you to conquer 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 UST After you capture the city, burn it. Do what Yahweh has commanded us to do. Those are the orders I am giving to 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 UST Then Joshua sent some of the Israelite soldiers to hide and wait at a place between Bethel and Ai. That place was on the west side of Ai. But Joshua slept that night among his other soldiers. 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 UST Early the next morning, Joshua gathered his soldiers together. Then he and the other Israelite leaders went in front of them to Ai. 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 UST They all set up their tents close to Ai, just to the north of the city, where all the people of the city could see them. There was a valley between them and the city of Ai. 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 UST Joshua chose about 5, 000 of his soldiers and told them to go and hide just west of Ai, between Ai and Bethel. 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.
13 UST So that was how Joshua and the elders{ prepared for the battle. They} stationed the main group of Israelite soldiers north of Ai and they stationed the other group on the west side of Ai. That night Joshua went down into the valley. BSB BSB: So the forces were stationed with the main camp to the north of the city and the rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.
14 UST When the king of Ai saw{ the Israelite army}, he and all his soldiers got up early{ the next morning} and quickly went out of the city to fight them at a place where they had agreed to meet. That place was near the Jordan River valley. But the king of Ai did not know that some of the Israelite soldiers were hiding behind the city, ready to attack it. 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 UST Joshua and all the Israelite soldiers{ who were with him} allowed the army of Ai to push them back. They retreated toward the wilderness. BSB BSB: Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness.
16 UST Then the king of Ai ordered all the men in the city to chase after Joshua and his men. So they left the city and pursued them. 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 UST All the men of Ai and also the men from the city of Bethel pursued the Israelite army. They did not leave a guard behind to defend their cities. They even left the city{ gates} wide open as they went to pursue the soldiers of 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 UST Then Yahweh said to Joshua,“Lift up your curved sword and point it toward Ai, because I am going to enable your soldiers to capture it!” So Joshua pointed his curved sword toward Ai. 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 UST When the Israelite men who were hiding saw Joshua do that, they rushed out from the places where they were hiding and ran into the city. They captured it and quickly set it on 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 UST When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from their city up to the sky. They could not escape in any direction, because the Israelite soldiers stopped running away towards the wilderness and turned back toward them. 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 UST Joshua and all the Israelite soldiers knew that the men who had been hiding had captured the city and were burning it because they saw the smoke rising. So they turned around and began killing the men of Ai. 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 UST Meanwhile, the soldiers who had captured the city came out and attacked them{ from the rear}. So the men of Ai were{ caught} in the middle of the two groups of Israelite soldiers. The Israelites fought against the men of Ai until they killed them all. None of the men of Ai 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 UST But the king of Ai was still alive. They captured him and brought him to Joshua. BSB BSB: But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 UST The Israelite soldiers killed all the men of Ai who had come out into the fields that were in the open country to pursue them. When they had killed every one of them, then all the Israelite soldiers went back to Ai and killed everyone who was there. 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 UST { The Israelites} killed 12, 000 men and women that day. They killed everyone who lived in Ai. BSB BSB: A total of twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai.
26 UST Joshua continued to point his curved sword toward Ai until the Israelites had killed all the people who lived in Ai. BSB BSB: Joshua did not draw back the hand that held his battle lance until he had devoted to destruction all who lived in Ai.
27 UST The Israelite soldiers took for themselves the animals and the other things that had belonged to the people of Ai, just as Yahweh had told Joshua that they should do. BSB BSB: Israel took for themselves only the cattle and plunder of that city, as the LORD had commanded Joshua.
28 UST Joshua and his soldiers burned Ai and caused it to become a pile of ruins that no one ever rebuilt. It is still an abandoned place now. BSB BSB: So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.
29 UST Joshua hanged the king of Ai on a tree. He left his corpse hanging there until evening. At sunset, Joshua told his men to take the king’ s body down from the tree and throw it on the ground at the entrance of the city gate.{ After they did that,} they piled a great mound of rocks on top of the king’ s corpse. That pile of rocks is still there now. 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 UST At that place, Joshua wrote on the stones{ of the altar} a copy of the instructions that Yahweh had previously given to Moses. The Israelites watched Joshua do this. 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 UST The leaders, officials, and judges of Israel and all the other Israelites were standing on both sides of the sacred chest. They were all standing facing the Levitical priests who carried the sacred chest of Yahweh. Both native- born Israelites and foreigners who were living among the Israelites were there. Half of the people stood{ on one side of the valley} below Gerizim Mountain, and the other half of the people stood{ on the other side of the valley} below Ebal Mountain. The sacred chest was{ in the valley} between the two groups. This is what Moses, Yahweh’ s servant, had previously instructed them to do when he had given instructions for blessing the people of Israel. 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 UST Then Joshua read{ to the people} everything that Moses had written. That included the things Yahweh had instructed them to do and not to do. That also included Yahweh’ s teachings and the ways that he said he would bless them{ if they obeyed his commands} or curse them{ if they disobeyed his commands}. 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 UST Joshua made sure to read every word that Moses had commanded them. He read every word in front of the entire assembly of Israelites. All the women and children were there as well, and also the foreigners who were living among the people of 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.
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